Mental disability and the right to personal liberty in Africa

Enonchong, Laura-Stella

Abstract

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is leading an initiative to draft a disability protocol. This is particularly important for persons with mental disability as the draft protocol makes specific provisions guaranteeing their right to personal liberty, a right currently unavailable to them under article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as interpreted by the African Commission in Purohit & Moore v The Gambia. This article analyses the changes introduced by the draft protocol and examines to what extent they provide realistic prospects for the enjoyment of that right by persons with mental disability.

Citation

Enonchong, L.-S. (2017). Mental disability and the right to personal liberty in Africa. The International Journal of Human Rights, 21(9), 1351-1377. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2017.1322067

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 12, 2017
• Publication Date: May 19, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 12, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 20, 2117
• Print ISSN: 1364-2987
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-053X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 1351-1377
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2017.1322067
• Keywords: African disability protocol, persons with mental disability in Africa, right to personal liberty, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights