The World Health Organisation (WHO) dedicated International Human Rights Day to people with mental disorders, highlighting thereof the prevalence of human right abuses.
Following an increasing awareness that people with mental ill health suffer from violation of their human dignity, the World Health Organisation decided to point out the continuing need to address stigma, discrimination and the consequent social exclusion.
In order to draw attention on the issue, the WHO has designed a new online photo essay, entitled ¨Forgotten People: Mental Health and Human Rights¨, which gives some examples of human rights violations and above all how they can be stopped.
This focus on the human right dimension of mental health underlines actions already taken within the European region:
– The European Commission (EC) released in October 2005 a Green paper on Mental Health to launch a broad consultation on mental health in Europe. This should be the first step towards the establishment of an EU-strategy on mental health.
– The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted on the 24 June 2005 a resolution calling governments to ensure that fundamental rights and dignity of mentally ill persons are respected.
– In January 2005, the WHO organised a Ministerial Conference on Mental health “Facing the challenges, building solutions” in Helsinki, in partnership with the European Union and the Council of Europe. Health ministers from 52 countries of the WHO European Region agreed on effective mental health policies and actions to be taken. The Helsinki Conference was the first time that health ministers in Europe committed to mainstream action on mental health into other related policies. The Conference resulted in a “Mental health Declaration for Europe” and an Action plan, which will drive the policy agenda on mental health for the coming years.
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For more information:
Mental Health Europe has started a project on Mental health and social exclusion – sharing good practice on fighting discrimination