All great organisations set forth codes by which
they align their purposes and activities. The Mental Health Declaration
of Human Rights articulates the guiding principles of CCHR and the
standards against which human rights violations within the field
of mental health are relentlessly investigated and exposed.
A. No person shall be given psychiatric or psychological
treatment against his or her will.
B. No person, man, woman or child, may be denied
his or her personal liberty by reason of mental illness, so-called,
without a fair jury trial by laymen and with proper legal representation.
C. No person shall be admitted to or held in a
psychiatric institution, hospital or facility because of their religious,
political or cultural beliefs and practices.
D. Any patient has:
1. The right to be treated with dignity as a human
being;
2. The right to hospital amenities without distinction
as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political opinion,
social origin or status by right of birth or property.
3. The right to have a thorough, physical and clinical
examination by a competent registered general practitioner of one's
choice, to ensure that one's mental condition is not caused by any
undetected and untreated physical illness, injury or defect, and
the right to seek a second medical opinion of one's choice.
4. The right to fully equipped medical facilities
and appropriately trained medical staff in hospitals, so that competent
physical, clinical examinations can be performed.
5. The right to choose the kind or type of therapy
to be employed, and the right to discuss this with a general practitioner,
healer or minister of one's choice.
6. The right to have all the side effects of any
offered treatment made clear and understandable to the patient,
in written form and in the patient's native language.
7. The right to accept or refuse treatment but
in particular, the right to refuse sterilisation, electroshock treatment,
insulin shock, lobotomy (or any other psychosurgical brain operation),
aversion therapy, narcotherapy, deep sleep therapy and any drugs
producing unwanted side effects.
8. The right to make official complaints, without
reprisal, to an independent board which is composed of non-psychiatric
personnel, lawyers and lay people. Complaints may encompass any
torturous, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment received
while under psychiatric care.
9. The right to have private counsel with a legal
advisor and to take legal action.
10. The right to discharge oneself at any time
and to be discharged without restriction, having committed no offence.
11. The right to manage one's own property and
affairs with a legal advisor, if necessary, or if deemed incompetent
by a court of law, to have a State appointed executor to manage
such until one is adjudicated competent. Such executor is accountable
to the patient's next of kin, of legal advisor or guardian.
12. The right to see and possess one's hospital
records and to take legal action with regard to any false information
contained therein which may be damaging to one' reputation.
13. The right to take criminal action, with the
full assistance of law enforcement agents, against any psychiatrist,
psychologist or hospital staff for any abuse, false imprisonment,
assault from treatment, sexual abuse or rape, or any violation of
mental health or other law. And the right to a mental health law
that does not indemnify or modify the penalties for criminal, abusive
or negligent treatment of patients committed by any psychiatrist,
psychologist or hospital staff.
14. The right to sue psychiatrists, their associations
and colleges, the institution, or staff for unlawful detention,
false reports, or damaging treatment.
15. The right to work or to refuse to work, and
the right to receive just compensation on a pay-scale comparable
to union or state/national wages for similar work, for any work
performed while hospitalised.
16. The right to education or training so as to
enable one better to earn a living when discharged, the right of
choice over what kind of education or training is received.
17. The right to receive visitors and a minister
of one's own faith.
18. The right to make and receive telephone calls
and the right to privacy with regard to all personal correspondence
to and from anyone.
19. The right to freely associate or not with any
group or person in a psychiatric institution, hospital or facility.
20. The right to a safe environment without having
in the environment, persons placed there for criminal reasons.
21. The right to be with others of one's own age
group.
22. The right to ware personal clothing, to have
personal effects and to have a secure place in which to keep them.
23. The right to daily physical exercise in the
open.
24. The right to a proper diet and nutrition and
to three meals a day.
25. The right to hygienic conditions and non-overcrowded
facilities, and to sufficient, undisturbed leisure and rest. |
