The Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Human Rights Bill, and State Accountability

State Accountability

More comprehensive regulations also need to cover legal capacity and access to justice.

CRPD emphasizes that persons with disabilities have legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life and have the right to receive the support necessary to exercise that capacity (United Nations, 2006).

This principle is critical to ensure legal protection does not turn into unilateral decision-making on behalf of persons with disabilities. The state must build support and safeguards that respect the will, choices, and dignity of each individual.

This strengthening does not mean the RUU HAM should replicate all provisions in the Law on Persons with Disabilities.

Its important function lies in providing binding fundamental principles: every restriction of rights must be justifiable, every barrier must be addressed, and every violation must open access to remedies.

Without this construction, sectoral laws may continue alongside institutional practices that have yet to fully recognize persons with disabilities as equal legal subjects.

In this context, Law Number 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities should not be seen as a reason to limit regulations in the RUU HAM.

The RUU HAM must ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are connected to all civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights regimes, while providing interpretative principles for the creation and enforcement of subordinate regulations.

The revision of the Human Rights Law presents an opportunity to change the way the state views persons with disabilities: from a group merely mentioned in norms to legal subjects who have rights and can demand accountability.

Normative recognition is an important beginning. Unfortunately, it is not the end of constitutional obligations.

Genuine respect for the rights of persons with disabilities is not enough to be heard only in the language of laws.

Respect culminates in meaning when the law opens doors, provides support, removes barriers, and ultimately ensures every citizen stands equally before the state.