PHA-Exchange> Amnesty International: Mental Health + Human Rights

[James M Nordlund]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 
 CONTACT: Amnesty International
International Secretariat
Telephone +44-20-74135500
Fax number +44-20-79561157  
   
Human Rights Imperative for Mental Health Reforms

WASHINGTON -- January 11 -- The only way to ensure respect for human  
rights in mental health systems and in-patient facilities is through  
effective enforcement of international human rights standards, principally  
through rights-based national legislation, Amnesty International said on  
the eve of the World Health Organization's (WHO) European Ministerial  
Conference on Mental Health in Helsinki, Finland, on 12-15 January 2005.

In Europe, one fifth of children and adolescents experience developmental,  
emotional or behavioural problems, and one in eight have a mental  
disorder. Many of these disorders are recurrent or chronic. Mental  
disorders affect one person in four in their lifetime, and can be found in  
10 per cent of the adult population. It has been estimated that mental  
disorders and problems will increase by 50 per cent by the year 2020. Yet,  
according to the WHO Regional Office for Europe: "All countries [in the  
region] have to work with limited resources. Too often, prejudice and  
stigma hamper the development of mental health policies, and are reflected  
in poor services, low status for care providers and a lack of human rights  
for mentally ill people."

Protecting the rights of people with, or at risk of, mental health  
problems or intellectual disabilities (hereafter referred to as people  
with mental disabilities), particularly those placed in mental health  
in-patient facilities, is at the core of recommendations which Amnesty  
International has addressed to a number of European states. Concerns about  
the treatment of people with mental disabilities, in Romania and Bulgaria  
in particular, have been the subject of Amnesty International reports.

"Mental health services must take into account that patients have rights  
too - it is essential that people with mental illness have a right to  
inform and participate in all decision-making and policy formulation that  
affect them," Amnesty International said.

International human rights standards protecting the dignity and human  
rights of people with mental disorders should be incorporated into mental  
health laws and practice of all European states. All states should also  
ensure their allocation of resources to mental health services is  
sufficient to allow human rights standards to be met. Amnesty  
International urges all states, to review and reform their mental health  
systems and laws to ensure compliance with international human rights  
norms and best professional practice. Mental health service users should  
play a part in that process.

At the Helsinki Conference, the 52 countries in the WHO European Region  
are expected to agree a Mental Health Declaration and Action Plan for  
Europe. Amnesty International considers that these commitments must be  
underpinned by human rights in international treaties that provide:
important protections to people with mental health disabilities, including  
the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

protection against discrimination;

protection against torture, inhuman, or degrading treatment;

protection against arbitrary detention.


Amnesty International urges Member States of the WHO European Region to  
engage meaningfully in follow-up actions arising from the Helsinki  
Conference, to ensure national laws and mental health services respect and  
promote the basic rights of all people with mental health problems,  
especially those placed in mental health facilities, and that they are  
provided with treatment and care that is in line with international human  
rights standards and best professional practice.

"Even if the Helsinki Declaration and Action Plan adequately reflect human  
rights standards, its implementation will require concerted and well  
coordinated action by all relevant ministries and other authorities. It is  
essential that detailed programmes of action follow from governments which  
also promote human rights, with clear timeframes and dedicated resources,"  
Amnesty International said.

The organization urges the institutions of the European Union (EU) to  
support a human-rights-based approach to the Declaration and Action Plan,  
and its implementation.

"The EU has already adopted a wide number of instruments such as the  
European Convention on Human Rights, the European Charter on Social Rights  
and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It cannot ignore the appalling  
situation of mental health patients in its deliberations on the proposed  
accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU."

Amnesty International urges that the inextricable links between respect  
for international human rights standards and national mental health  
systems be reflected in the Action Plan.

"Failure of government policies to respect the wider human rights of  
communities - to physical health, non-discrimination, housing, education  
or respect for one's culture for example - can have a profound impact on  
the mental health of individuals."

Background
WHO, the EU and the Council of Europe, and a number of member states of  
WHO European Region, are organizing a Ministerial Conference entitled  
"Mental health: Facing the challenges, building solutions" to be held in  
Helsinki, Finland from 12 to 15 January 2005, attended by invited  
representatives of all 52 Member States in the WHO/European Region and of  
selected organizations. The topics of human rights and the stigma attached  
to mental ill health and care services will be a central theme of the  
Conference.

Within the mental health systems of some states in the European region,  
particularly grave and systematic abuses of human rights have been  
documented by Amnesty International. For further information see:
Romania: Memorandum to the government concerning inpatient psychiatric  
treatment AI Index: EUR 39/003/2004;
Romania: Patients at the Poiana Mare psychiatric hospital AI Index: EUR  
39/002/2004;
Harry Potter joins the fight to end Czech "cage bed" use AI Index: EUR  
71/002/2004;
Rough Justice: The law and human rights in the Russian Federation AI  
Index: EUR 46/054/2003;
Mental Illness, The Neglected Quarter, AI Ireland, February 2004;
Bulgaria: Far from the eyes of society AI Index: EUR 15/005