Human rights imperative for mental health reforms

.

رغم أن هذا البيان من منظمة العفو الدولية، يتحدث عن مبادرة في أوربا، إلا أن القضية هامة وحيوية، خاصة وأن الحديث عن معايير عالمية.
لا أعرف إن كانت هناك قوانين تحمي أصحاب الاحتياجات العقلية الخاصة في السودان، أي في خلال تلقيهم للعلاج والعون الطبي والصحي!

إن كانت هناك قوانين فنتمني الاطلاع عليها، ولابد أن محتواها قابل للبحث والمقارنة مع بعض الدول الأخري.
أتمني أن يخبرنا أصحاب المعرفة في هذا المجال!
إيمان


........

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International

AI Index: IOR 40/001/2005 11 January 2005

Human rights imperative for mental health reforms


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
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx2bb0g6Xb/

Romania: Patients at the Poiana Mare psychiatric hospital AI
Index: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx3bb0g6Xb/

Harry Potter joins the fight to end Czech "cage bed" use
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx4bb0g6Xb/

Rough Justice: The law and human rights in the Russian
Federation
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx5bb0g6Xb/

Mental Illness, The Neglected Quarter, AI Ireland, February
2004;
Bulgaria: Far from the eyes of society
http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac3OHabddx6bb0g6Xb/


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