The Rights of Persons with Mental Disabilities to Access Mental Health Care and their Human Rights Conditions in Psychiatric Facilities in Ethiopia
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Date
2013-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Th e standardi zati o n and und ertakin gs for reco gnit io n and respec t of hum a n ri ght s dates back to
1948 with th e ad o ption of th e UDHR. The und erstanding towards the universa lity of human
ri ghts is reach ed relatively later at the third World Human Ri ghts Co nferen ce in Vienna in 1993.
Des pit e thi s, until recently, littl e attenti on has been afford ed to address in g the seri o us human
ri ghts vi o lati ons s uffered by PWDs. In res ponse to the lo ng reigned neglect and th e advo cacy
work s by differe nt caucus of th e di sabiliti es movemen t, in 2 006, a se pa rat e Co nve nti on was
agreed at the UN leve l, the CRPD, whi ch culmin ated th e effort s of many stakeh o ld e rs to brin g
about a new daw n for PWD s .
PWMD s are among thi s gro up o f peopl e who are vuln erable gro ups and ha ve been victim s of
human ri ghts violati o ns base d o n th e ir di sabiliti es. T he gross ly in adequ ate bud get all ocated to
me nta l hea lth compared to th e burde n it cau sed on the g lobal burde n of di se ase and di sability
ev idences how th ese gro up of peo p le are forgotten glo ball y and at a na ti onal leve l. T hi s has fa r
reac hin g impli catio ns on the ir human ri ght s . The in stitutio n s exte ndin g care for PW MD s have
been places of perp et ratio n of various human r ights vio lations.
In th e ab ove re spect, Ethi o pia is no t a di fferent co untry. With 15-1 7% of th e tot al burde n of
di seases is cau sed by menta l illness, it is seri o usly a concern to a ll ocat e an in s ignifi can t bud ge t to
th e fi e ld. Thi s is exace rbated du e to th e lac k of neithe r an y menta l heal t h law nor a po licy for th e
protection of the rights of PWMDs, eithe r an y body to safeguard their co ndi tions in psyc hi at ri c
fac iliti es . The se people are thus suffering from vari ous form s of hum a n ri ghts vio lati ons be hin d
cl osed do ors in addition to the lack of access to ment al health services.
T hi s stud y is therefo re an effort to show th e ri ght of PWMDs to ac cess mental hea lth serv ice s
and to show the hum an ri g ht s implicati o ns of the s itu ati on, in Ethi opia o n the ri ght s of PWM Ds.
More over, th e human ri ght s co nditi on s at th e psychi atric settings are also addressed in thi s stud y.
Key wo rd s: Ethi opia, human ri ght s, me nta l di sabil iti es, menta l health, psychiat ric fac ilities
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Keywords
Ethiopia, Human Rights, mentaldi sabilities, mental health, psychiat