Polubinskaya, S.V. International legal guarantee of rights of persons suffering mental disorders

Abstract: The article contains an overview of the main international legal documents of the UN and the Council of Europe concerning the guarantees of rights of persons suffering from the mental disorders. Millions of people around the world suffer from mental disorders. In accordance with the evaluation provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) by 2004 13 per cent of all illnesses were mental disorders. At the same time the persons suffering from mental disorders are often discriminated and their rights are violated, while the social and psychiatric aid to them often fails to meet the modern standards. These circumstances substantiate the interest towards the rights of such persons at the international level. All of the international legal documents in the sphere of human rights may be divided into two categories: those legally binding for the states, which have ratified such an international legal act and the so-called international human rights standards, serving as directives, and guidelines, which may be found in international declarations, resolutions and recommendations, and such acts are mostly adopted by the international organizations. In accordance to the sphere of their application international legal instruments in the sphere of human rights may be divided into universal and regional ones. The former include international legal acts of the UN and its specialized institutions, such as the WHO, and the latter ones are initiated by the regional international organizations. Additionally, the European Court of Human Rights, acting based upon the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, makes decisions on specific cases regarding rights of persons suffering from mental disorder, and, therefore, it forms precedents in this sphere. These precedents may be used together with the international legal acts in order to draft or amend national laws in the sphere of mental health and practice of their application.

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