The permanent representatives in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Wednesday decided to move ahead on a review process collecting another opinion of a controversial draft text for a new additional protocol regulating the use of coercion in psychiatry. The permanent representatives prior to this had been notified of UN and civil society concern that this draft text violates international human rights law.
The work on this possible new additional protocol has a long history, starting back in 2011. It has received strong and persistent criticism since before the first drafts were formulated.
The drafted possible new legal instrument of the Council of Europe is stated to have an intend of protecting victims subjected to coercive measures in psychiatry which are known to be degrading and potentially amount to torture. The approach is through regulating the use of and preventing as much as possible such harmful practices. The critics which include the United Nations Human Rights mechanism, the Council of Europe’s own Commissioner on Human Rights, the Council’s own Parliamentary Assembly and numerous other experts, groups and bodies point out that allowing such practices under regulation is in opposition to the requirements of modern human rights, that simply ban them.
In June 2022 the permanent representatives, sitting in the Council of Europe’s decision-making body, the Committee of Ministers, in consequence of the persistent high level criticism of this work decided it needed further information and suspended the work on the draft protocol. They requested information on the use of voluntary measures to be able to finalize their stand on the drafted text on coercion in psychiatry. These deliverables were recently provided to the permanent representatives by its subordinary body, the Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO).
Following this very important partners and authorities issued concerns on the seeming continuation of the process of the draft additional protocol. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) reissued a statement to the Council of Europe, with further clarifications, on its concern of this Council of Europe draft additional protocol. The UN CRPD Committee reiterated the need for moving towards the end of the use of any form of coercion in the provision of mental health policies and services for persons with disabilities. And that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), ratified by everyone of the 47 member States of the Council of Europe, outlaws forced and involuntary institutionalization and any form of deprivation of liberty based on impairment, including in situations of persons with disabilities experiencing individual crisis.
The Secretariat of the Committee of Ministers decided to not issue the UN CRPD Committee’s statement to the permanent representatives “since it was already publicly available.” The Secretariat informed the European Times that this was explained to the sender with a suggestion “to circulate it themselves.” The Secretariat however did inform the delegations of the permanent representatives about it during an information meeting prior to the Wednesday meeting. The preparatory meeting took place 23 January and was attended only by a smaller number of members of the Committee of Ministers.
At its Wednesday meeting the Committee then decided to transmit to the Parliamentary Assembly the draft Additional Protocol to the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (ETS No. 164) concerning the protection of the human rights and dignity of persons with regard to involuntary placement and involuntary treatment within mental healthcare services and its draft Explanatory Report and invited the Parliamentary Assembly to give an opinion on the draft Additional Protocol as soon as possible.
Whether the fact that the permanent representatives, as announced in their June 2022 decision, with which they suspended the work to collect further data for a proper review, now resumed the work on the additional protocol after having received the requested information will in fact listen to the UN and the broad representation of civil society and its own Parliamentary Assembly and Human Rights Commissioner is to be seen.
The Parliamentary Assembly is now to review this extensive work and will most likely discuss it during the Spring session in April.
