In Nigeria, boys as young as 10 were chained together in rooms with adult men, leaving them at risk of abuse. 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. [30] Even when mental health services are free or subsidized, in many countries the distance and transport costs are a significant barrier.[31]. [58] Human Rights Watch witnessed several people being shackled in a psychiatric hospital in northern Nigeria. As a result, the person can be shackled for years or even decades. [55] In some countries, Human Rights Watch also found evidence of people with intellectual disabilities being shackled. The lack of access to primary healthcare services, which has contributed to the deterioration of the health of patients with chronic diseases. [135] By 2012, the program had unlocked 271 people who had been shackled for periods ranging from 2 weeks to 28 years across 26 provinces. Typically, people in these centers have been placed there by their families or by local police, some forcibly. Over 400 million people worldwide lack access to essential health services typically delivered through primary healthcare. I was fearful that someone would attack me during the nights, without being able to defend myself because of being shackled.[89], People end up living shackled in institutions for long periods because their relatives do not take them home and the institution has nowhere to send them. Travel restrictions have since been lifted but outpatient consultations at hospitals and health units remain suspended. [104] In a privately-run social care institution near Briansk, southwest of Moscow, Russia, staff regularly brought people with psychosocial disabilities to the dining hall chained to each other, and forced them to eat in handcuffs.
[45] Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Kafayah Ogunsola, psychiatrist, Lagos, September 26, 2018; Karoon, What is the state of mental health in Thailand?, post to Pacific Prime Thailand (blog),June 24, 2019, https://www.pacificprime.co.th/blog/state-of-mental-health-in-thailand/(accessed March 23, 2020); Melinda Benjamin, The Promotion of Mental Health Awareness in Cambodia, Borgen Magazine,August 1, 2019,https://www.borgenmagazine.com/mental-health-awareness-in-cambodia/(accessed March 19, 2020); Nivendra Uduman, Mental Health and Stigma in Sri Lanka, post to Ground Views (blog), February 19, 2018, https://groundviews.org/2018/02/19/mental-health-and-stigma-in-sri-lanka/ (accessed March 23, 2020); Mark Tilly,TV series to fight mental health stigma, Khmer Times, August 25, 2017,https://www.khmertimeskh.com/79742/tv-series-fight-mental-health-stigma/(accessed March 19, 2020); Human Rights Watch, We Are Also Dying of AIDS, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/zambia0714_ForUpload_1.pdf, p.16; A. Allen,andE.Green,Discrimination and Stigmatization of People with Epilepsy in Zambia: The Need for Integration of Social, Healthcare, and Policy Reform, Southern African Institutefor Policy and Research,August 19, 2013, http://saipar.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Allen-and-Green_Discrimination-and-Stigmitisation_Final-DraftCorrected.pdf (accessed April 2, 2020); Jane Chung,Disabled South Koreans Protect Inhumane Benefits System, Reuters, October25, 2012, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-korea-disabled/disabled-south-koreans-protest-inhumane-benefits-system-idUSBRE89O05X20121025 (accessed March 23, 2020); International Federation for Human Rights and Taiwan Association for Human Rights,The Hidden Face of Taiwan: Lessons learnt from the ICCPR/ICESCR review process,April2013,https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/51e799594.pdf(accessed March 23, 2020); M. Bari Qasem Saleh and A. Mohamed Makki,Mental Health in Yemen: Obstacles and Challenges, International Psychiatry,5.4(2008),https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/2F6080907180CF8B9BE1296B6C9D0360/S1749367600002277a.pdf/div-class-title-mental-health-in-yemen-obstacles-and-challenges-div.pdf(accessed March 18, 2020), pp. Bobele, M., & Slive, A.In Hoyt, M.F., & Talmon, M. A/61/49 (2006), entered into force May 3, 2008. All of our clients from all of our programs are eligible to make appointments. About 80 percent of people with disabilities live in middle or low-income countries where it is often challenging to access healthcare, particularly mental health care. In several cases, the ambulance was called when patients were already in critical condition. Anxiety and depression levels are the lowest since the pandemic began, 48% of Americans are feeling down, depressed, or hopeless during the COVID-19 pandemic, How many teens are vaping? Listening and telling peoples stories is a first step to start humanizing migrants in a society where blaming the victim tends to be the norm., Children on the Run: Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America and Mexico and the Need for International Protection The El Salvador-based nonprofit has mobilized over 100,000 volunteers, like Emanuel, and trained frontline workers across Central America and Mexico, reaching more than 2 million children and adults. 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. Human Rights Watch interviews with Benjamin Ballal, February 15, 2020; Archbishop Danokech, February 18, 2020; and Fiera [not her real name], November 20, 2019. Ensure these programs are gender-sensitive. 6. Turkey-Syria earthquakes: MSF teams in Syria are caring for the injured. Traditional or religious healers: Traditional healers administer therapies based on theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures including ritual and herbal methods of treatment. Instead, many turned to unreliable resources for information, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. As of 2012, 92 percent of the people who had been unlocked in China remained free from chains. This study examined (1) adolescent mental health literacy (MHL) and stigma for depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs), and (2) demographic moderators. Malaki went from playing football in the Nyarugusu camp in Tanzania to the 2019 Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A Guatemalan farmer abandons his coffee farm after years of drought destroy his crops. [24], Globally, there is a severe shortage of trained mental health professionals, but the shortfall is particularly acute in low-income countries. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. [58] Human Rights Watch, Chained Like Prisoners, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/somaliland1015_forupload_0.pdf, p. 9. 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. [40] Human Rights Watch interview with Ridha, family member, September 2020 (full name and details withheld). 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. Mental Health Services Help Health Workers Improve HIV Services in Central America . A doctor working at a psychiatric hospital in southern Nigeria said: We have to use chains in some cases.[59] In eastern Indonesia, Human Rights Watch witnessed a woman being tied around the waist with a twisted cloth and restrained to her (Clockwise from top left): 2014 Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images; 2011 Andrea Star Reese; 2011 Andrea Star Reese; 2019 Andrea Star Reese; 2018 Andrea Star Reese; 2019 Robin Hammond/Human Rights Watch; 2019 Andrea Star Reese; 2018 HRW. Most importantly, Human Rights Watch thanks all those who shared their experiences, all of whom spoke with courage and dignity about their personal histories and concerns. Finally, we must ensure standards of care are consistent through continued adoption of evidence-based practices. 12 and 18. Tony Evers declared this as the "year of mental health" in his budget address last month, one psychotherapist says the budget leaves an important component - mental health [111] People interviewed said there was too little food, sometimes only one meal a day. Platt also teaches classes in El Salvador to local clinical psychologists and psychology students on single session therapy, a solution-focused behavioral practice that aims to serve marginalized communities that may struggle to access psychological treatment because of isolation and limited resources. [123] Human Rights Watch interview with Halima Gani, woman with a psychosocial disability, Kano, Nigeria, September 23, 2019. In the 2018-2019 academic year, 4,104 people completed behavioral health training programs funded by the HRSA. [55] Shackling is also used in church-affiliated prayer camps, traditional or religious healing centers as well as in state-run or private social care institutions as a form of restraint, punishment, or treatment.[56]. There is also a large disparity in access to mental health care based on level of income and location. The HRSA manages the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training program, which provides training funding for colleges, universities and training schools preparing people for behavioral health jobs with an emphasis helping people from underrepresented minority or disadvantaged backgrounds. [180] UN General Assembly, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, A/73/161, July 16, 2018, https://undocs.org/en/A/73/161 (accessed September 17, 2020), para. Key findings include: Seven out of 10 (71%) of students are experiencing mental health issues such as stress, anxiety and/or depression. Hum. For more information on the comprehensive study results and how CVN and National Council are working to address mental wellness and accessibly across the country, please visit www.cohenveteransnetwork.org/AmericasMentalHealth or www.TheNationalCouncil.org. 8. 16) at 49, U.N. Doc. Even educated and well to-d0 families can resort to shackling. Shackling occurs in many countries that are party to international and regional human rights treaties that prohibit abusive treatment and related rights. [148] The CRPD states that all persons are equal before and under the law and are entitled without discrimination to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law.[149] The CRPD requires governments to prohibit all discrimination on the basis of disability and guarantee to persons with disabilities equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds and to take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided. CRPD/C/GC/1 (2014), http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=CRPD/C/GC/1&Lang=E, para. 11, 69-71; sjcintern and Zoya Aleem, Chaining the Mentally Ill, post to The Upstream Journal (blog), January 2012, https://www.upstreamjournal.org/chaining-the-mentally-ill/ (accessed August 17, 2020). A young woman raised by her grandmother in Honduras leaves to reunite with her parents after more than a decade. The exchange, co-founded by clinical psychologist Leticia Gonzalez Pileski, PsyD, and Jason Platt, PhD, a counseling psychologist based in Mexico City, holds one-day conferences where students discuss their work in liberation psychology and organizes trips to war-torn areas of El Salvador to help survivors preserve cultural memory about the violence they endured. This report includes research and testimonies collected by 16 Human Rights Watch researchers in their own countries. Mental health shortages range in severity across the country. Others, inspired by the mission of liberation psychology, have launched or joined human rights organizations to more directly address systemic issues such as gender-based violence, public corruption and income inequality. [36] The SDGs comprise 17 global goals that create a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The United Nations General Assembly created the SDGs in 2015 and countries committed to achieving the goals set forth in the SDGs by 2030. This younger generation was also more likely to find it too hard to figure out legitimate resources online. Informed consent is the bedrock of the right to health, especially when it comes to people with psychosocial disabilities. If you get exhausted due to a lot of work, and so dont want to work anymore, you get caned.[124] In Nigeria, people in Islamic rehabilitation centers told Human Rights Watch that staff whipped them.