The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the future of mental health law

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) took effect on 3 May 2008. Here, I survey the content of the CRPD, noting that much of it will buttress existing policy initiatives. It places obligations on states (including the UK) to implement its provisions, which include standard human rights protection, rights to service provision particularly in the community, and protection from exploitation. Amendment of the Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Capacity Act 2005 will be required to meet these standards. Although some of these changes are consistent with existing policy directions, others on their face provide a direct challenge to how we have thought about mental health law. In particular, the requirement that mental disability can never justify a deprivation of liberty (art 14) directly challenges how mental health law has been conceived in the UK. Compulsory treatment is also likely to be open to challenge, either in whole or in part. Mental health professionals must engage with these new ideas to re-formulate what mental health law is for.