Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Definitions of the right to recognition of person before the law
The right to recognition as person before the law is enshrined in
Article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The right is enshrined in Article 16 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
Everyone shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families contains this right in Article 24:
Every migrant worker and every member of his or her family shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
The right is also contained in Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights:
Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation and degradation of man particularly slavery, slave trade, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment shall be prohibited.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities contains this right in Article 12:
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.
