Healing or jailing? Reconciling fundamental contradictions between the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Psychiatric Confinement Cases
Healing or jailing? Reconciling fundamental contradictions between the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Psychiatric Confinement Cases
Date
2024
Authors
Chiera, Emma
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Abstract
This essay presents a thorough analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human
Rights, both prior to and following the entry into force of the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The research will focus on cases involving violations of
Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which permits the
involuntary confinement of persons of ‘unsound mind’. As is discussed in this paper, the
CRPD expressly prohibits confinement on the basis of disability; this essay asks how the
Court has considered the CRPD in its case law in light of this contradiction between the two
conventions. It will be shown that the Court has struggled to define the ‘unsound mind’ or
equate it to a mental disability, and has been generally reluctant to include the CRPD in its
rulings on psychiatric confinement cases. The Court has therefore neglected to apply the
CRPD properly, or even to allow the CRPD to develop its case law in any way. The paper
will conclude by suggesting methods for a more harmonious interpretation of the two
conventions, and how the Court can be more progressive in its treatment of persons with
disabilities and all those involuntarily confined.
Description
Second semester University: University of Nottingham
Keywords
people with disabilities,
European Convention on Human Rights - Article 5,
European Court of Human Rights,
case law,
Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities,
mental health,
people with mental disabilities