The treatment of mentally ill in the international human rights instruments : a study on the evolution of the legal treatment of mentally ill

Abstract

This work is the result of a research on the evolution of the legal treatment received by mentally ill in the international human rights instruments. Especially focused on a comparisson between the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The initial idea was to determine the consequences of deinstitutionalisation on the human rights field. But, when deeply studying article 5 of the ECHR, which permits forced detention, the author realised the contradiction of this provision with the deinstitutionalisation process and with human rights standards overall. Therefore, it was decided to focus on the study of the legal treatment of mentally ill through the study of their forced institutionalisation and forced treatment through history. However, during the study, the author finds out that the human rights instruments had not prohibited this practices until recently (CRPD), rather have regulated and legitimated them (ECHR). Autonomy and capability arise as two key elements in order to finish with disempowerment practices and give the rights back to mentally ill in an equalitarian ground. The contributions of this project are twofold. First, is demonstrated that human rights are not free from contextual influences and they evolve through time parallell to society’s attitudes and awareness. Secondly, the benefits of applying the CRPD provisions to mentally ill are exposed. But it will be necessary to abolish existing mental health laws and article 5 of the ECHR in order to comply with the CRPD