Human Rights celebrates new precedent against the substitution of the will of people with disabilities

The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) unanimously approved the invalidity of the articles that regulate the figure of interdictionin the Civil Code for Mexico City and the local Code of Civil Procedures.

It is the legal status of a person who is placed under the custody of a guardian upon being declared incompetent by a court ruling.

This was announced by the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City (CDHCM) in a bulletin issued this Wednesday, August 24.

The invalidity occurred after the SCJN resolved the amparo in review 356/2020, in which a woman declared in a state of interdiction had her right to recognition of her legal capacity restricted by assigning her a guardian, in this case her spouse.

The woman suffered different types of violence from her partner, among them, that Against her will, she was institutionalized and subjected to medical treatment in order to make her subject to a procedure to declare a state of interdiction. to replace their will around the exercise of their rights.

In addition, her right to be heard was denied. “The contested norms legitimized the violence that her husband had been exercising on herbecause by virtue of the guardianship, he is prevented from spending his money, having a private life and saying with whom, where and how to live, ”says the Supreme Court.

Likewise, the SCJN declares that the rules of guardianship and interdiction caused him a “civil death”, since they hindered access to his rights.

“The regulation of the state of interdiction is unconstitutional allow, encourage and legitimize practices of intersectional discrimination against women“, indicates the project.

The CDHCM commented that the action affected various rights, such as the right to property, to live independently, to privacy, and to the right to a hearing.

Also, the Commission warns that the first resolution was not made with a gender perspective and the different factors of discrimination were not taken into account.

Finally, the CDHCM highlights that this is not the first issue related to women with disabilities resolved by the SCJN, for which it warns of the incompatibility of the interdiction system with the social and human rights model of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Disability.