Drop the draft: MHE speaks out against Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention

Despite strong opposition from people with lived experience and other experts, the Council of Europe continues negotiations on the draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention.

The Protocol aims to regulate ‘involuntary placement and treatment of persons with mental disorders’, but MHE believes it is out of step with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and could solidify rather than reduce institutionalisation and forced treatment of persons with psychosocial disabilities.

Kristijan Grdjan – Chair of MHE’s Human Rights Committee – this week spoke out against the Protocol at a UN consultation in Geneva, Switzerland, on ‘Identifying strategies to promote human rights in mental health’.

MHE President Jan Berndsen is also one of several signatories to a letter sent to the Council of Europe and its Committee on Bioethics calling for the immediate withdrawal of the Protocol. The letter, which also expresses concern about a lack of meaningful participation of civil society, can be read HERE.

For Mental Health Europe’s previous statements, read our response to the public consultation in 2015 HERE and our statement with the European Network of (ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry in 2017 HERE.