Ahead of World Mental Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have jointly published new guidance entitled ‘Mental health, human rights and legislation: guidance and practice’, providing guidance on mental health We support the day. Countries need to reform their laws to end human rights abuses and increase access to quality mental health care.
Human rights violations and coercion in mental health care remain all too common, supported by existing laws and policies. Involuntary hospitalization and treatment, unsanitary living conditions, and physical, psychological, and emotional abuse characterize many mental health services around the world.
Since the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, many countries have sought to reform their laws, policies and services, but many countries have sought to reform their laws, policies and services at the scale necessary to end abuse and mistreatment. Too few countries have adopted or revised it. Promote human rights in mental health care.
Mental health is an essential and integral part of the right to health. This new guidance will help people recover, provide quality mental health care that respects their dignity, and enable people with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities to live full and healthy lives in their communities. We support countries to make the changes necessary to achieve this goal. ”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
“Our goal must be to transform mental health services, not just within their scope, but the values that underpin them, so that they truly respond to the needs and dignity of individuals. “This publication provides guidance on how a rights-based approach can support the necessary changes in mental health systems,” said Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Promoting more effective community-based mental health care
The majority of reported government spending on mental health is allocated to psychiatric hospitals (43% in high-income countries). However, evidence shows that community-based care services are more accessible, cost-effective, and effective compared to institutional models of mental health care.
This guidance sets out what needs to be done to accelerate deinstitutionalization and embed a rights-based community approach to mental health care. This includes adopting legislation to gradually replace psychiatric facilities with comprehensive community support systems and mainstream services such as income support, housing assistance, and peer support networks.
end coercive practices
Ending coercive practices in the field of mental health, such as involuntary detention, forced treatment, isolation and restraint, is essential to respecting the right to make decisions about one’s own health care and treatment choices.
Additionally, a growing body of evidence reveals how coercive practices negatively impact physical and mental health, often worsening a person’s current condition and distancing them from support systems.
This guidance proposes legislative provisions to end coercion in mental health services and enshrine free and informed consent as the basis for all mental health-related interventions. It also provides guidance on how law and policy can handle more complex and difficult cases without resorting to coercive practices.
Adopt a mindset-based approach to mental health with guidance
Recognizing that mental health is not the sole responsibility of the health sector, this new guidance applies to all those involved in drafting, amending and enforcing legislation that impacts mental health, including laws that address poverty, inequality and discrimination. targeted at parliamentarians and policy makers.
The new guidance also provides a checklist for countries to use to assess and assess whether mental health-related laws comply with international human rights obligations. Additionally, the guidance specifies the importance of consulting people with lived experience and their representative organizations as an important part of this process, as well as the importance of public education and awareness about rights-based issues. I am.
Although this guidance proposes a set of principles and provisions that can be translated into national law, countries should adapt these to their particular circumstances (national context, language, cultural sensitivities, legal systems, etc.) and can also be adjusted. .
On 10 October, WHO will join the international community to celebrate World Mental Health Day 2023, with the theme: “Mental health is a universal human right.”
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