Skip to main content
  • News, Inclusive Living

#WithdrawOviedo: Ending coercion in mental healthcare

The draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention which violates the UN CRPD, has been sent to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for decision.

Since 2014, the Committee of Bioethics of the Council of Europe (DH-BIO) has started to work on a legislation to regulate involuntary treatment and placement in psychiatry, known as the “draft additional protocol to the Oviedo Convention”.

The protocol’s text and spirit violate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and if adopted, would greatly undermine the rights of persons with disabilities, lead to further institutionalisation and forced treatment practices.

A final draft has been approved and was put for a vote in June 2021 within the Committee of Bioethics. During the meeting in June, Members of the Committee decided to postpone the vote of the Protocol to November 2021.

On Tuesday, 2 November 2021, the meeting of the DH-BIO Committee took place. A majority of the Committee members agreed on the procedural decision to send the draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for decision. (The procedural decision was approved with 28 in favour, 7 abstentions and 1 against.)

During this meeting, Pep Solé, Board Member of EASPD pointed out that (…) the Council of Europe is moving away from the possibility of being an engine of positive evolution (…). The European Disability Forum (EDF), Mental Health Europe (MHE) and the European Network of (Ex-) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (ENUSP) also took the floor.

Before the Committee of Ministers takes a decision, the draft protocol will be examined by the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) and the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

Several NGOs, people with lived experience, persons with disabilities, human rights organisations, United Nations experts and internal bodies of the Council have voiced their opposition against this protocol.

Join the movement opposing the draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention and urge for its withdraw:

#WithdrawOviedo: Ending coercion in mental healthcare

An advocacy tool has been launched by EDF and MHE to lead the actions against the legislation which has been drafted.

More information about the latest updates may be found here: 📰 Latest updates on #WithdrawOviedo