Prohibition of Compulsory Mental Health Treatment and Detention Under the CRPD

Abstract

This paper uses interpretive tools to analyze the application of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to the prohibition of compulsory mental health treatment and detention. It addresses the definitions of disability and discrimination, legal capacity, liberty, respect for physical and mental integrity, free and informed consent in health care, and adds the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment as applied by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. The paper also answers questions regarding the intention/purpose of the CRPD, other relevant interpretive factors, the compatibility of deprivation of liberty based on health reasons and/or treatment without free and informed consent with the CRPD principle of individual autonomy, whether individual autonomy can be restricted without this being done on an equal basis for all, and whether compulsory interventions can be viewed as positive affirmative actions. The paper was originally prepared as a submission to the Law Committee of the Norwegian government in connection with its review of the Mental Health Act.