Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities Sexual Rights Initiative

In response to the Special Rapporteur’s call for input on bioethics and the rights of persons with disabilities, SRI made a submission reviewing bioethics and its relation to the rights of persons with disabilities. It first highlights how bioethics constitutes its own authority and experts to have a say in the lives of persons with disabilities. Secondly it provides a brief overview of a global feminist approach to bioethics and its contributions to a critique of the field. After highlighting the contributions of women with disabilities to the so-called “bioethical discussions,” the submission recommends moving away from bioethics and adopting a human rights-based analysis.

The report of the Special Rapporteur, entitled Lives worth living: fighting ableism and the devaluation of the lives of persons with disabilities, was presented to the Human Rights Council in March 2020, and can be accessed at this page (including in easy-to-read format).

UN Mechanism