[143] Standing unified with refugees at a time of crisis, sportanddev.org, September 21, 2020 (accessed September 28, 2020). He said that on one occasion in 2018 mental health professionals from the Dr. 6 and 9; UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment 14, The right to the highest attainable standard of health (Twenty-second session, 2000), U.N. Doc. 16-18. [71], In Guatemala, Disability Rights International in a 2018 report found hundreds of children with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities tied to furniture or locked in cages in orphanages and institutions. In El Salvador, for instance, an underfunded and corrupt police force, unable to maintain public safety, has helped spur the formation of gangs as de facto authorities across most of the country (Life Under Gang Rule in El Salvador, International Crisis Group, 2018). [4] International Disability Alliance, Legal Opinion on Article 12 of CRPD, undated, https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/sites/default/files/documents/legalopinionletterart12final_0.doc (accessed September 14, 2020). [110] Human Rights Watch, Like A Death Sentence, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ghana1012webwcover.pdf, p. 50. Ive been chained for five years. Once survivors attain a significant level of recovery from their initial trauma, measured using a tool IJM developed called the Assessment of Survivor Outcomes, Beckley guides some of them into leadership roles in the international global survivor network to share their experiences and advocate for other survivors. [63], In China, a six-part series by the government-controlled Global Times and Beijing News reported that people with mental health conditions were shackled or locked in cages across the country with approximately 100,000 cage people in the northern Hebei province alone, near Beijing. [85] In June 2020, the Ministry of Interior proposed a draft Public Order Law, which will further entrench discrimination against people with psychosocial disabilities as well as against other at-risk groups in society and add to existing deep concerns of the continuing practice of shackling in Cambodia. 25; Karolina Kozik and Jean-Sbastien Spulchre, Disability Rights Bill Offers Hope in Congo, commentary, Human Rights Watch Dispatch, March 11, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/11/disability-rights-bill-offers-hope-congo; Ghana: Faith Healers Defy Ban on Chaining, Human Rights Watch news release, November 27, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/27/ghana-faith-healers-defy-ban-chaining; Cameroon: People With Disabilities Caught in Crisis, Human Rights Watch news release, August 5, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/05/cameroon-people-disabilities-caught-crisis; Human Rights Watch, From Cradle to Grave: Discrimination and Barriers to Education for Persons with Albinism, June 2019, https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2019/06/13/cradle-grave; Treated Worse than Animals, https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/12/03/treated-worse-animals/abuses-against-women-and-girls-psychosocial-or-intellectual. Encourage governments to collect quantitative and qualitative data on the current number of people shackled, the reasons families continue to practice shackling, and examine the support or services they would need to discontinue the practice. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser, Mental Health, Our World In Data, April 2018, https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health (accessed July 20, 2020); The World Bank, Mental Health, April 2, 2020, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/mental-health (accessed June 23, 2020); WHO, Mental disorders, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders, [12] WHO, Mental Health, https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/mental-health. [156] ICCPR, art. Malaki went from playing football in the Nyarugusu camp in Tanzania to the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. [101] Most cages are so narrow that the men cannot even stretch out their arms. [166] UNHRC, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, A/HRC/40/54, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/40/54, para. As a community, we need to attend to the physical, psychological, emotional, social, economic and familial needs of our people, says Ana Alicia Cbar Cataln, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Proyecto Aigl Guatemala and professor at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG). Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota ranked among the top. The increase in people dying at home reflects the enormous strain COVID-19 has put on the health system. [55] In some countries, Human Rights Watch also found evidence of people with intellectual disabilities being shackled. [35] Mental health is not just a human right but a public good that is key to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Mental Health Services. "In many instances the patient had already died when we arrived at their house, said Angel Sermeo, MSFs medical activity manager in El Salvador. [41] Human Rights Watch, Better to Make Yourself Invisible: Family Violence against People with Disabilities in Mexico, June 2020, https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/06/04/better-make-yourself-invisible/family-violence-against-people-disabilities-mexico; Nigeria: People With Mental Health Conditions Chained, Abused, Human Rights Watch news release, November 11, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/11/nigeria-people-mental-health-conditions-chained-abused; "Cameroon: People With Disabilities Caught in Crisis," Human Rights Watch news release, August 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/05/cameroon-people-disabilities-caught-crisis; Human Rights Watch, On the Margins: Education for Children with Disabilities in Kazakhstan, March 2019, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/kazakhstan0319_web3.pdf, pp. ", "It is vital to improve coordination, increase the number of available beds [in health facilities] and ensure protective measures in hospitals to guarantee the safety of staff and patients, said Romero Pineda. in Somalia.[134]. The data collected indicates, however, that only about 25 percent of people with psychosocial disabilities surveyed have access to mental health services. Stark Disparities in Accessibility at State and Income Levels. [123] Human Rights Watch interview with Halima Gani, woman with a psychosocial disability, Kano, Nigeria, September 23, 2019. But Garca Rivera says that in light of the crisis in Central America, psychologists must do more than conduct research, provide clinical services and design community interventions. Even though the healthcare system has many hospitals, clinics, and care centers, the quality of healthcare they provide is deemed inadequate. Authors Samuel V Nickels 1 , Mariely Campos Tomasino 2 , Nelson A Flamenco Arvaiza 2 , Cynthia A Hunter 3 Affiliations [144] International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. The study, which assesses Americans current access to and attitudes towards mental health services, revealed American mental health services are insufficient, and despite high demand, the root of the problem is lack of access or the ability to find care. The testimonies were collected between August 2018 and September 2020 through in-person and phone interviews. Mental Asylum, The Hindu, January 3, 2019, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sc-shocked-at-chaining-of-inmates-in-up-mental-asylum/article25901395.ece (accessed August 17, 2020). If a family fairs poorly on even one indicator, then it is identified as needing assistance. For example, Human Rights Watch research in Kenya found about 60 men, women, and children with real or perceived psychosocial disabilities chained, hidden from view, in the compound of the Coptic Church Mamboleo in Kisumu city in western Kenya. Advocate for the integration of people with psychosocial disabilities in the community. 49) at 65, UN Doc. Shackling is typically practiced by families, faith healers, or staff in institutions who believe that the person with the psychosocial disability is possessed or are worried that they may run away or might hurt themselves or others. It made me sad [to chain him]. [43] Despite modest governmental efforts to raise awareness in some countries, mental health conditions remain taboo and highly misunderstood. 2(1); CEDAW, art. Advancing psychology to benefit society and improve lives, Center for Human Rights and International Justice, How the Climate Crisis Is Driving Central American Migration, Liberation Psychology Intercambio/Exchange, Sepur Zarco: In Pursuit of Truth, Justice and Now Reparations, Healthcare Access and Conditions in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, Children on the Run: Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America and Mexico and the Need for International Protection, Carrying a Heavy Load: Mayan Womens Understandings of Reparation in the Aftermath of Genocide, Preventing Interpersonal Stressors at Work. (No. Ensure coordination between mental health professionals and staff at prayer camps to offer mental health services based on free and informed consent. In the case of private institutions and healing centers, the management may have an incentive to detain people as they are paid by the family. [153] CRPD Committee, General Comment No. [57] Human Rights Watch interview with mother of a man with a mental health condition, Bali, Indonesia, November 19, 2020 (full name and details withheld). They have scars.[77] Esther, 37, a woman with a psychosocial disability who lived with her parents in a rural community in Apodaca, Nuevo Len, in northeastern Mexico, was shackled from the time she was a young girl. In some healing centers, people were allowed to bathe once a day using a hose in their rooms. In Guatemala, she has helped organize a group of survivor leaders to raise public awareness of the psychological impacts of sexual violence and problems with the countrys justice system. Shackling: Traditionally defined as the practice of confining a persons arms or legs using a manacle or fetter to restrict their movement, historically used to confine slaves or prisoners. ABSTRACT Objective To assess the need for decentralization of psychiatric services in El Salvador, based on country-specific evidence, and to generate baseline measures the government and researchers could use to monitor and measure future progress toward decentralization. Depression is a common mental illness that is characterized by negative changes in mood, cognition, and behavior. [51] Human Rights Watch interview with Ying (not her real name), November 2019 (location and details withheld). A/61/49 (2006), entered into force May 3, 2008. Human Rights Watch, Like a Death Sentence, https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/10/02/death-sentence/abuses-against-persons-mental-disabilities-ghana; Chained Like Prisoners," https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/10/25/chained-prisoners/abuses-against-people-psychosocial-disabilities-somaliland; Living in Hell, https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/03/20/living-hell/abuses-against-people-psychosocial-disabilities-indonesia; "Nigeria: People With Mental Health Conditions Chained, Abused," Human Rights Watch news release, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/11/nigeria-people-mental-health-conditions-chained-abused. In its 2018 Concluding Observations the Human Rights Committee noted El Salvador's lack of legislation in this aspect. In Yemen, Human Rights Watch documented the case of a woman with a perceived mental health condition who was chained to a door handle so she would not wander outside. Crosby, A., et al., Journal of Genocide Research, 2016, One Session at a Time: When You Have a Whole Hour The study offers a comprehensive analysis of the state of mental health care in the U.S. No mother on earth wants to chain her son.[57], Human Rights Watch has also found evidence of shackling or chaining in psychiatric hospitals in some countries. In Guatemala, for instance, rising temperatures and long droughts are reducing returns from coffee, corn and sugarcane farms. Immediately end the use of chaining, nonconsensual fasting, and any form of detention. [19] UN, Policy Brief: COVID-19 and the Need for Action on Mental Health, May 13, 2020, https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_policy_brief-covid_and_mental_health_final.pdf (accessed June 22, 2020), p. 5; The World Bank, Mental Health, https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/mental-health; WHO, Mental disorders, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders; see also Rudi Eggers (WHO Kenya Representative) statement in Kenya launches initiative to promote mental health for citizens, Xinhua, November 21, 2019, http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-11/21/c_138573442.htm (accessed June 17, 2020).