GENEVA (8 October 2015) – The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina  Devandas-Aguilar, and on the right to health, Dainius Pûras, today called on States to eradicate all forms of non-consensual psychiatric treatment.

Speaking ahead of the World Mental Health Day*, the independent experts urged Governments to put an end to arbitrary detention, forced institutionalisation and forced treatment, in order to ensure that persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are treated with dignity and their human rights respected.

“Locked in institutions, tied down with restraints, often in solitary confinement, forcibly injected with drugs and overmedicated, are only few illustrations of the ways in which persons with disabilities, or those perceived to be so, are treated without their consent, with severe consequences for their physical and mental integrity.

Globally, persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities face discrimination, stigma and marginalization and are subject to emotional and physical abuse in both mental health facilities and the community.  And every year, the rights and dignity of hundreds of thousands of people across the world are violated as a consequence of non-consensual psychiatry interventions.

All too often persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are formally or informally destitute of their legal capacity and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in psychiatric hospitals, other specialized institutions, and other similar settings.

GENEVA (8 October 2015) – The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina  Devandas-Aguilar, and on the right to health, Dainius Pûras, today called on States to eradicate all forms of non-consensual psychiatric treatment.

Speaking ahead of the World Mental Health Day*, the independent experts urged Governments to put an end to arbitrary detention, forced institutionalisation and forced treatment, in order to ensure that persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are treated with dignity and their human rights respected.

“Locked in institutions, tied down with restraints, often in solitary confinement, forcibly injected with drugs and overmedicated, are only few illustrations of the ways in which persons with disabilities, or those perceived to be so, are treated without their consent, with severe consequences for their physical and mental integrity.

Globally, persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities face discrimination, stigma and marginalization and are subject to emotional and physical abuse in both mental health facilities and the community.  And every year, the rights and dignity of hundreds of thousands of people across the world are violated as a consequence of non-consensual psychiatry interventions.

All too often persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are formally or informally destitute of their legal capacity and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in psychiatric hospitals, other specialized institutions, and other similar settings.

- See more at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16583&LangID=E#sthash.Cw0Q872j.dpufGENEVA (8 October 2015) – The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina  Devandas-Aguilar, and on the right to health, Dainius Pûras, today called on States to eradicate all forms of non-consensual psychiatric treatment.

Speaking ahead of the World Mental Health Day*, the independent experts urged Governments to put an end to arbitrary detention, forced institutionalisation and forced treatment, in order to ensure that persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are treated with dignity and their human rights respected.

“Locked in institutions, tied down with restraints, often in solitary confinement, forcibly injected with drugs and overmedicated, are only few illustrations of the ways in which persons with disabilities, or those perceived to be so, are treated without their consent, with severe consequences for their physical and mental integrity.

Globally, persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities face discrimination, stigma and marginalization and are subject to emotional and physical abuse in both mental health facilities and the community.  And every year, the rights and dignity of hundreds of thousands of people across the world are violated as a consequence of non-consensual psychiatry interventions.

All too often persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are formally or informally destitute of their legal capacity and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in psychiatric hospitals, other specialized institutions, and other similar settings.
Read the full statement.