Dear friends,

It is our pleasant surprise to remark that the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights acceptetd our demand put forth in our statutes article
2.(B) h. to abolish the UN resolution 46/119 of December 17, 1991 on the
treatment of "mental patients"!
In a report to the General assembly of UN of "on enhancing awareness and
understanding of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities" the High Commissioner definitly states, that

* the insanity defense "must be abolished" (see Article 47 below)
* and that the "Convention radically departs " from the UN resolution
...on treatment of "mental patients" (see Article 48 below)
* that all mental health laws using the pretex "as the likelihood of
them posing a danger to themselves or others" "must be abolished" (see
Article 49 below)

47. In the area of criminal law, recognition of the legal capacity of
persons with disabilities requires abolishing a defence based on the
negation of criminal responsibility because of the existence of a mental
or intellectual disability.41 Instead disability-neutral doctrines on
the subjective element of the crime should be applied, which take into
consideration the situation of the individual defendant. Procedural
accommodations both during the pretrial and trial phase of the
proceedings might be required in accordance with article 13 of the
Convention, and implementing norms must be adopted.5. Right to liberty
and security of the person

48. A particular challenge in the context of promoting and protecting
the right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities is the
legislation and practice related to health care and more specifically to
institutionalization without the free and informed consent of the person
concerned (also often referred to as involuntary or compulsory
institutionalization). Prior to the entrance into force of the
Convention, the existence of a mental disability represented a lawful
ground for deprivation of liberty and detention under international
human rights law.42 The Convention radically departs from this approach
by forbidding deprivation of liberty based on the existence of any
disability, including mental or intellectual, as discriminatory. Article
14, paragraph 1 (b), of the Convention unambiguously states that "the
existence of a disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of
liberty". Proposals made during the drafting of the Convention to limit
the prohibition of detention to cases "solely" determined by disability
were rejected.43 As a result, unlawful detention encompasses situations
where the deprivation of liberty is grounded in the combination between
a mental or intellectual disability and other elements such as
dangerousness, or care and treatment. Since such measures are partly
justified by the person's disability, they are to be considered
discriminatory and in violation of the prohibition of deprivation of
liberty on the grounds of disability, and the right to liberty on an
equal basis with others prescribed by article 14.

49. Legislation authorizing the institutionalization of persons with
disabilities on the grounds of their disability without their free and
informed consent must be abolished. This must include the repeal of
provisions authorizing institutionalization of persons with disabilities
for their care and treatment without their free and informed consent, as
well as provisions authorizing the preventive detention of persons with
disabilities on grounds such as the likelihood of them posing a danger
to themselves or others, in all cases in which such grounds of care,
treatment and public security are linked in legislation to an apparent
or diagnosed mental illness. This should not be interpreted to say that
persons with disabilities cannot be lawfully subject to detention for
care and treatment or to preventive detention, but that the legal
grounds upon which restriction of liberty is determined must be
de-linked from the disability and neutrally defined so as to apply to
all persons on an equal basis.

41 Often referred to as "insanity defence".
42 See for reference the Principles for the Protection of Persons with
Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care, A/RES/46/119,
available at: http://www.un.org/documents/ ga/res/46/a46r119.htm.
43 In the course of the third session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a
Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection
and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities,
proposals were made to add the word "solely" to then draft article 10,
paragraph 1 (b), so it would read "any deprivation of liberty shall be
in conformity with the law and in no case shall be based solely on
disability.

Here you can find the report in:
English | French | Russian | Spanish | Chinese | Arabic

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Best regards
René Talbot
(Secretary of IAAPA iaapa.ch )