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PROTECTING
FREEDOM Declaration of Mental Health Rights
The Nuremberg Code and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
were written in 1947 and 1948 respectively, to help prevent the recurrence
of horrific human rights violations, including the medical experiments
and genocide perpetrated by Nazi psychiatrists during World War II.
The following provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underscore
the universal intention of the authors:
Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person;
Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment;
Article 7: All are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to equal protection of the law.
The Nuremberg Code is concerned with the law and ethics of human experimentation.
Point 1 of the Code affirms the essential right of patients to be protected
from involuntary medical experimentation.
With the passage of time have come a number of psychiatric efforts to erode
the protections guaranteed by these two agreements. Today, many psychiatrists
violate the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Human Rights
and the Nuremberg Code as a matter of routine daily practice.
Through stigmatizing labels, unscientific diagnoses, easy seizure commitment
laws and brutal, depersonalizing �treatments,� thousands around the world
suffer under psychiatry�s coercive system every day. It is a system that
exemplifies human rights abuse. Modern psychiatry still has no scientific
veracity and knows and admits it, but keeps up the charade for the sake
of profit.
More About
CCHR
CCHR investigates, documents and exposes psychiatric abuse. Thousands of individuals
each year contact CCHR to report instances of psychiatric harm and crime,
including imprisonment, fraud, sexual abuse, assault, as well as inhumane
treatment and conditions in psychiatric institutions. CCHR�s investigations
have led to the criminal prosecution of hundreds of psychiatrists, psychologists
and mental health workers. This has prompted legislators and insurance
companies to develop statutes and regulations, respectively, to protect
individuals from psychiatric harm.
CCHR also testifies before government investigation panels all over the world
about psychiatric abuse, prepares statistics, reports and evidence for
government and law enforcement agencies, and provides public service briefings
for the media. It works with like-minded groups, as well as investigative,
legislative and judicial bodies, health departments and medical boards,
to bring about human rights in the mental health field.
CCHR recommends that persons who feel they suffer adverse reactions from psychiatric
treatments seek competent medical examination by caring non-psychiatric
medical specialists.
Our Commission of citizens and professionals includes doctors and other medical
specialists, legal experts and civil and human rights advocates who advise
us on the myriad of issues arising from CCHR�s humanitarian programs.
Declaration
of Mental Health Rights
In 1969, CCHR wrote its Declaration of Mental Health Rights. The purpose of
this document is to define, popularize and defend mental health rights
for the mentally disturbed.
A partial list of these rights includes:
No person shall be given psychiatric or psychological treatment against his
or her will.
No person may be denied his or her personal liberty by reason of so-called
mental illness, without a fair jury trial by laymen and with proper legal
representation.
No person shall be admitted to or held in a psychiatric facility because of
their religious, political or cultural beliefs and practices.
Any patient has the right to be treated with dignity as a human being; to
have a thorough, physical and clinical examination by a competent registered
general practitioner of one�s choice; to accept or refuse treatment but
in particular, the right to refuse sterilization, electroshock, insulin
shock, lobotomy (or any other psychosurgical brain operation), aversion
therapy, narcotherapy, deep sleep therapy and psychiatric drugs.
A patient must have the right to have copies of his/her psychiatric hospital
records and to take legal action with regard to any false information
contained therein which may be damaging to one�s reputation.
A patient must have the right to sue psychiatrists, their associations and
colleges, the institution, or staff for unlawful detention, false reports
or damaging treatment.
A patient has the right to a safe environment without having in the environment,
persons placed there for criminal reasons.
A patient has the right to education or training so as to better enable one
to earn a living when discharged, the right of choice over what kind of
education or training is received, and
The right to receive visitors and a minister of one�s own faith.
�I want
to thank CCHR��
Dr. Lois Achimovich, Consultant Psychiatrist: �Through education, advocacy
and community action, CCHR has made a genuine contribution to the movement
towards voluntary and humane engagement with the psychiatrically disturbed
. �In all my dealings with CCHR, which started in the mid-eighties, I have found
the staff to be professional and focused with regard to the information they
have offered in regard to [patients�] legal rights.�
Rosa Anna Costa, Piedmont, Italy, Regional Councillor�Commission for Health:
�We must go on speaking for those who cannot. � We must take the responsibility,
as institutions, to lead the campaign, and I positively acknowledge CCHR
for what it is doing in this field. � I consider that [CCHR�s work] should
be expanded so that more people can learn what kind of abuses are being
practiced by �not-so-ethical� medical doctors. � I want to thank the CCHR
for what it does.�
The Hon. LeAnna Washington, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: �Whereas,
[CCHR] works to preserve the rights of individuals as defined by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and to protect individuals from �cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment� � the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania
congratulates [CCHR International]. � Its noble humanitarian endeavors
will long be remembered and deeply appreciated.�
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