Mad In America bloggers, and everyone who is interested, you are cordially invited to participate in a Campaign to Support the CRPD Absolute Prohibition of Commitment and Forced Treatment.

The aim is threefold. 1) to demonstrate wide geographical and sectoral support in civil society for the absolute prohibition, 2) to share our knowledge with each other and with the CRPD Committee and other human rights mechanisms, e.g. arguments for the absolute prohibition, harm done by forced psychiatry, lawsuits to enforce a person’s rights under this standard, our visions for an inclusive society, and 3) for participants to deepen their own understanding and awareness by reflecting on the significance of the absolute prohibition and their relationship to it.

Basic Information

The requested action is to write a blog post or contribute artwork, relevant to the purpose of the campaign, i.e. discussing and supporting the absolute prohibition that is promulgated under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Posts should be ready for March 29, 2016, the opening day of the 15th session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which oversees the Convention.

Please do not be deterred by lack of knowledge of the CRPD. If you believe that it is right to prohibit all commitment and forced treatment, without any exception, and you have something to say about this, you are welcome to contribute. But I would request you read something about it; enough to satisfy yourself that we are correct in saying that the CRPD in fact contains this absolute prohibition. I have some links on the Campaign website in the Call to Action that can help with this, and you can also browse my blog posts here for anything that may strike you as a better way in.

In addition, I am planning to hold at least one or two sessions where people who are interested in the Campaign can hear an introduction from me and ask questions and brainstorm. These will be announced on the Campaign website.

We also have a Facebook event page, and I also post information on Facebook on the page of Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry; also on Twitter as @CHRUSP.

Mad in America will be one of several collaborating websites that accept submissions from guest bloggers to link with this Campaign. I am hoping to have such sites in every region of the world and in as many languages as needed. There are so far two accepting contributions in Spanish.

Thank you for your support!

To see all of the Mad in America blogs for this campaign click here.

If you are interested in submitting a blog in support of this initiative at Mad in America, please contact Justin Karter. For all other blog submissions, please contact Kermit Cole. You can also find their emails here.

If you are interested in linking with the Campaign in some other way, or you have questions or want to discuss anything about the Campaign, please contact me through this site or CHRUSP, or visit the Campaign site.

Editors Note: This blog is part of our growing coverage of promising initiatives that work to change our current drug-centered paradigm of care. You can find our expanding Initiatives section here. If you are aware of any initiatives that you believe should be highlighted on Mad In America, please send us your suggestions.