Incorporation of article 5, 12 and 13 of UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities into notariate law of the Republic of Latvia

Abstract

United Nations (hereafter – UN) adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (hereafter – CRPD) on 13 December 2006, and this is the first international human rights treaty which EU joined as a party (in 2010), according to Article 37 of Treaty on European Union. CRPD gives the rights and voice to persons with disabilities in all areas of life, therefore setting the obligation for CRPD States to provide possibility for persons with disabilities to use their rights. As CRPD is relatively new treaty, there are not enough scholarly articles, especially on the Notariate law of Republic of Latvia in the relationship with the CRPD. The lack of consistent research results in lack of consistent rights of persons with disabilities. Therefore more researches are needed. The research aim is to investigate whether the Articles 86 (rights to be witnesses) and 94 (rights to be a party) of Latvian law fulfill the rights of persons with disabilities set in Articles 5, 12 and 13 of CRPD. There are four research methods used in the research: grammatical method; systematical method; historical method; theological method. In order to inquire how the practical implementation is made, the interviews with representatives of Baltic notary systems were made. Additionally comparative approach was used to compare Notariate laws of all three Baltic States. During the analyses of Notariate law of the Republic of Latvia it was concluded that the current version of Notariate law does not reflect equality principle of CRPD as unequal attitude is stipulated between persons with mental/ sensor disabilities and persons without disabilities and persons with other type disabilities regarding the rights to be witnesses and rights to be parties. Additionally the terminology used in Notariate law regarding persons with sensor/ mental disability is insulting and thus does not reflect CRPD terminology. The rights of persons with mental disabilities are limited the most, also in other procedural laws – Civil procedure law and Administrative procedure law of the Republic of Latvia – when active legal capacity can be deprived regarding the rights to be witnesses in proceedings. Therefore it is possible to agree with UN that Article 12 of CRPD is the most challenging. Thus it is necessary to make amendments in Notariate law of the Republic of Latvia to reflect better CRPD principles, especially equality principle which is one of the cornerstones of the European Union.