Dr Julia Duffy1
1Australian Centre For Health Law Research, Qut
Disability rights scholars have hailed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘the Convention”) as affirming as recognised doctrine the much-contested principle of the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights (‘the principle’). The principle of indivisibility has historically been contested both as to its status and content. However, it is most commonly and broadly expressed as recognising the equal importance of economic, social and cultural rights with civil and political rights, as well as asserting the interdependence of rights. And yet for the most part, accolades directed at the Convention’s development of the principle fail to give careful consideration as to what it really means, except those espousing that the convention effectively dissolves any distinction between the above two categories of rights.
I propose this analysis has actually led to the continued privileging of civil and political rights over economic, social and cultural rights, contrary to the meaning of the principle. In this way, the rhetoric of indivisibility risks being used as a cloak to perpetuate the subordination of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to access to adequate healthcare. This contradiction is evident in the UN Disability Committee’s privileging of the civil and political right to legal capacity over all other human rights, while also celebrating the Convention as embodying the principle of indivisibility. Unless the principle retains its radical meaning, people with disability, who are disproportionately subject to disadvantage, risk having their claims to economic, social and cultural rights remain unmet.
Biography:
Julia Duffy is a Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for Health Law Research (‘ACHLR’) Queensland University of Technology and is admitted as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of Queensland and High Court of Australia. She serves as a member of two health practitioner regulatory boards and is currently engaged in research on disability law and policy for government and non-profit agencies in the area of legal capacity and supported decision-making.
Her interest in health law began with her tenure as Executive Director of the Queensland Government Child Protection Commission of Inquiry which led to her later being appointed as the state’s Deputy Public Guardian. From 2018 to 2021 she was a part time legal member of Queensland’s Mental Health Review Tribunal. Her book ‘Mental Capacity, Dignity and the Power of International Human Rights’, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press in 2023.