[hr-education] Bosnia and Herzegovina: ECHR and mental disability training

Budapest May 26, 2003 - The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC),
an international organization based in Budapest, promotes and
protects the human rights of people with mental health problems and
intellectual disability (mental disability) in central and eastern
Europe and central Asia.

On 22 and 23 May 2003, MDAC delivered a 2-day training seminar in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) on the European Convention on Human
Rights (ECHR) and mental disability. The seminar was held under the
auspices of the B&H Ombudsman Mr. Frank Orton and was held in the
Federal Parliament Building in Sarajevo. The national NGO "Network of
Associations for Mutual Support in Mental Distress in B&H", co-
organized the seminar, which is was also supported by the Council of
Europe. Participants included Ministry of Health officials from both
entities, user organizations, human rights organizations,
psychiatrists and social workers, and the event was chaired by Mr.
Boris Topic, lawyer for the Ombudsman.

The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina ratified the ECHR in August
2002, although it has been part of domestic law since the Dayton
Peace Accords in 1995. On 15 August 2001, one of the entities of the
country, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted a Mental
Health Law, however the other entity, Republic of Srpska, has no
operative mental health legislation.

MDAC trainers spent two days conducting field missions to psychiatric
hospitals in both entities. MDAC's Legal Director Oliver Lewis, one
of the trainers of the seminar, said: "Despite the commendable steps
towards reform, MDAC finds areas for great improvements in both
entities of B&H. In Republic of Srpska, psychiatric institutions
detain and treat people in a legal vacuum, in manifest violation of
international law. In the Federation, the Mental Health Law intends
compliance with international law, but the legislation fails to
provide patients with any role in the judicial process reviewing the
necessity of detention."

Dr Peter Bartlett, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of
Nottingham, United Kingdom, and a trainer during the seminar
said: "While post-war re-construction obviously poses challenges
across the country, the rights and dignity of people with mental
disability must be a specific state priority. While we have been
encouraged by some facilities here, others do not meet fundamental
standards of humane provision. The ECHR contains substantive
protections against inhuman and degrading treatment, which attach
both to physical surroundings and standards of care. The ECHR is
clear that the provision of such fundamental standards is the
responsibility of the State."

This seminar is particularly timely, occurring three weeks after the
visit to B&H by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture.
The international community should demand that the government ensure
human rights are respected within psychiatric and social care
institutions, as well as implementing its program of closing large
hospitals and establishing community-based services. MDAC offers its
assistance to both entities to ensure their legislation and practice
protects and promotes the rights of people with mental disability.

For more information contact Clark Johnson, MDAC Advocacy
Coordinator, clark@mdac.info Tel +361 411 4410, fax +361 411 4411.

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