The right to exercise full citizenship
Nearly 500 million people worldwide suffer from a mental health condition that significantly impacts their lives, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). These individuals require appropriate care and the necessary guarantees to ensure they can exercise their rights on an equal basis.
The United Nations General Assembly approved in 2006 the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (better known as the New York Convention). The purpose of the Convention is to ensure that persons with disabilities, including persons with severe and long-term mental health problems, enjoy all human rights and freedoms, are respected as all other persons are respected, and participate fully in society.
Respect for individual independence, freedom to make one's own decisions, the importance of a gender perspective, and the full development of the personality of children with disabilities are fundamental principles of the New York Convention. It calls for a new perspective on disability, demanding the necessary changes to overcome the social barriers that interact with individual impairment and lie at the heart of the very concept of disability.
The New York Convention
Spain demonstrated its commitment to people with disabilities by ratifying the Convention in 2008, at which point it became part of the country's legal system. However, it wasn't until May 2021, for example, that the reform of Article 49 of the Spanish Constitution was approved, removing the pejorative term "disabled" from the text, or when the law "reforming the civil and procedural law to support people with disabilities in the exercise of their legal capacity" was passed.
It is necessary and essential to move forward in adapting legislation to the guidelines of the New York Convention and to guarantee the rights of people with mental health problems so that they can exercise their full citizenship with equal opportunities. However, the existence of mental health legislation does not in itself guarantee respect for and protection of human rights.
Understanding and defending the rights of people with mental health conditions is a responsibility for all citizens, and especially for the legal system and support services. Promoting and disseminating examples of best practices in respecting and defending these rights also becomes a primary objective.
To achieve a healthy community with good mental health, the rights of all its citizens must be guaranteed. Because there is no recovery without rights. And this is the direction in which societies must move.
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