(Mexico City) \u2013\u00a0Mexico\u2019s Senate should\u00a0amend legislation approved by the Chamber of Deputies on October 20, 2026, to ensure that people with disabilities can appoint supporters to make legal decisions by April 1, 2027, as originally planned, Human Rights Watch said today. The current legislation would\u00a0postpone the deadline for implementing the National Code of Civil and Family Procedures, which requires these appointments, to July 1, 2031.
The code, adopted in June 2023, introduced reforms to\u00a0improve access to justice and guarantee the right of people with disabilities throughout Mexico to make legally recognized decisions. However, implementation has lagged. Mexico City is the only jurisdiction to have declared the code partially in force, including provisions allowing adults to designate supporters to help them exercise their legal capacity.
\u201cIf the Senate fails to amend the legislation to allow the original deadline for appointing supporters to take effect, local judges will face a legal vacuum,\u201d said\u00a0Carlos R\u00edos Espinosa, associate disability rights director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cWhile judges can no longer bar someone from making autonomous decisions, the procedure to help people make those decisions has not yet entered into force. This could leave people with disabilities at risk of losing their property or suffering harm to their health and physical integrity.\u201d
The 2023 code\u00a0abolished interdiction, a discriminatory guardianship procedure that allowed courts to deprive adults, particularly people with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, of their right to make legally recognized decisions. Under this system, guardians could make decisions concerning a person\u2019s property, finances, and personal affairs, often without respecting the person\u2019s will and preferences.
Interdiction was abolished on June 8, 2023. Mexico\u2019s Supreme Court has recognized that these procedures are incompatible with international human rights standards and that their\u00a0repeal does not depend on the gradual implementation of the new code.
However, abolishing\u00a0interdiction without providing effective alternatives can leave some people without essential legal protections.
The new code establishes an extraordinary judicial procedure for appointing supporters when a person\u2019s will and preferences cannot be determined despite considerable efforts. This mechanism allows a judge to appoint someone to facilitate the exercise of legal capacity, subject to strict safeguards against abuse and requirements to ensure the best possible interpretation of the person\u2019s will and preferences.
Without this procedure, people may face serious consequences. Consider, for example, someone who falls into a coma without having left any advance directives concerning their property, health care, or family affairs. If urgent decisions are required, the absence of a legal mechanism to appoint supporters could put their property at risk or jeopardize their health and physical integrity.
Unlike interdiction, the extraordinary appointment of supporters does not authorize courts to declare a person legally incapable or place them under a general guardianship regime that substitutes another person\u2019s decisions for their own.
International human rights law recognizes that everyone has the right to make decisions about their own lives and requires governments to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the support they require to do so.
Organizations of people with disabilities, older people\u2019s rights groups, professional associations, and human rights organizations have\u00a0called for the extraordinary procedure for appointing supporters to be exempted from postponement.
The Senate still has an opportunity to amend the legislation approved by the Chamber of Deputies and to introduce an exception allowing this procedure to be implemented as originally planned.
\u201cThe government may reasonably require additional time and resources to implement a reform of this magnitude, but delaying a critical safeguard for people with disabilities for nearly five more years is unjustifiable,\u201d R\u00edos Espinosa said. \u201cThe Senate still has an opportunity to correct this situation and prevent people from being exposed to abuse and serious violations of their rights.\u201d
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