446 research outputs found
Introduction
No full textThe United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is an international treaty that embeds the human rights of people with disabilities into international law. The application of the CRPD in the field of psychiatry is not straightforward, especially when various sets of rights are in direct conflict with each other. To open the debate on how best to apply the principles of the CRPD in the field of mental health, we prepared case histories based on real-life stories and asked psychiatrists, ethicists, and lived experience experts to provide commentary on human rights-based mental health care. We then included a series of eight descriptions of countries with different legal traditions partially explaining the differences in the way in which the CRPD would be employed in mental health care. Thirdly, there is a section illustrating the work of non-governmental organizations related to the CRPD by the description of three such organizations—one professional and two non-professional and their work relevant to human rights. We draw the conclusion about the need for a realistic interpretation of the CRPD, and education and training of healthcare workers in the requirements of the CRPD. In addition, we point towards the need for all governments to allocate the resources required to improve social and health services to adopt and implement the principles of the CRPD to protect and promote the rights of people with mental illness.</p
The Application of the CRPD and Other International Human Rights Instruments in Mental Health Care
No full textThe international human rights framework was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, followed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1966. There was no specific mention of the right of people with disabilities in these documents. The rights of persons with mental illness received international acknowledgement through the United Nations Mental Illness Principles in 1991. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) adopted by the United Nations in 2006 is a treaty that embeds the rights of people with disabilities into the international law. The CRPD requires the States Parties to protect and promote the economic, social and cultural rights as well as the civil and political rights of people with disabilities. It requires reshaping of mental health legislation and policy by promoting alternatives to coercion and investing into resources required for accessible social and health services. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UN Resolution on Mental Health and Psychosocial Disabilities, 2023 incorporate the principles of the CRPD to ensure that no-one is left behind and to reaffirm mental health as an essential component of universal health coverage. This book uses the case history method to promote a conversation to provide practical ways forward to implement the principles of the CRPD for protection and promotion of the human rights of people with mental illness.</p
Impact of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Mental Health Care:Way Forward
No full textThe United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is a landmark international treaty based on the central idea of respect for the inherent dignity of every human being. We explored issues that arise in the application of the CRPD in mental health care through case histories modelled on real-life stories in clinical practice. The analysis of case histories emphasized the need to respect autonomy, will, and preference of the person with mental illness and identified the need to implement alternatives to coercion in mental health care. However, there was consensus that involuntary psychiatric treatment was sometimes required to respect the right to health, as the last resort, for a short period, with strong safeguards and monitoring. The case histories displayed that the most common violation of the rights of persons with mental illness was a lack of access to social and health services. This is in part due to the poverty prevailing in some countries and in part to the low priority that is given to the provision of mental health care to those who need it. The section on legislation showed that while most countries had updated their mental health laws to comply with the CRPD, there was no or inadequate focus on economic, social, and cultural rights. The States Parties to the Convention must invest into the social sector for example, housing, employment, social inclusion, and tackling stigma; and healthcare sector including mental health promotion, early intervention, and implementing voluntary recovery-oriented community-based mental health services.</p
Psychiatry, society and politics: where mental health meets human rights
No full textA former Chief Psychiatrist of Queensland, Neeraj Gill explores the vital connection between human rights and psychiatry, revealing how Queensland's social and political context has had dramatic ramifications for the way the state approaches those who suffer mental illness.Griffith ReviewNo Full Tex
Fiji:Mental Health Care and Law in an Island Nation
No full textFiji is an island nation in the South Pacific, with a population of less than a million. This chapter examines the impact of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on mental health law and practice in Fiji, as well as the logistical, economic and cultural barriers to enacting the principles outlined in the CRPD. Several significant advances are described, including reformation and modernisation of the Mental Health Act, 2010, decentralisation of healthcare services, empowerment of community mental health services and a shift towards recovery-centred care. The current mental health landscape includes the nineteenth century St. Giles Hospital in the capital city of Suva, with a Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) and Stress Management Wards in three divisional hospitals. The CMHT, Telemedicine unit and Primary Health Centres collaborate to deliver community-based mental health services. Further decentralisation, specialised clinics for specific populations, Mind Farm and developing St. Giles Hospital into a Regional Institute of Mental Health Care and Research (RIMHCaRe) are other plans taking shape in a phased manner. Unfortunately, resource constraints pose a significant obstacle in fully implementing reforms to align with the CRPD, leaving a gap between legislative aspirations and the practical delivery of mental health services in Fiji. Through an analysis of Fiji’s mental health law and the impact of resource limitations, this chapter sheds light on the complexities and potential solutions for addressing Fijian mental health needs more in line with the principles of the CRPD.</p
“The media will always have axes to grind but the police have the capacity to project their side of the story better” – Neeraj Kumar
No full textNeeraj Kumar recently retired as the Commissioner of Police Delhi, having served in the Indian Police Service for over 37 years in a wide range of roles. He has now penned his first book, a collection of stories pertaining to high-profile cases solved during his nine year tenure at the Central Bureau of Investigation. Ahead of the London launch of the book, he spoke to Sonali Campion about the IPS, security and corruption in India. Dial D for Don: Inside stories of CBI missions will be launched at the Nehru Centre on 13 July at 6.30pm. The event is free and open to all and will include a panel with leading journalist Owen Bennett Jones and the author. Details here
Issues Arising in the Application of the CRPD in Practice - Case Histories
No full textIn this section, we explore issues that arise during application of the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in mental health care through a discussion of case histories modelled on real-life stories in clinical practice. We brought together psychiatrists, persons who experienced mental illness and persons who provided formal and informal care to people with mental illness, to discuss what could be the best way to act in a variety of frequently occurring situations and examine whether the best course of action for the person with an impairment and those around them is in harmony with the CRPD requirements. The persons invited to participate in these discussions were from different countries ranging from low-, middle-, to high-income countries. The case histories deal with economic, social, and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights, highlighting the indivisibility of rights. These case histories portray a picture of several violations of human rights of people with mental illness such as the right to access to health services, the right to social inclusion and social services, the right to exercise autonomy and liberty, and the right to physical and mental integrity, among others. In addition to the mistreatment of some individuals in the psychiatric system, the main problem in the field of mental health which leads to human rights violations is the behavior of governments which do not provide resources for treatment and care for people with mental illness (and their family).No Full Tex
A call for multi-agency collaboration in the Pacific Island countries' mental health - The World Federation for Mental Health viewpoint
No full textOBJECTIVE: To introduce the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) viewpoint on the Pacific Island countries' mental health capacity building.CONCLUSION: Multi-agency collaboration guided by a nuanced understanding of the local context can enable a public health model of mental health service delivery in the Pacific Island countries.</p
Lovers of Philosophy by Warren Ward.
No full textThis book is an intriguing exploration of the intimate lives of seven great philosophers and how their love lives shaped their philosophy.1 The reader learns about Kant’s smitten infatuation, Hegel’s premarital liaison with a married woman, Nietzsche’s conflict and heartbreak, Heidegger’s hypocrisy, Sartre’s open relationship and polyamorous lifestyle, Foucault’s gay liberation and Derrida’s extramarital affairs.The lives of these philosophers are explored against the backdrop of socio-political changes in Europe from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. This provides the readers with a personalised and contextualised introduction to a wide range of philosophical movements including German idealism, phenomenology, existentialism, post-structuralism and deconstructionism.<br/
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