INVOLUNTARY PLACEMENT AND
TREATMENT OF PERSONS WITH
MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
Mario Oetheimer
Freedoms and Justice Department
Vienna, 4 November 2010
Outline
• What are the standards?
• What are our preliminary findings?
International and European Standards:
Treaties
• Liberty and security of the person
– Art. 14 CRPD
– Art. 5 ECHR
• Freedom from torture and ill-treatment
– Art. 15 CRPD
– Art. 3 ECHR
– European Convention for the Prevention of Torture
• Protection of persons not able to consent and persons who
have a mental disorder
– Arts. 6(3) and 7 Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
(Oviedo Convention)
European Soft Law Standards
• Council of Europe Recommendation
Rec(2004)10 concerning the protection
of the human rights and dignity of
persons with mental disorder
– Art. 17 and 25
• Committee for the Prevention of Torture
Standards (CPT Standards)
What are our preliminary findings?
Preliminary Analysis of EU Member
States’ Legislation
1) Criteria or conditions of person
2) Principle of least restriction
3) Requiring consent of the person
concerned;
4) Availability of appeal and review
procedures
1) Criteria or conditions of person
 Great variety of practices among EU Member
States: All require the presence of a mental
health problem together with:
• significant risk of serious harm;
• therapeutic purpose
• significant risk of serious harm + therapeutic
purpose;
2) Principle of Least Restriction
• Involuntary placement should be possible
only if no less restrictive means are
available;
• This requirement is implemented by most
EU Member States.
3) Consent of the Person
Concerned
• Involuntary placement is possible only if
the opinion of the person concerned has
been taken into consideration
• Among EU Member States, consent is
often sought, but not always taken into
account when deciding on involuntary
placement.
4) Appeal and Review Procedures
• Right to appeal against a decision;
• Review of the lawfulness of the measure by a
Court at reasonable intervals;
• Right to be heard in person or through a
personal advocate or representative.
 Mixed performance among EU Member
States.
Summary
• International and European standards;
• Some preliminary findings related to
involuntary placement.
FRA Future Work
• FRA report on involuntary placement and
treatment in the first semester of 2011;
• Engage with participants on the main
problems related to involuntary placement.