Mental Health and Human Rights
- Young Diplomats Society
- 11 minutes ago
- 6 min read
By Christina Cushen
This article, written in recognition of World Mental Health Day on 10 October 2025, reflects on the ongoing human rights challenges faced by individuals living with mental illness.Imagine that you have been found not guilty of a criminal offence due to your mental health illness, but instead you are confined in a mental health hospital in solitary confinement. This is exactly what is happening to one woman in Australia, who was found not guilty of two assault charges due to being diagnosed with several mental health conditions, including treatment-resistant schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder. The case of that Victorian woman has also highlighted the judicial treatment and the ethical issues that were raised regarding the treatment of individuals who are diagnosed with mental health conditions. Is it justifiable to confine a person in solitary confinement for 10 years, depriving them of their liberty, simply because they are violent towards staff and other patients? Have policymakers considered that keeping someone under solitary confinement for a decade would exacerbate their mental illness?
This is not the first example of someone being held in a mental health hospital for decades. In Britain, Kasibba, a non-verbal and autistic woman who has been trafficked from Sierra Leone, was locked up for 45 years, starting when she was just 7 years old. When she was 19, the fire alarm went off, and the locked ward had to be evacuated. Due to her distress, she was approached by another patient; however, Kasibba scratched the other patient in the eye. As a result of this incident, the staff have reported Kasibba as being ‘dangerous and eye-gouger’. When Dr Patsie Statie, a clinical psychologist who carried out the routine review of Kasibba, described the psychological impact of solitary confinement to Kasibba. When she visited Kasibba, she stated that “looking at Kasibba through a small window in the door that kept her locked in. She was just lying on the settee. It was a very empty room. Her life was completely impoverished.” Kasibba was finally released back to the community after 25 years of confinement.
As of April 2025, 135 countries had ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, but far too many people with disabilities continue to have their fundamental rights violated despite the Convention’s protections. Under the Convention, states are obliged to ensure that individuals with mental illnesses are treated with dignity and respect. Article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability states that persons with a disability shall be treated equally and that they “are not deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily, and that any deprivation of liberty is in conformity with the law, and that the existence of a disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of liberty.” Furthermore, Article 15 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” These two articles are essential in safeguarding individuals with mental health conditions or illnesses from human rights violations. However, Articles 14 and 15 of the Convention are often violated. Rather than supporting and protecting vulnerable individuals from exploitation, people with mental illnesses are often more likely to be exploited by both governments and society.
Human Rights Watch have been interviewing impacted individuals, including Carlo from Mozambique, whose liberty has been deprived due to his diagnosis of psychological disabilities. Carlos told Human Rights Watch that he has been chained up in a faith healing institution, and he stated that “I’ve been tied many times and given bitter medicines through the nose…. They give you roots and leaves as medicine. Their treatment was always unsuccessful. My mother and father would come and take shifts. One time, I escaped with the rope tied to a log. They caught me, and I pleaded with my mother to bring me home. I really suffered in that place.”
Another example is in Mexico, where children with psychosocial disabilities are regularly being bandaged up with duct tape or being dressed like mummies as “[f]amilies tie them up regularly, we can tell by the physical signs on their bodies. They have scars”. At the same time, one man in Saudi Arabia spent 37 years in a cave, chained in the dark, and a woman in Egypt had been chained up for 24 years since the age of 10, just because of their psychosocial disability. The impacts of being chained are severe, especially for children, as it impacts their confidence, education and social development. Rather than providing help, the practice of chaining as a form of treatment exacerbates their suffering. The persistent issue of chaining vulnerable individuals is largely attributed to societal stigma. As one volunteer for an organisation in Cameroon stated, “people in Cameroon have negative perceptions about disability. Many think disability is a curse for evil spirits. Others think people with disabilities are useless. Due to these perceptions, people don’t want to help or mingle with persons with disabilities.”
The mistreatment of people with mental illnesses is not absent in Australia. In Australia, we have a high rate of individuals with mental illnesses being indefinitely detained against their will. The Australian Human Rights Commission has reported on the indefinite detention of an Aboriginal man (KA) who was diagnosed with epilepsy, a brain injury and an intellectual disability. He stabbed his uncle with a knife at the age of 16 after coming home drunk. In 2009, KA was charged with murder; however, he was deemed unfit and was instead convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison. KA’s guardians were increasingly concerned about the increase in his aggressive behaviour, and they contacted the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, where his behaviour resulted in being restrained physically by a belt and chemically restrained in a restraining chair. His guardian stated that “this was the sixteenth time that Mr KA had engaged in behaviour of a nature which injured him, caused prison officials to belt him into a restraint chair and inject him with tranquillisers, and resulted in him spending at least one hour and sometimes two hours in this kind of restraint.”
There are over 135 countries that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with Australia among them. The case of KA raises the question of whether our domestic laws reflect the obligations set out under the Convention, especially regarding Articles 14 and 15. According to Human Rights Watch, the practice of shackling and chaining vulnerable individuals is a “largely invisible problem as it occurs behind closed doors, often shrouded in secrecy, and concealed even from neighbours due to shame and stigma.” Nonetheless, there is currently no coordinated international effort to eliminate this practice. While some governments, such as Australia, have made efforts to minimise the practice by permitting it only as a ‘last resort,’ the so-called ‘last resort’ has become alarmingly normal. Given that the use of chaining and shackling as a ‘last resort’ in many countries has become the new normal, it highlights the necessity for the international community to collaborate in eliminating these practices. Without efforts to eliminate chaining and slacking, the continued practice of chaining amounts to a violation of the Convention.
Many people with a mental health illness are being deprived of their own liberty and are being forced into compulsory treatment against their own free will. The question is whether people with undiagnosed mental health conditions and illnesses experience stigma from both society and the government, which in turn discourages them from seeking necessary support due to fears of discrimination or mistreatment. Suppose the mental health systems were to treat vulnerable people with inclusive and compassionate approaches. In that case, it is reasonable to consider whether people might be encouraged to come forward and access appropriate care. We as a society must do much more to ensure the rights of these vulnerable people are protected. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Mental Illness ensures the liberty of individuals with mental health conditions, who must be treated with the same dignity and respect as all others; no one should be chained, restrained, or locked in solitary confinement.
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Christina is a passionate advocate for people with disabilities and marginalized communities, drawing from her own experience as a neurodiverse woman. She combines her lived insight with practical legal experience, including roles in community legal centres and a clerkship at the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Christina is dedicated to challenging stigma and advancing social justice within the legal sector.
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