12, Feb 2018 | CJP Team

Human Rights Watch (HRW), citing French news channel LCI, reported that France’s State Secretary for Persons Sophie Cluzel with Disabilities has recently said that she wants those with disabilities who are under guardianship to be allowed to vote. At present, Article 5 of the country’s Electoral Code permits a judge to bar from voting those who have been given a guardian to take decisions on their behalf. However, Cluzel said, “Our French legislation cannot on the one hand assert that people with disabilities are citizens like any other, and on the other hand take away from them the most emblematic attribute of citizenship”. In January 2017, France’s National Consultative Commission on Human Rights recommend the repeal of Article 5. This sentiment was echoed by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, following her visit to France in October 2017. France has ratified the UN disability rights agreement, which recognises that people with disabilities have the right to make their own decisions. According to HRW, despite France’s obligation to recognise the legal capacity of those with disabilities, “guardianship is still widely applied”. According to Devandas-Aguilar, in 2015, around 385,000 people were under guardianship. 17% of these, or about 65,000 were denied their right to vote. HRW called on France to “proceed promptly with the reform and become an example to help make universal suffrage truly universal.”