CRPD/C/23/D/29/2015
United Nations
Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities
Distr.: General
30 September 2020
Original: English
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Decision adopted by the Committee under article 5 of the
Optional Protocol, concerning communication
No. 29/2015*, **
Communication submitted by:
N.N.
Alleged victims:
The author and her daughter, N.L.
State party:
Germany
Date of communication:
1 June 2015 (initial submission)
Substantive issue:
Hospitalization in a psychiatric clinic
1.
The author of the communication is N.N., a national of the Russian Federation, born
in 1956. She submitted the communication on her own behalf, and on behalf of her
daughter, N.L. The author’s daughter, born in 1980, is also a national of the Russian
Federation. In 2009, she was diagnosed with a “permanent disability” (categorized as group
2, level 3 in the disability classification). The Optional Protocol to the Convention entered
into force in Germany on 26 March 2009.
2.
On 22 October 2013, the author and her daughter applied for asylum in Germany.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees rejected their request and the deportation
order became final on 21 May 2014. On 26 February 2014, a court had appointed a
guardian for the author’s daughter. On 13 March 2014, the guardian had submitted the
court’s appointment decision to the author and requested a meeting with the author’s
daughter. Shortly afterwards, the author fled with her daughter to Switzerland. They were
returned to Germany on 13 October 2014.
3.
In February 2015, the author’s daughter was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic after
an individual reported seeing her “alone and unwell in the street”. Between then and July
2015, N.L. was repeatedly placed in and discharged from psychiatric clinics, in which she
received various psychological and medical treatments. Different guardians were appointed.
In her complaint to the Committee, the author claimed that her daughter was a victim of a
violation, by Germany, of her rights under articles 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22 and 25 of
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The author requested the
Committee to invite the State party to discharge her daughter from hospital, and to
discontinue any form of forced medication she may be subjected to.
4.
On 15 December 2015, the State party submitted its observations to the Committee,
informing it of the measures taken by the competent authorities in N.L.’s case. The State
* Adopted by the Committee at its twenty-third session (17 August–4 September 2020).
** The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication:
Ahmad Alsaif, Danlami Umaru Basharu, Monthian Buntan, Imed Eddine Chaker, Gertrude Oforiwa
Fefoame, Mara Cristina Gabrilli, Amalia Eva Gamio Ríos, Ishikawa Jun, Samuel Njuguna Kabue,
Kim Mi Yeon, Lászlo Gábor Lovászy, Robert George Martin, Dmitry Rebrov, Jonas Ruskus, Markus
Schefer and Risnawati Utami.
GE.20-12765(E)