Multi-level protection of rights: India's Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 and the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Articles 12 and 14)

Int J Law Psychiatry. 2023 Sep 20;91:101937. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2023.101937. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTMental health law is a feature of mental health systems around the world, so legislative reform is an important way to advance compliance with the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This paper provides an overview of India's Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 in the context of Articles 12 ('Equal recognition before the law') and 14 ('Liberty and security of person'). Notwithstanding the potential of law to produce change, exclusive or disproportionate emphasis on law draws attention from other areas in need of equal if not greater reform, such as public education, mental health services, physical healthcare, social care networks, criminal justice systems, and gathering political backing for the profound reforms needed to transform the socio-economic landscapes in which mental illness develops, diagnoses are made, treatment is provided (or not provided), recovery occurs (or does not occur), and social citizenship is protected and promoted (or eroded and obstructed). There is a particular issue with misunderstandings of psychiatry in academic discussions of mental health legislation which appears to stem from lack of engagement with the full diversity of service-user views and the evidence base for psychiatric care. Greater recognition of upstream factors that shape both suffering and services would acknowledge that the decisions of pol...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - Category: Medical Law Authors: Source Type: research