On International Human Rights Day, we share the OHCHR report developed post a consultation on mental health & human rights held in October 2024, where TCI joined as a panelist representing the global movement of persons with psychosocial disabilities.

The consultation sought to understand the barriers to applying a rights based approach to mental health and to identify the policy measures needed to align laws, services and practices with international human rights standards.

In our intervention, we emphasized a core principle of our movement: mental health and human rights cannot be treated as separate streams. Our rights do not flow from a ‘mental health’ framework, they are universal, indivisible and grounded in freedom, legal capacity, equity and inclusion. As long as incapacity laws and coercive systems remain, even in updated forms, our lives and freedoms will continue to be disrupted.

We reaffirm today that we are not advocating for small adjustments within existing systems. We are asserting our right to live full, connected, self determined lives in our communities, on an equal basis with others and for all policy efforts to be rooted firmly in human rights and not filtered through a mental health lens.

The OHCHR report acknowledges the challenges within current mental health systems and reflects several points raised during the consultation including concerns about coercion, dominance of the medical model and the need for community-based supports. While the consultation report incorporates some points made by TCI, it only partially reflects the core message.

You can read the report here: https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/58/38