Supported Decision-Making Service

Supported Decision-Making Service for Persons with Disabilities | Service Model

The Human Rights Center for People with Disabilitisֿ

Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights

of Persons with Disabilities

Equal recognition before the law

1. States Parties reaffirm that persons with disabilities have the right to

recognition everywhere as persons before the law.

2. States Parties shall recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal

capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life.

3. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to provide access by

persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising

their legal capacity.

4. States Parties shall ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise

of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to

prevent abuse in accordance with international human rights law. Such

safeguards shall ensure that measures relating to the exercise of legal

capacity respect the rights, will and preferences of the person, are free

of conflict of interest and undue influence, are proportional and tailored

to the person's circumstances, apply for the shortest time possible and

are subject to regular review by a competent, independent and impartial

authority or judicial body. The safeguards shall be proportional to the

degree to which such measures affect the person's rights and interests.

5. Subject to the provisions of this article, States Parties shall take all

appropriate and effective measures to ensure the equal right of persons

with disabilities to own or inherit property, to control their own financial

affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other

forms of financial credit, and shall ensure that persons with disabilities

are not arbitrarily deprived of their property.

Article 12:

In 2012, the State of Israel ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities (hereinafter: the CRPD).Article 12 of the Convention and its official UN interpretation

stress that guardianship involves a violation of the right of all persons to full legal capacity in all

areas of life. Article 12 in fact advocates a transition from a substitute decision-making model to a

supported decision-making model which would enable persons to make decisions regarding their

lives. Over the past decade many countries have adopted, in legislation and in services, different

models of support and assistance as an alternative to guardianship, and some have even abolished

the institution of guardianship altogether. At the same time, assistive services for independent

living in the community and person-centered services, developed in the West, help limit the use

of guardianship.

In view of these trends, Bizchut –The Israel HumanRights Center for People withDisabilities

(hereinafter: Bizchut) has undertaken to develop an applied model, which would transform

the principles enunciated in Article 12 into provisions in Israeli law and a practical model of

supported decision-making for persons with disabilities.