QualityRights Training: Legal capacity and the right to decide

The World Health Organization's (WHO) QualityRights initiative aims to improve the quality of care and support provided in social and mental health services, and to promote the human rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual or cognitive disabilities worldwide.

The training and guidance modules of the QualityRights initiative aim to increase knowledge, skills and understanding among key stakeholders on how to promote the rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual or cognitive disabilities, as well as improve the quality of services and support provided in the field of mental health and other related areas, in line with international human rights standards and, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the recovery approach.

This module focuses on the right to legal capacity . This right, enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, means that people with disabilities have the same right as anyone else to make their own decisions. The Convention also stipulates that States Parties must provide people with disabilities with the support they need to exercise their right to legal capacity.

In society, many people believe that individuals with psychosocial, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities are incapable of making their own decisions on any matters that affect them. The Convention, as reflected in this training module, makes it clear that, since all people have the same rights, society must enable them to exercise those rights, rather than disregarding them based on outdated prejudices.