Alberto Vasquez

“Ending Psychiatric Coercion – Urgent Need for Effective Remedies and Reparations” – Centre Members to Speak at Upcoming Conference

Prof Dainius Pūras, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, and Alberto Vasquez, Co-director for the Center for Inclusive Policy, will be speaking at an upcoming conference in Oslo (in person and online) on 10 September 2024, organised by the Human Rights Foundation ReDo*.

Please see below for further details and how to register:

Topics that will be covered at the conference include –

  • Human rights standards relevant for ending psychiatric coercion & reparations 
  • Severity of human rights violations and harm done 
  • Legal reforms to end psychiatric coercion  
  • Access to justice, effective remedies and reparations – the important role of the courts
  • Strategic litigation & way forward (European Court of Human Rights & other regional human rights bodies, UN treaty bodies, regional and global perspectives) 

Speakers –

  • Dainius Pūras, Professor, Vilnius University, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health 
  • Carlos Rios Espinosa, Human Rights Watch (HRW), former member of the UN CRPD Committee 
  • Tina Minkowitz, Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (CHRUSP) 
  • Alberto Vasquez, Co-director, Center for Inclusive Policy (CIP) 
  • Oh-yong Kweon, Yein Law Office, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP)  
  • Steven Allen, Executive Director, Validity Foundation 
  • Jennifer Wairimu, Litigation Officer, Validity Foundation 

Location: Litteraturhuset, Wergelandssalen, Oslo

Time: 09:00 hrs – 16:30 hrs

The conference is open for everyone and free of charge and will be held both in person and broadcast online in passive mode. 

Please register here, for both in person participation and online participation 

For questions about the conference please contact Hege Orefellen at hegejo@kjemi.uio.no 

*The aim of the human rights foundation ReDo is to work against infringements, abuse, and coercion in the mental health system and to strengthen the human rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  Work is centred on documentation of human rights violations in the mental health system and support for strategic litigation.  

ReDo organizes an annual conference where a human rights award is given. This year’s conference focuses on ending psychiatric coercion and remedies and reparations needed for these human rights violations, and is co-organized by WSO – We Shall Overcome, Norway

“Ending Psychiatric Coercion – Urgent Need for Effective Remedies and Reparations” – Centre Members to Speak at Upcoming Conference Read More »

The Disability Support Gap: Community Support for Persons with Disabilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries; Discussion Paper

(2022)

Vasquez Encalada, A.; Gupta, S.; Cote, A.; Tanhchareun, T.; Ghanem, A.; Pereira, M.A.
Centre for Inclusive Policy: Washington, DC, USA, 2022.

Disability inclusion requires community support for persons with disabilities. Supporting one another is an intrinsic element of community life. The human condition is one of interdependency: everyone needs help from others in many areas of life. Some forms of support are taken for granted and naturally embedded in society. Still, the additional support that many persons with disabilities require to participate in community and live with dignity is often not available, creating significant inequalities in participation and the exercise of rights. Read more…

The Disability Support Gap: Community Support for Persons with Disabilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries; Discussion Paper Read More »

Digital Futures in Mind: Reflecting on Technological Experiments in Mental Health & Crisis Support

Bossewitch, J; Brown, L; Gooding, P; Harris, L; Horton, J; Katterl, S; Myrick, J; Ubozoh, K; Vasquez Encalada, A, University of Melbourne, SSRN (September 1, 2022)

Abstract:

Urgent public attention is needed to make sense of the expanding use of algorithmic and data-driven technologies in the mental health context. On the one hand, well-designed digital technologies that offer high degrees of public involvement can be used to promote good mental health and crisis support in communities. They can be employed safely, reliably and in a trustworthy way, including to help build relationships, allocate resources and promote human flourishing.

On the other hand, there is clear potential for harm. The list of ‘data harms’ in the mental health context is growing longer, in which people are in worse shape than they would be had the activity not occurred. Read more ….

Digital Futures in Mind: Reflecting on Technological Experiments in Mental Health & Crisis Support Read More »

Community Support for Persons with Disabilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review

(July 2022)

Hunt, X.; Bradshaw, M.; Vogel, S.L.; Encalada, A.V.; Eksteen, S.; Schneider, M.; Chunga, K.; Swartz, L. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 8269

Abstract:

Over the life course, persons with disabilities require a range of supports to be integrated into their communities, to participate in activities that are meaningful and necessary, and to have access, on an equal basis to persons without disabilities, to community living. We conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature on community support for persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The main findings of this review concern the following: there are gaps in access to community support for persons with disabilities in LMICs; there are barriers to the provision of such support; formal and informal strategies and interventions for the provision of community support exist across the life cycle and different life domains, but evidence concerning their effectiveness and coverage is limited; and the role of community-based rehabilitation and Organisations of Persons with Disabilities in the assessment of needs for, and the development and provision of, community support, needs to be more clearly articulated. Research needs a more robust theory of change models with a focus on evaluating different aspects of complex interventions to allow for effective community support practices to be identified. Read more …

Community Support for Persons with Disabilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review Read More »

The Potential of the Legal Capacity Law Reform in Peru to Transform Mental Health Provision

2021)

Encalada, A (2021). In M. Stein, F. Mahomed, V. Patel, & C. Sunkel (Eds.), Mental Health, Legal Capacity, and Human Rights (pp. 124-139). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108979016.011

In 2018, Peru achieved a milestone reform in the recognition of the right to legal capacity of persons with disabilities. As a result, the Peruvian legal system abolished disability-related guardianship and restrictions to the legal capacity of persons with disabilities, and introduced different regimes for supported decision-making. Following this reform, Peru adopted in 2019 a new Mental Health Act aimed to strengthen the mental health care reform in progress and to ensure a rights-based approach in mental health provision. Against this background, this chapter explores the impact of Peruvian legal capacity law reform on the new regulatory and policy framework concerning mental health and its potential to end all forms of coercion. In particular, the chapter identifies the legal capacity reform as a key precursor to the rights-based approach to disability in mental health provision and highlights the role of the disability rights movement and civil society in driving forward these unprecedented advances. Read more…

The Potential of the Legal Capacity Law Reform in Peru to Transform Mental Health Provision Read More »

Discussion Paper. A Rights-Based Approach to Disability in the Context of Mental Health

(2021)

Vasquez Encalada, A. (2021), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), New York.

UNICEF Disability Section, Programme Division is launching a discussion paper on “A Rights-Based Approach to Disability in the Context of Mental Health” as a Supplement to the MHPSS Technical Note (2019). The paper aims to contribute to UNICEF’s efforts in mainstreaming mental health and psychosocial support across its sectors by providing a general overview on how to ensure a rights-based approach to disability in the context of mental health. Read more …

Discussion Paper. A Rights-Based Approach to Disability in the Context of Mental Health Read More »

Crisis Response as a Human Rights Flashpoint: Critical Elements of Community Support for Individuals Experiencing Significant Emotional Distress

(June 2020)

Stastny, P., Lovell, AM., Hannah, J., Goulart, D., Vasquez, A., O’callaghan, S. and Pūras, D., (2020). Health and Human Rights. 22 (1), 105-119

Abstract:
This paper proposes a set of nine critical elements underpinned by human rights principles to support individuals experiencing a serious crisis related to mental health problems or psychosocial disabilities. These elements are distilled from a range of viable alternatives to traditional community mental health approaches and are linked to a normative human rights framework. We argue that crisis response is one of the areas of mental health care where there is a heightened risk that the rights of service recipients may be infringed. We further make the case that the nine critical elements found in advanced mental health care models should be used as building blocks for designing services and systems that promote effective rights-based care and supports. Read more…

Crisis Response as a Human Rights Flashpoint: Critical Elements of Community Support for Individuals Experiencing Significant Emotional Distress Read More »

The Reform of Mental Health Legislation in Peru: a half-promise

(2019)

Alberto Vasquez, in Madness in motion, The reinvention of mental health in Latin America, Santiago de Chile, Centro de Crazy Studies, 2019, Juan Carlos Cea Madrid (ed.)

[Alberto Vasquez, La reforma de la legislación sobre salud mental en el Perú: una promesa a medias, at Juan Carlos Cea Madrid (ed.), Locura en movimiento, La reinvención de la salud mental en América Latina, Santiago de Chile, Centro de Estudios Locos, 2019.]

The Reform of Mental Health Legislation in Peru: a half-promise Read More »

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in systems of social protection

(August 2016)

Bernabe-Ortiz A, Diez-Canseco F, Vasquez A, et al BMJ Open 2016;6(8)

Abstract:
Objective: This study aims to assess the needs of people with disabilities and their level of inclusion in social protection programmes.

Design: Population based-survey with a nested case – control study.

Setting: Morropon, a semiurban district located in Piura, northern Peru.

Participants: For the population survey, a two-stage sampling method was undertaken using data from the most updated census available and information of each household member aged ≥5 years was collected. In the nested case–control study, only one participant, case or control, per household was included in the study. Read more …

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in systems of social protection Read More »