“It Felt Like Everything in Life Stopped”
Legal Capacity Rights Violations Against People with Disabilities in Canada’s Immigration Detention System

Worldwide, more than 1 billion individuals have a disability. In many countries, people with disabilities face countless abuses: they are denied the chance to go to school, languish for years in institutions, are subjected to horrific violence, or chained in their own homes - simply because they have a disability. This is often because of entrenched stigma, archaic laws and a lack of community-based services essential to ensuring their rights, as laid out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Human Rights Watch works to investigate and expose these hidden abuses, and advocate for change to improve the lives of people with disabilities, in partnership with them and their organizations across the globe. Read more about our disability rights work and the stories of the people we have met and collaborated with as we collectively work toward a world where every person enjoys their rights and dignity.
January 30, 2025
Legal Capacity Rights Violations Against People with Disabilities in Canada’s Immigration Detention System
Children with Disabilities Amid Israel’s Attacks on Gaza
Gaps in Support Systems for People with Disabilities in Uruguay
Persistent Failure to Ensure Right to Work; Quotas Unfilled
Ottawa Asks to Jail Migrants, Asylum Seekers Despite Rights Violations
Concrete Steps Needed to Ensure Safety, Protection in Armed Conflict
Designated Representatives System Undermines Legal Capacity Rights
Benon Kabale Receives Fifth Marca Bristo Fellowship at Human Rights Watch
Full Decision-Making Rights, But Support Implementation Needed
To Inform the Working Group's Upcoming Report on the Gendered Dimensions of Care and Support Systems
100th Pre-Sessional Working Group
Court Has Opportunity to Strike Down Abusive Practice
Should Go Beyond Uruguay’s Model