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Peter
Lehmann
About the "Draft Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers
to member states to ensure the protection of the human rights and dignity
of people with mental disorder, especially those placed as involuntary
patients in a psychiatric establishment"
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Attention!
Meanwhile the "Recommendation. Rec(2004)10 of the Committee
of Ministers to member states concerning the protection of the
human rights and dignity of persons with mental disorder"
was adopted by the Europan Council on September 22, 2004, see
http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/healthbioethic/texts_and_documents/Rec%282004%2910_e.pdf
(The European Council consists of the Heads of State or Government
of the Member States, together with its President and the President
of the Commission.)
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July 19, 2004: Letter
to the German foreign ministry and the announcment of the Committee
of Ministers to adopt the convention in September 2004
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June 1, 2004: The Council of Europe Bioethics Steering Committee
(CDBI) has submitted the final
draft to the Committee of Ministers. No open, public hearing,
no consultation, nothing the former president of CDBI promised.
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February 2004: The Steering
Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe has developed
a second and probably also a third RESTRICTED (secret) draft of
a new recommendation to replace R83 as follow-ups of the first draft
and the White Paper. (R83 is the European Parliament's recommendation
"Recommendation R(83) 2 Concerning the legal protection of persons
suffering from mental disorders placed as involuntary patients"
from 1983. It is still in force and allows only forced treatment
when detained in an establishment. You find it as an appendix to
the White Paper.) The drafting process has been going on since 2000
as a follow-up of the White Paper which both ENUSP and WNUSP protested against. Via the
Danish ministry of health Karl Bach Jensen raised a demand in the
Committee on Bioethics to have the final draft published for a public
hearing before it ends in the Committee of Ministers for approval.
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Ms Ruth Reusser, lawyer from Switzerland and in 2003 chair of the
Steering Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe, expressed
her resistance against forced treatment outside an institution in
an interview with Karl Bach, which was recorded and is on the internet,
see and listen: www.lokaltv-aarhus.dk/sw2162.asp,
click "Se
video fra debatten". She promised a public hearing. But
meanwhile she is not the chair of the Steering Committee any more.
See the members
of the (un-)resposnible "Working Party on psychiatry and human
rights (CDBI-PH)."
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This demand for a public hearing has now been rejected by a majority
of the committee! A new drafting group had its last meeting February
4-6, 2004, and the Committee on Bioethics will have its next meeting on March
16-19, 2004. Since the right of a state to legalise forced treatment
in the community still seems to be included in the drafts, the threat
against the human rights of (ex-)users and survivors of psychiatry
in Europe are still alarming. It is unknown if forced sterilisation
and forced abortion still are included. It seems like the draft
bills in England, Scotland and Germany are waiting for this draft
to be finalised to make it easier to pass these semi fascist laws
in the respective parliaments. Please try to convince your government
not to let the draft pass without a public hearing!
Should
this Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member States to
ensure the protection of the human rights and dignity of people with
mental disorder, especially those placed as involuntary patients in
a psychiatric establishment be accepted in its present form, it would
produce a wide-ranging right to treatment, and more specifically a psychiatric
right of involuntary/forced administration of toxic psychiatric drugs
within and outside of Institutions.
National NGOs are called to submit to their respective governments,
and international NGOs in the English or French languages to The Secretariat
of the European Council, DGI I Legal Affairs, Private Law Department,
Council of Europe, F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex. Tel: +33-(0)3-8841-2136,
+33(0)3-8841-2204, Fax: +33-(0)3-8841-3745, eMail jean.claus@coe.int
Copies
of the Draft Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to
member States to ensure the protection of the human rights and dignity
of people with mental disorder, especially those placed as involuntary
patients in a psychiatric establishment" should be demanded
from the respective national Justice Ministries.
How did the "Draft Recommendation of the Committee
of Ministers to member States to ensure the protection of the human
rights and dignity of people with mental disorder, especially those
placed as involuntary patients in a psychiatric establishment"
(former "White Paper") come about?
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On January 3, 2000 the working group of the Steering Committee on Bioethics published
the "'White Paper' on Protecting the Human Rights and
Human Dignity in the Field of Psychiatry more especially
those within Psychiatric Institutions."
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This White Paper serves as a basis for discussion to lay down guidelines, which should
be incorporated into new Legislation from the European Council.
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Background: On April 12, 1994, The Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council
adopted the Recommendation 1235 (1994) concerning Psychiatry and
Human Rights, wherein the Ministerial Committee calls for the adoption
of new recommendations. Thereupon the Ministerial Committee formed
the new Working Group on Psychiatry and Human Rights (CDBI-PH) to
operate under the authority of the Steering Committee on Bioethics
(CDBI). How the demand for production of the White Paper to be produced
by the Working Group came about is described in the beginning of
the White Paper itself.
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On March 16, 2000 the Secretariat of the Working Group on Psychiatry and Human
Rights of the Directorate General, I Legal Affairs sent the
original version of the Paper amongst others, to the European
Network of (ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry with a request
for comment.
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On August 14, 2000 the German Federal ministry for Justice also sent
the White Paper to "Interested Parties in the Area of Psychiatry
and Human Rights", together with a working translation of the
Paper in the German language, which had been produced in Austria.
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Deadline
for submission of Comments to the respective Ministries was September/October
2000. (In the case of Germany: Bundesministerium der Justiz, Geschäftszeichen
III B 2 - 9510/91-1-16, 11015 Berlin, Tel. 030-202570, Fax 030-20259525).
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The aforementioned
CDBI-PH examined suggestions and objections, which should be reflected
in a the re-worked version, which went before the CDBI during the
year 2001. Whereupon an approved version of the text will be
submitted by the CDBI in the form of a proposed recommendation to
the Ministerial Committee of the European Council for acceptance.
- Current Development
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