Mental Health and Human Rights

A/HRC/RES/43/13No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2020.

What other versions does this mandate have?

5 versions · 2016–2026

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/61/18

2026A/HRC/RES/61/18Mental health and human rightsLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/52/12Mental health and human rightsCompare with previous version
2020A/HRC/RES/43/13Mental health and human rightsCompare with previous version
2017A/HRC/RES/36/13Mental health and human rightsCompare with previous version
2016A/HRC/RES/32/18Mental health and human rights

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Consultations Health Policy Human Rights Human Rights Policy Mental Health Mental Health Services Persons with Mental Disabilities

What does this mandate say?

23 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on mental health and human rights on the consultation on human rights and mental health held in Geneva on 14 and 15 May 2018;

Also takes note with appreciation of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health on the critical role of the social and underlying determinants of health in advancing the realization of the right to mental health;

Further takes note with appreciation of the reports of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of person with disabilities on the right of persons with disabilities to equal recognition before the law;

Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on questions arising in relation to the notion of “psychological torture” under human rights law;

Reaffirms the obligation of States to protect, promote and respect all human rights and fundamental freedoms and to ensure that policies and services relating to mental health comply with international human rights norms;

Urges States to take active steps to fully integrate a human rights perspective into mental health and community services, and to adopt, implement, update, strengthen or monitor, as appropriate, all existing laws, policies and practices, with a view to eliminating all forms of discrimination, stigma, stereotypes, prejudice, violence, abuse, social exclusion, segregation, unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of liberty and institutionalization, and overmedicalization within that context, and to promote the right of persons with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities to live independently, to full inclusion and effective participation in society, to decide upon matters affecting them and to have their dignity respected on an equal basis with others;

Also urges States to promote a paradigm shift in mental health, inter alia, in the fields of clinical practice, policy, research, medical education and investment, through the promotion of community-, evidence- and human rights-based and people-centred services and supports that protect, promote and respect the enjoyment of the rights, autonomy, will and preferences of all persons, including by providing a range of voluntary supported decision-making mechanisms, such as peer support, and safeguards against abuse and undue influence within support arrangements, over a model based on the dominance of biomedical interventions, coercion, medicalization and institutionalization;

Calls upon States to abandon all practices and treatments that fail to respect the rights, autonomy, will and preferences of all persons on an equal basis with others, and that lead to power imbalances, stigma, discrimination, harm and human rights violations and abuses in mental health settings;

Also calls upon States to ensure that persons with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities, including users of mental health services, have access to justice on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations;

Urges States to address the underlying social, economic and environmental determinants of health and to address holistically the range of barriers arising from inequality and discrimination that impede the full enjoyment of human rights in the context of mental health;

Strongly encourages States to develop cross-sectoral strategies for the promotion of mental health that include public policies to prevent inequality, discrimination and violence in all settings and promote non-violent and respectful relationships between members of societies and communities, and increase mutual trust between authorities, individuals and civil society;

Urges States to adopt prevention strategies to address depression and suicide, such as public health policies that respect human rights and focus on tackling determinants, enhancing life skills and resilience, promoting social connection and healthy relationships, and avoiding overmedicalization;

Calls upon States to take all the measures necessary to ensure that health professionals provide care and support of the same quality to persons with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities, in particular persons using mental health services, as to others, including on the basis of free and informed consent by, inter alia, raising awareness of the human rights, dignity, autonomy and needs of these persons through training and the promulgation of ethical standards for public and private health care;

Strongly encourages States to support persons with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities to empower themselves in order to know and demand their rights, including by promoting health and human rights literacy, to provide human rights education and training for health and social workers, police, law enforcement officers, prison staff and other relevant professions, with a special focus on non-discrimination, free and informed consent and respect for the will and preferences of all, confidentiality and privacy, and to exchange best practices in this regard;

Encourages States to promote the effective, full and meaningful participation of persons with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities and their organizations in the design, implementation and monitoring of law, policies, services and programmes relevant to realizing the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of mental health;

Recognizes the need to promote the mainstreaming of a human rights perspective into mental health in all relevant public policies;

Encourages States to provide technical support and capacity-building through international cooperation to countries that develop and implement policies, plans, laws and services that promote and protect the human rights of persons with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities, in accordance with the present resolution, in consultation with, and with the consent of, the countries concerned;

Requests the High Commissioner to organize in 2021, and no later than the seventy-fourth session of the World Health Assembly, a one-day consultation to discuss the best ways to harmonize national laws, policies and practices relating to mental health with the norms of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

Also requests the High Commissioner to provide the above-mentioned consultation with all the services and facilities necessary to fulfil its activities, including by making the discussions fully accessible to persons with disabilities;

Further requests the High Commissioner to invite to the consultation Member States and all other stakeholders, including relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, in particular the World Health Organization, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, in particular the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the treaty bodies, national human rights institutions and civil society;

Requests the High Commissioner to invite persons with mental health conditions or psychosocial disabilities, including persons using mental health services, and their organizations, and to ensure their active participation in the consultation, mindful of the central role they play and their historical exclusion from decision-making processes;

Also requests the High Commissioner to prepare a report on the outcome of the consultation, with recommendations for States and all other relevant stakeholders, including health professionals, on ways to harmonize, as appropriate, laws, policies and practices relating to mental health with the norms of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and on how to implement them, and to present the report to the Human Rights Council at its forty-ninth session;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

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