Article 13 of the CRPD and Low-Threshold Justice Systems in Denmark: Discrimination in the Right to Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities

This article focuses on the right to access to justice for persons with disabilities in Denmark according to Article 13 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The article explores how persons with disabilities are excluded from the more accessible low-threshold justice systems and are left with the option of bringing legal proceedings before the civil courts with the increased demands it places on their already strained resources. The Danish system excludes claims of compensation for unlawful health care coercion and claims of discrimination in the form of denial of reasonable accommodation from the low-threshold systems — two forms of rights violations that apply exclusively to persons with disabilities. The Danish system thus discriminates against persons with disabilities in conflict with Articles 5, 9, and 13 of the CRPD. The limited access that disabled persons have to low-threshold systems puts a strain not only on the right to non-discrimination and access to justice but on their rights in a broader sense, when violations of disability rights cannot be accessibly (and therefore effectively) adjudicated, enforced, and compensated.