CCHR Calls on Congress to Pass Laws Ending Coercive Mental Health Treatment, Aligning U.S. with International Human Rights Standards

Citizens Commission on Human Rights advocates a human rights-based approach to mental health services, a standard also promoted by the World Health Organization and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Washington, DC – July 25, 2024 /MarketersMEDIA/ —

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) calls on Congress to pass legislation to end coercive mental health treatment and implement a human rights-based approach to mental health services, bringing the U.S. into alignment with international human rights standards.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006, recognizes the need for major reforms to protect and promote human rights in mental health treatment. To help countries achieve those reforms, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its Guidance on Community Mental Health Services in 2021.

“Countries need mental health services that reject coercive practices, that support people to make their own decisions about their treatment and care, and that promote participation and community inclusion,” WHO advised.

Coercive mental health practices include forced admission to psychiatric facilities, forced drugging, physical or chemical restraint, seclusion, and involuntary electroconvulsive therapy (electroshock).

WHO stated that its opposition to involuntary mental health treatment extends even to those experiencing acute mental distress. The report noted that individuals in mental health crisis “are at a heightened risk of their human rights being violated, including through forced admissions and treatment…. These practices have been shown to be harmful to people’s mental, emotional and physical health, sometimes leading to death.”

In October 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) jointly issued a publication, Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation, to provide a blueprint for laws that promote human rights in mental health and end the human rights violations and forced treatment in mental health services that are made possible by current laws.

The United Nations-affiliated entities advise a complete overhaul of mental health systems by U.N. member countries, including the United States. “Our ambition must be to transform mental health services, not just in their reach, but in their underlying values, so that they are truly responsive to the needs and dignity of the individual.”

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls on Congress to take action to eliminate coercive and abusive mental health practices and provide for a human rights-based approach to mental health services. CCHR advocates for widespread adoption of a Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights that lays out fundamental human rights in the field of mental health. 

About the company: The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was co-founded in 1969 by members of the Church of Scientology and the late psychiatrist and humanitarian Thomas Szasz, M.D., recognized by many academics as modern psychiatry’s most authoritative critic, to eradicate abuse and restore human rights and dignity to the field of mental health.

Contact Info:
Name: Anne Goedeke
Email: Send Email
Organization: Citizens Commission on Human Rights, National Affairs Office
Address: Washington, DC
Website: http://www.CCHRNational.org

Release ID: 89136605

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