European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and mental disability

Budapest May 26, 2003 - The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC), an international organization based in Budapest, promotes and protects the human rights of people with mental health problems and intellectual disability (mental disability) in central and eastern Europe and central Asia.

On 22 and 23 May 2003, MDAC delivered a 2-day training seminar in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and mental disability. The seminar was held under the auspices of the BiH Ombudsman Mr. Frank Orton and was held in the Federal Parliament Building in Sarajevo. The national NGO �Network of Associations for Mutual Support in Mental Distress in BiH�, co-organized the seminar, which is was also supported by the Council of Europe. Participants included Ministry of Health officials from both entities, user organizations, human rights organizations, psychiatrists and social workers, and the event was chaired by Mr. Boris Topic, lawyer for the Ombudsman.

The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified the ECHR in August 2002, although it has been part of domestic law since the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. On 15 August 2001, one of the entities of the country, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted a Mental Health Law, however the other entity, Republic of Srpska, has no operative mental health legislation.

MDAC trainers spent two days conducting field missions to psychiatric hospitals in both entities. MDAC�s Legal Director Oliver Lewis, one of the trainers of the seminar, said: �Despite the commendable steps towards reform, MDAC finds areas for great improvements in both entities of BiH. In Republic of Srpska, psychiatric institutions detain and treat people in a legal vacuum, in manifest violation of international law. In the Federation, the Mental Health Law intends compliance with international law, but the legislation fails to provide patients with any role in the judicial process reviewing the necessity of detention.�

Dr Peter Bartlett, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, and a trainer during the seminar said: "While post-war re-construction obviously poses challenges across the country, the rights and dignity of people with mental disability must be a specific state priority. While we have been encouraged by some facilities here, others do not meet fundamental standards of humane provision. The ECHR contains substantive protections against inhuman and degrading treatment, which attach both to physical surroundings and standards of care. The ECHR is clear that the provision of such fundamental standards is the responsibility of the State."

This seminar is particularly timely, occurring three weeks after the visit to BiH by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. The international community should demand that the government ensure human rights are respected within psychiatric and social care institutions, as well as implementing its program of closing large hospitals and establishing community-based services. MDAC offers its assistance to both entities to ensure their legislation and practice protects and promotes the rights of people with mental disability.

For more information contact Clark Johnson, MDAC Advocacy Coordinator, clark@mdac.infoTel +361 411 4410, fax +361 411 4411. For a training pack in Bosnian language, see MDAC