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	Living in Chains: Shackling of People with Psychosocial Disabilities Worldwide by Human Rights Watch, agencies   Hundreds of thousands of people with mental health conditions are shackled around the world, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.   Men, women, and children, some as young as 10, are chained or locked in confined spaces for weeks, months, and even years, in about 60 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas.   The 56-page report, “Living in Chains: Shackling of People with Psychosocial Disabilities Worldwide,” examines how people with mental health conditions are often shackled by families in their own homes or in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions, against their will, due to widespread stigma and a lack of mental health services.   Many are forced to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in the same tiny area. In state-run or private institutions, as well as traditional or religious healing centers, they are often forced to fast, take medications or herbal concoctions, and face physical and sexual violence.   The report includes field research and testimonies from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Palestine, the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, South Sudan, and Yemen.   “Shackling people with mental health conditions is a widespread brutal practice that is an open secret in many communities,” said Kriti Sharma, senior disability rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report.   “People can spend years chained to a tree, locked in a cage or sheep shed because families struggle to cope and governments fail to provide adequate mental health services.”   While a number of countries are paying greater attention to the issue of mental health, shackling remains largely out of sight. There are no data or coordinated international or regional efforts to eradicate shackling.   In response, Human Rights Watch has been working with mental health advocates with lived experience, and human rights and anti-torture organizations around the world to launch a global #BreakTheChains campaign to end shackling of people with mental health conditions, ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10.   Human Rights Watch interviewed over 350 people with psychosocial disabilities, including children, and 430 family members, staff working in institutions, mental health professionals, faith healers, government officials, and disability rights advocates.   Based on a study of 110 countries, Human Rights Watch found evidence of shackling of people with mental health conditions across age groups, ethnicities, religions, socioeconomic strata, and urban and rural areas in about 60 countries.   Globally, an estimated 792 million people, or 1 in 10, including 1 in 5 children, have a mental health condition. Yet governments spend less than two percent of their health budgets on mental health.   More than two-thirds of countries do not reimburse people for mental health services in national health insurance systems. Even when mental health services are free or subsidized, distance and transport costs are a significant barrier.   In the absence of proper mental health support and lack of awareness, many families feel they have no option but to shackle their relatives. They are often worried that the person might run away or hurt themselves or others.   Shackling is typically practiced by families who believe that mental health conditions are the result of evil spirits or having sinned.   People often first consult faith or traditional healers and only seek mental health services as a last resort. Mura, a 56-year-old man in Bali, Indonesia, was taken to 103 faith healers and when that did not work, locked in a room for several years.   In many countries, families take relatives – including children as young as 10 – to traditional or faith healing centers where they are shackled for restraint or punishment.   Shackled people live in extremely degrading conditions. They are also routinely forced to take medication or subjected to alternative “treatments” such as concoctions of “magical” herbs, fasting, vigorous massages by traditional healers, Quranic recitation in the person’s ear, Gospel hymns, and special baths.'   Shackling impacts both mental and physical health. A person who is shackled can be affected by post-traumatic stress, malnutrition, infections, nerve damage, muscular atrophy, and cardio-vascular problems.   Shackling also forces people to live in very restrictive conditions that reduce their ability to stand or move. Some people are even shackled to another person, forcing them to go to the toilet and sleep together.   One man from Kenya who is currently living in chains said, “It’s not how a human being is supposed to be. A human being should be free.”   “In many of these institutions, the level of personal hygiene is atrocious because people are not allowed to bathe or change their clothes, and live in a two-meter radius,” Sharma said. “Dignity is denied.”   Without proper access to sanitation, soap, or even basic health care, people who are shackled are at greater risk of Covid-19. And in countries where the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted access to mental health services, people with mental health conditions may be at greater risk of being shackled.   National governments should act urgently to ban shackling, reduce stigma, and develop quality, accessible, and affordable community mental health services.   Governments should immediately order inspections and regular monitoring of state-run and private institutions and take appropriate action against abusive facilities, Human Rights Watch said.   “It’s horrifying that hundreds of thousands of people around the world are living in chains, isolated, abused, and alone,” Sharma said. “Governments should stop brushing this problem under the rug and take real action now.”   Additional Accounts:   “I’ve been chained for five years. The chain is so heavy. It doesn’t feel right; it makes me sad. I stay in a small room with seven men. I’m not allowed to wear clothes, only underwear. I eat porridge in the morning and if I’m lucky, I find bread at night, but not every night.”   —Paul, a man with a mental health condition in Kisumu, Kenya, February 2020   “The chaining of people with mental health conditions needs to stop – it needs to stop.”   —Tina Mensah, Ghana’s deputy health minister, Accra, Ghana, November 8, 2019   “I feel sad, locked in this cell. I want to look around outside, go to work, plant rice in the paddy fields. Please open the door. Please open the door. Don’t put a lock on it.”   —Made, a man with a psychosocial disability locked in a purpose-built cell on his father’s land for two years, Bali, Indonesia, November 2019   “I was fearful that someone would attack me during the nights, without being able to defend myself because of being shackled.”   —Felipe, a man with mental health conditions who was shackled with a padlock, naked in a psychiatric hospital in Puebla, Mexico, 2018   “I go to the toilet in nylon bags, until they take it away at night. I last took a bath days ago. I eat here once a day. I am not free to walk about. At night I sleep inside the house. I stay in a different place from the men. I hate the shackles.”   —Mudinat, a woman with a psychosocial disability chained at a church, Abeokuta, Nigeria, September 2019   “All through my childhood, my aunt was locked in a wooden shed and I was forbidden to have contact with her. My family believed her mental health condition would stigmatize the whole family. I really wanted to help my aunty but couldn’t. It was heartbreaking.”   —Ying (not her real name), young woman who grew up in Guangdong province, China, November 2019   “People in the neighborhood say that I’m mad [maluca or n’lhanyi]. I was taken to a traditional healing center where they cut my wrists to introduce medicine and another one where a witch doctor made me take baths with chicken blood.”   —Fiera, 42, woman with a psychosocial disability, Maputo, Mozambique, November 2019   “It’s heartbreaking that two of my cousins who have mental health conditions have been locked away together in a room for many years. My aunt has tried her best to support them but she struggles with stigma and the lack of robust mental health services in Oman. It’s time for governments to step up so that families aren’t left to cope on their own.”   —Ridha, family member with relatives shackled in Oman, September 2020   “I was chained, beaten, and given devil incense. They feel you’re possessed and put liquid down your nose to drive out the devil.”   —Benjamin, 40, mental health advocate who was chained at a church in Monteserrado, Liberia, February 2020   “Families tie them [people with mental health conditions] up regularly. We can tell by the physical signs on their bodies. They have scars.”   —A Mexican official from the Office of the Prosecutor for Protection of People with Disabilities   http://www.hrw.org/BreakTheChains http://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/06/people-mental-health-conditions-living-chains   Mar. 2019   Deprivation of liberty for people with disabilities a massive global rights violation, by Catalina Devandas - UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities   Millions of people worldwide are deprived of their liberty because they have a disability, and this must stop now, says a UN human rights expert.   'People with disabilities are overrepresented in prisons, involuntarily hospitalised in mental health facilities, placed in institutions, interned in forensic psychiatric wards, forced to undergo treatment in prayer camps and subjected to home confinement', says UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities Catalina Devandas.   'Deprivation of liberty on the basis of disability is a human rights violation on a massive global scale. It is not a 'necessary evil', but a consequence of the failure of States to ensure their obligations towards people with disabilities', the expert said, presenting a report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.   Often without access to justice to challenge their detention, people with disabilities in these settings become extremely vulnerable to sexual and physical violence, sterilisation, human trafficking, involuntary treatment and other forms of abuse, ill treatment and torture.   Children with disabilities are at higher risk of being confined in institutions, segregated from their families and communities. They are routinely locked up, forced to take medication and often exposed to violence, abuse and neglect.   'In many countries, health and social care professionals encourage parents to place their children with disabilities in institutions under the wrong assumption that they will receive better care than at home, but the detrimental effects of institutionalisation on their development, even when placed in small residential homes or 'family-like' institutions, is widely documented', the expert said.   'Without legal avenues to challenge their situation, people with disabilities become invisible and forgotten by the wider community. In addition, because of the mistaken belief that those practices are well intentioned and beneficial, their situation and well-being is hardly monitored by national preventive mechanisms against torture or national human rights institutions'.   Devandas called for States to take action including legal reform to repeal all legislation allowing deprivation of liberty on the basis of disability. She also said admissions to institutions must be stopped, and steps taken to deinstitutionalise people with disabilities currently being held in them, including in psychiatric settings. Coercion in mental health services, home confinement and shackling must be stopped without delay.   'States must invest instead in community-based responses and support; provide access to justice, reparation and redress to those arbitrarily deprived of their liberty; provide people with disabilities with inclusive and accessible services in the community for education, health care, employment and housing', she said.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Disability/SRDisabilities/Pages/SRDisabilitiesIndex.aspx http://www.driadvocacy.org/ http://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/ Visit the related web page
	International Court of Justice orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya from genocide by AP, UN News, OHCHR, agencies Myanmar   Jan. 2020   International Court of Justice orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya from genocide.   Myanmar must take steps to protect its minority Rohingya population, the top UN court unanimously ruled this week. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also ordered authorities to prevent the destruction of evidence related to genocide allegations.   The case against Myanmar was brought to the ICJ in November by The Gambia, on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), arguing that the mainly-Muslim Rohingya had been subjected to genocide. The Rohingya primarily reside in Rakhine state in northern Myanmar, a majority Buddhist country.   More than 700,000 members fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following a reported military crackdown in August 2017 during which numerous alleged human rights abuses were committed.   According to news reports, around 600,000 Rohingya remain inside the country, and remain extremely vulnerable to attacks and persecution, said the court.   In its ruling, the ICJ imposed 'provisional measures' against Myanmar, ordering the country to comply with obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.   Myanmar is urged to 'take all measures within its power' to prevent the killing of Rohingya, or causing bodily or mental harm to members of the group, including by the military or 'any irregular armed units'.   The country also has to submit a report to the ICJ within four months, with additional reports due every six months 'until a final decision on the case is rendered by the Court'.   http://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/international-court-justice-today-ordered-myanmar-take-immediate-action-prevent   Nov. 2019   Myanmar accused at UN court of genocide against Rohingya. (Associated Press)   Myanmar was accused Monday of genocide at the U.N.'s highest court for its campaign against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority, as lawyers asked the International Court of Justice to urgently order measures 'to stop Myanmar's genocidal conduct immediately'.   Gambia filed the case on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.   Gambia's justice minister and attorney general, Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, told The Associated Press he wanted to 'send a clear message to Myanmar and to the rest of the international community that the world must not stand by and do nothing in the face of terrible atrocities that are occurring around us. It is a shame for our generation that we do nothing while genocide is unfolding right before our own eyes'.   Myanmar officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.   Myanmar's military began a harsh counterinsurgency campaign against the Rohingya in August 2017 in response to an insurgent attack. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape what has been called an ethnic cleansing campaign involving mass rapes, killings and the torching of homes.   The head of a U.N. fact-finding mission on Myanmar warned last month that 'there is a serious risk of genocide recurring'.   The mission also said in its final report in September that Myanmar should be held responsible in international legal forums for alleged genocide against the Rohingya.   The case filed at the International Court of Justice, also known as the world court, alleges that Myanmar's campaign against the Rohingya, which includes killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, inflicting conditions that are calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcible transfers, are genocidal in character because they are intended to destroy the Rohingya group in whole or in part.   Tambadou said in a statement: 'Gambia is taking this action to seek justice and accountability for the genocide being committed by Myanmar against the Rohingya, and to uphold and strengthen the global norm against genocide that is binding upon all states'.   Param-Preet Singh, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, called the case a game changer and called on other states to support it.   The world court ordering provisional measures could help stop the worst ongoing abuses against the Rohingya in Myanmar, she said.   The International Criminal Court's prosecutor also asked judges at that court in July for permission to open a formal investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.   Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she wants to investigate crimes of deportation, inhumane acts and persecution allegedly committed as Rohingya were driven from Myanmar, which is not a member of the global court, into Bangladesh, which is.   The International Criminal Court holds individuals responsible for crimes while the International Court of Justice settles disputes between nations. Both courts are based in The Hague.   Last month, Myanmar's U.N. ambassador, Hau Do Suan, called the U.N. fact-finding mission 'one-sided' and based on 'misleading information and secondary sources'.   He said Myanmar's government takes accountability seriously and that perpetrators of all human rights violations, causing the large outflow of displaced persons to Bangladesh must be held accountable.   Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, welcomed the filing.   'The international community failed to prevent a genocide in Myanmar, but it is not too late to hold the State of Myanmar accountable for its crimes', he said.   Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya activist based in Canada, said the court case helps by recognizing the suffering of her people.   'It is so important for us to feel like our pain is recognized because we've internalized all our lives that we're not worthy and so that's why it's such an emotional moment', she told AP after a panel discussion in The Hague.   'But it also is important that the word 'genocide' has been uttered so much within one hour.. and we've pushed so hard for it for such a long time and finally it is being heard'. http://bit.ly/2KaF2fV   http://globaljusticecenter.net/press-center/press-releases/1178-the-gambia-files-lawsuit-against-myanmar-at-the-international-court-of-justice/ http://www.globalr2p.org/ http://bit.ly/3lXaKkg http://www.hrw.org/news/2019/11/11/gambia-brings-genocide-case-against-myanmar   Nov. 2019   International Criminal Court (ICC) judges authorise opening of an investigation into the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar:   'This authorisation follows the request submitted on 4 July 2019 by the Prosecutor to open an investigation into alleged crimes within the ICC's jurisdiction committed against the Rohingya people from Myanmar.   The Chamber also received the views on this request by or on behalf of hundreds of thousands of alleged victims.   According to the ICC Registry, victims unanimously insist that they want an investigation by the Court and many of the consulted alleged victims 'believe that only justice and accountability can ensure that the perceived circle of violence and abuse comes to an end'.   The Chamber recognised all the individuals and organisations that assisted, guided and advised alleged victims throughout this process.   The Chamber concluded that the Court may exercise jurisdiction over crimes when part of the criminal conduct takes place on the territory of a State Party.   While Myanmar is not a State Party, Bangladesh ratified the ICC Rome statute in 2010. Upon review of the available information, the Chamber accepted that there exists a reasonable basis to believe widespread and/or systematic acts of violence may have been committed that could qualify as the crimes against humanity of deportation across the Myanmar-Bangladesh border and persecution on grounds of ethnicity and/or religion against the Rohingya population.   The Chamber found no need to assess whether other crimes within the Court's jurisdiction may have been committed, even though such alleged crimes could be part of the Prosecutor's future investigation.   Noting the scale of the alleged crimes and the number of victims allegedly involved, the Chamber considered that the situation clearly reaches the gravity threshold.   According to the supporting material, an estimated 600,000 to one million Rohingya were forcibly displaced from Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result of the alleged coercive acts. Noting the victims views, the Chamber agreed with the Prosecutor that there are no substantial reasons to believe that an investigation into the situation would not be in the interests of justice'. http://bit.ly/2CGU3Sm   Aug. 2019 (UN News)   Money earned by the Myanmar military from international and domestic business deals, substantially enhances its ability to carry out gross violations of human rights with impunity according to a report released on Monday by an independent United Nations group looking into military-business ties in the South East Asian country.   In a statement, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar called on the international community to impose targeted sanctions and arms embargoes on the Myanmar military.   The mission members declare that their latest report on Myanmar has established, for the first time, the degree to which the country's military uses its own businesses, foreign companies and arms deals to support 'brutal operations' against ethnic groups that constitute 'serious crimes under international law', bypassing civilian oversight and evading accountability.   According to the mission, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, have carried out 'extensive and systematic human rights violations against civilians since 2016, including forcibly deporting more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya to Bangladesh. During this period, they say, at least 14 foreign firms, from seven nations, supplied them with fighter jets, armored combat vehicles, warships, missiles and missile launchers.   The chairperson of the mission, Marzuki Darusman, a lawyer, human rights campaigner and former Attorney-General of Indonesia said that the recommendations in the report, which include encouraging investors to engage with businesses that are not affiliated with the military, is to erode the economic base of the military, making it harder for them to block reforms, violate human rights and carry out operations without oversight:   'We have to promote economic ties with non-Tatmadaw companies and businesses in Myanmar. This will foster the continued liberalization and growth of Myanmar's economy, including its natural resource sector, but in a manner that contributes to accountability, equity and transparency for its population'.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/myanmarffm/pages/index.aspx http://bit.ly/2OFD8sc http://bit.ly/31kbrXy   July 2019   Marginalized communities in Myanmar still face grievous human rights violations at the hands of security forces, a UN-appointed independent expert said this week, while repeating her call for an international and independent probe into the 2017 exodus from Rakhine state.   Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Yanghee Lee warned that the international community is 'beginning to overlook' the plight of hundreds of thousands of people who fled the country amid violence described as ethnic cleansing.   'So long as impunity for alleged atrocity crimes prevails, we will continue to bear witness to flagrant violations of rights perpetrated against ethnic minority populations in the name of counterinsurgency, entrenching grievances and prolonging insecurity and instability', she said.   In a update to the 47-Member forum in Geneva, the Special Rapporteur implored the Council to maintain pressure on Myanmar's Government, amid concerns about possible war crimes in Rakhine State, the treatment of minorities, the environment and freedom of expression.   Less than two years ago, more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya (who are mainly Muslim) were driven from Rakhine State, seeking shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh, Ms. Lee explained.   At the time, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told the Human Rights Council that the episode was a 'textbook example of ethnic cleansing'.   Today, around one million Rohingya refugees live in Cox's Bazar where they 'are subject to a human rights crisis, responsibility for which lies with Myanmar', Ms. Lee insisted.   While maintaining that it was also Myanmar's responsibility to bring about all necessary conditions for all the people they forcibly drove out to return, they are entirely failing to do so, she said.   At the same time, the remaining Rohingya in Myanmar continue to be denied their rights and are persecuted by authorities the Special Rapporteur continued, making returns from Bangladesh impossible.   She repeated her call that the situation of Myanmar's Rohingya exiles be referred to the International Criminal Court, or that an independent tribunal be set up in which perpetrators of international crimes can be tried, she appealed to the UN Security Council to put their differences aside and unite in relation to Myanmar by coming out with a strong resolution. The situation is not improving, and serious violations continue to take place on a regular basis. http://bit.ly/2XoHOXr   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/MMIndex.aspx http://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/05/un-act-prevent-future-atrocities http://www.rakhinecommission.org/ Visit the related web page
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