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STATEMENT FROM THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION/PANAMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO/PAHO) FOR THE INFORMAL BRIEFING OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE ON A COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRAL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION TO PROMOTE AN PROTECT THE RIGHTS AND DIGNITY OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

New York, August 6 (2002)

(Presented by Javier Vasquez, PAHO's Mental Health Program)

I. INTRODUCTION

The WHO welcomes the initiative to elaborate an international convention on the promotion and protection of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities and strongly supports the development of this convention. This Organization sees it as a positive affirmation of changing attitudes towards disability in the wider community and also recognises the need to revise the United Nations Standard Rules and sees this as work that can be done in parallel with the proposed convention.

WHO plays a lead role in setting priorities for health and, as it is recognized in the WHO Constitution, views health as a state of physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

As a United Nations agency, WHO is committed to promoting the rights of people with physical and mental disabilities. In 2001, the organization published the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) endorsed by the 191 WHO Member States, which, for the first time, provides a framework for collecting evidence on social and other environmental obstacles that all people may face in their lives. These data are essential for protecting persons against human rights abuse, particularly with regard to health and disability.

As you may remember, WHO celebrated the "World Health day" last year (April 7, 2001) whose theme was mental health and numerous events took place throughout the world to inform and educate people about mental health, including the respect for the human rights of persons with mental disorders. Subsequently, in May 2001, the World Health Assembly discussed mental health from different angles, one of them discrimination and stigma. Finally, last October, WHO published the "World Health Report 2001" entitled Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope which could be used by international organizations, government officials, NGO's, consumer organizations and other stakeholders as an specific standard in their efforts to promote and protect mental health. We could say that WHO and its regional offices dedicated 2001 to mental health promotion and protection.

II. ADVOCACY STRATEGIES FOR THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH MENTAL DISABILITIES

A. Collaboration with WHO (Headquarters) in the campaign "Stop Exclusion, dare to care"

PAHO, as regional office for the Americas of the WHO and Specialized Agency of the Organization of American States (OAS) started in 1990 joint activities with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS) to protect the human rights of persons with mental disabilities. Such activities are being developed through PAHO's Mental Health Program and the Department of Legal Affairs.

PAHO's Mental Health Program is collaborating with the WHO (Headquarters, Geneva) in the campaign "Stop Exclusion, Dare to Care" whose one of the components is the promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with mental disabilities and their family members. Thus, international symposiums on human rights and mental health has been organized by WHO and PAHO in Geneva and as a result of such conferences a mental health legislation manual is being developed. Such a manual will provide information and practical advise in order to support countries in the formulation of strategies for the drafting and amending of mental health laws, the process of enacting mental health legal frameworks and the implementation of new or existing mental health laws according to general human rights norms and international standards on mental health.

B. The training workshops: an appropriate and dynamic mechanism

PAHO also believes that any discussion regarding mental disability rights and the eventual drafting of legal instruments must begin with the dissemination among U.N. agencies, international and national NGO's, human rights organizations, ombudsman offices, mental health staff, lawyers, consumers, students, etc. of the international standards and conventional human rights norms that protect persons with mental disabilities.

The role of PAHO is vital not only in order to disseminate the body of international mental health principles in the countries and to advise local governments about them, but also to incorporate NGO's and consumer organizations that are capable of further dissemination of the international legal framework as well. It is important to mention that PAHO has representation offices in almost all countries of the Americas that work very closely with the Ministries of Health of the Region.

In order to contribute towards the dissemination mentioned above, PAHO with the collaboration of WHO's Headquarters and the Organization of American States is organizing training workshops in the Region of the Americas. PAHO has conducted so far training workshops in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Chile, Ecuador, Barbados and St. Lucia.

Such workshops are one of the advocacy strategies implemented by PAHO on mental disability rights and the outcome has been not only the protection of the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with mental disabilities, but also a technical guidance to WHO's Member States on how to design and/reform their mental health policies, plans and legislation and develop integrated national networks for the promotion and protection of mental health. PAHO has established networks in all the countries mentioned above formed by ministries of health, ministries of labor, ministries of justice, police departments, psychiatric hospitals, members of Congress and the Judiciary, professional associations (psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, etc.), consumers, family members, advocates, lawyers, artists, economists, journalists, etc.

C. Collaboration with International Human Rights Bodies

PAHO's Mental Health Program was invited by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Human Rights body of the Organization of American States) during its 110th and 113th ordinary periods of sessions to participate in hearings and discuss the situation of the human rights of persons with mental disabilities and their family members in the Americas. (Tool: hearings)

As a result of the aforementioned hearings, the Commission approved last year a recommendation directed to OAS Member States regarding specific actions to be taken to promote and protect the human rights of persons with mental disabilities. Such document is an Inter-American standard of protection which is supporting PAHO in its effort to assist Member States, civil society and consumers in the dissemination of international human rights standards, the formulation and/or amendment of national mental health laws, plans and policies, the establishment of monitoring bodies in the countries and the shifting from psychiatric institutions to community based services. (Tool: drafting of international human rights instruments)

Following PAHO's recommendations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decided to include psychiatric hospitals as part of its visits in loco and make its observations according to the international standards explained by PAHO's Mental Health Program in the meetings mentioned above. Indeed, last year the Commission visited the National Psychiatric Hospital of Panama and will release a report which will include a section on mental disability rights. (Tool: a monitoring system based on the American Convention on Human Rights and the Inter-American institutions)

In addition, the Commission will request PAHO's technical opinions to interpret the American Convention on Human Rights in light of the international human rights standards of protection that apply to mental health and will incorporate these standards and norms in final reports regarding to individual cases where the victims are persons with mental disabilities. (Tool: technical cooperation)

PAHO's mental health program has urged the Commission to continue to include the issue of mental disability rights in its special reports on the human rights situation in the Member States of the Inter-American System and that in the same reports, the Commission urges Member States to draft/reform existing mental health policies and/or legislation by incorporating the international human rights norms and standards that protect persons with mental disabilities. (Tool: the use of Commission's reports to influence the formulation of mental health policies and legislation)

D. Upcoming PAHO's publication on mental health and human rights

PAHO, through the Department of Legal Affairs and with the technical collaboration of the Mental Health Program will publish a compilation of the most important general human rights conventions and international standards on mental disability that protect the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with mental disabilities, as adopted by the United Nations, European and Inter-American human rights bodies and relevant NGO's involved in the promotion and protection of mental health.

As a leading international organization on health, WHO and its regional offices values the opportunity to participate as a technical collaborator, along with organizations of persons with disabilities, governments and other stakeholders, in the coming work to develop a convention that recognises the unique skills of all individuals, protects human rights and fundamental freedoms and promotes the maximisation of good health and full participation for everyone without discrimination. Thanks.

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