Dhaka: The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, and on the right to health, Dainius Puras, on Thursday 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 medication in order to ensure that persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are treated with dignity and their human rights respected.

The World Mental Health Day, which is supported by the United Nations, is observed on October 10 every year to raise public awareness about mental health issues worldwide.

The theme of this year’s day is: ‘Dignity in Mental Health’.

‘Locked in institutions, tied down with restraints, often in solitary confinement, forcibly injected with drugs and overmedicated, electroshocked, 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,’ said the experts.

Globally, persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities face discrimination, stigma and marginalisation 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, they said.

They said dignity cannot be compatible with practices of force treatment which very often amount to torture. ‘States must halt this situation as a matter of urgency and respect each person’s autonomy, including their right to choose or refuse treatment and care.’

Without freedom from violence and abuse, autonomy and self-determination, inclusion in the community and participation in decision-making, the inherent dignity of the person becomes an empty concept, they observed.

They said the international community needs to acknowledge the extent of these violations, which are broadly accepted and justified in the name of psychiatry as a medical practice.

‘We call on States to end all instances of arbitrary detention, forced institutionalisation and forced medication, to ensure that persons with developmental and psychosocial disabilities are treated with dignity and are provided their rights to both, have their decisions respected at all times, and have access to the needed support and accommodation to effectively communicate such decisions,’ said the experts.