When: 20 - 21 February 2010

Where: Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA; United States

The Harvard Law School Project on Disability will convene a one day conference on Saturday, 20 February on the issue of legal capacity (Article 12, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

The conference will present a variety of perspectives on the scope and operation of legal capacity by self-advocates with intellectual and psycho-social disabilities, academics and other members of civil society from diverse regions of the globe.

This will be the first opportunity since the International Disability Caucus meetings at the CRPD negotiations for a multiplicity of views to be aired on this central issue. However, unlike those meetings, no univocal view will prevail.

Instead, a report will be compiled by a rapporteur that represents these myriad views so that NHRIs, the CRPD Committee, and States Parties can have comparative examples to draw on when working through both the theory and reality of domestic level implementation.

A private venue will be set aside on Sunday morning, 21 February, for NHRI personnel to candidly share their perspectives and experiences, and to develop supportive frameworks for cooperation.

The Asia Pacific Forum will be represented by participants from the national human rights institutions of Mongolia and Jordan.