Obstacles Faced by People with Disabilities when Accessing Justice and Courts

ANTONOVIČOVÁ, Barbora. Obstacles Faced by People with Disabilities when Accessing Justice and Courts. In RiDoc Conference. 2021.

Basic information

Original name

Obstacles Faced by People with Disabilities when Accessing Justice and Courts

Authors

ANTONOVIČOVÁ, Barbora

Edition

RiDoc Conference, 2021

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Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Prezentace na konferencích

Field of Study

50501 Law

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Organization unit

Faculty of Law

Keywords in English

Access to court, justice, Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, Obstacles

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Abstract

V originále

The contribution discusses the right of people with disabilities to access the court, which must be available to everyone regardless of any differences and the thought of equality. Access to justice and the court is nowadays perceived as a right that is an integral part of a democratic state that respects the rule of law. The issue of access to court for people with physical or sensory disabilities is entirely outside the field of interest of experts and literature. Nevertheless, these people still face many obstacles that people without any disability do not have to deal with. We can say it is possible to gather the problems into three separate categories, but it is more than possible that the person will have to battle more of them together. People with physical or sensory disabilities firstly need to be able to access the court building physically. Moreover, they must be assured of equal status within the court proceedings, meaning it is crucial to make it possible to communicate their opinions with the court and understand the views of others. Also, it is essential to assure access to information about the proceedings in a suitable format. These barriers can lead to them not filing their case to the court and possibly being denied justice. Member states of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities have the obligation, according to Article 13, to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others through applying procedural and age-appropriate accommodations regardless of their role in particular proceedings. However, are these requirements truly fulfilled in practice? What are the negative examples of dealing with people with disabilities in court, and on the other hand, what are the best practices worldwide in this area? These questions and related answers to them are the main theme of this contribution. Firstly, it deals with the definition of disability on the level of European and international law and focuses on court judicature and soft law documents, including their relationship to the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Then it discusses its main Article 13 regarding access to justice and the concept of reasonable and procedural accommodations used to balance the disadvantages that disability can bring to participants to ensure access to justice and court on an equal basis with others. As part of her research, the author also conducted interviews with thirty people with different disabilities and experience of being part of court proceedings in several roles. Therefore, partial findings will be presented, and this glimpse of reality will be compared with the formal demands of legal obligations.