Crimes Mental Impairment consultation paper.pdf - Victorian Law ...

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Principles governing the treatment of people with a mental
condition
2.107 In addition to the principles identified as underpinning the CMIA, there are a number of
general principles governing the treatment of people with a mental impairment who are
subject to the provisions of the CMIA.
2.108 A number of international and national legal instruments set standards for protecting the
rights of people with a mental impairment.
Human rights
2.109 International legal instruments that govern the rights of people with a mental impairment
include the following:
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—provides general human rights
protections to all people. 107
• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 108 —promotes equality of people
with a disability and includes measures to raise awareness regarding people with
a disability including promoting ‘positive perceptions and greater social awareness
towards people with disabilities’. 109
• Principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and the improvement of
mental health care 110 —contains principles aimed to ensure that ‘a mentally ill person is
to have all the rights of any other person, and is to be free from discrimination’. 111
• Convention on the Rights of the Child—provides among other rights, protections to
children receiving treatment for illness or who have been deprived of their liberty. 112
• Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons 113 —promotes the rights of people with
disabilities.
• Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners—provide guidance as to
‘what is generally accepted as being good principle and practice in the treatment of
prisoners and the management of institutions’. 114
107 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 19 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March
1976).
108 Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 30 March 2007, GA Res 61/106, UN GAOR, 61st sess, UN Doc
A/61/49 (entered into force 3 May 2008).
109 Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 30 March 2007, GA Res 61/106, UN GAOR, 61st sess, UN Doc
A/61/49 (entered into force 3 May 2008) art 8.
110 Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care, GA Res 119, UN GAOR, 46th
sess, A/RES/46/119, 75th plen mtg (17 December 1991).
111 National Inquiry Concerning the Human Rights of People with a Mental Illness, Human Rights and Mental Illness: Report of the National
Inquiry into Human Rights of People with Mental Illness/Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1993) 21.
112 Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990).
113 Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, GA Res 3447 (XXX), UN Doc A/10034 (1975).
114 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the
Treatment of Offenders, Geneva (1955).
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