Background

MENTAL HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Mental health is a human rights issue. Human rights provide a framework for bringing about change in Ireland and achieving real improvement in the lives of people who experience mental health difficulties. It also provides a basis for achieving consensus between Government, service providers and service users.

MAKE MENTAL HEALTH A POLITICAL PRIORITY

From late 2008 until June 2011 Amnesty International Ireland stepped up its work on mental health and human rights. A full team was put together and this phase of the campaign was devised in partnership with people who have had mental health problems, which was an international first for the organisation. The members of our Experts by Experience Advisory Group have been at the forefront of the mental health movement in Ireland, having founded support organisations, advocated for change and supported peers. Together, the goals of the campaign were planned out and strategic objectives listed.

The campaign focused on using the human rights framework to demand action from the Government. We sought a social approach in response to mental health that is focused on people’s rights, in particular the right to live a full life in the community and the right to choice in treatment.

We had three main objectives:

 

LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN
In January 2006, the Irish Government committed itself to a new blueprint for mental health, A Vision for Change. It promised reform of mental health in Ireland and a person centred approach.
The second phase of our campaign was launched in October 2006, ‘Mental Health: Let’s Make it Happen’, and called for Government action to implement this policy and to address the chronic under-funding in mental health in order for reforms to happen.
As part of this phase we published a policy briefing that set out a blueprint for how A Vision for Change should be implemented.

MENTAL ILLNESS – THE NEGLECTED QUARTER
In 2003, Amnesty International Irish section began its campaign on mental health in Ireland with a series of reports, Mental Illness: The Neglected Quarter. These reports outlined some criticisms of the treatment in Ireland of people with mental illness, and measure them against international human rights standards.

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