Promoting rights-based policy & law for mental health

WHO works with countries to develop and implement progressive mental health and related policies and laws in line with international best practice and human rights standards including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Policies and laws are the cornerstone for a coordinated government effort to promote the rights of people with psychosocial, intellectual and cognitive disabilities and put in place services and supports to meet their needs and promote their recovery. 

To date few countries have established policy and legislative frameworks to meet the far reaching changes required by the international human rights framework.  In many cases existing policies and laws perpetuate institutional based care, isolation and coercive and sometimes even harmful treatment practices. However since the adoption of the CRPD in 2006, an increasing number of countries are seeking to reform their laws and policies in order to promote the rights to community inclusion, dignity, autonomy, empowerment and recovery for all people with psychosocial, intellectual and cognitive disabilities.