Icarus Supports Human Rights for Mad Diverse-Abilities at United Nations
Submitted by Icarus Project on Thu, 04/15/2010 - 5:58pm
Longtime Icarus member and organizer Leah Harris, who is also the co-coordinator of the US Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, writes:
Please find below a link to the report put together by several psychiatric survivor, human rights, and disability rights organizations. It includes what we feel are the human rights issues most central to mad folks and people of "diverse-abilities" - including the right to make our own decisions, not to be institutionalized or medicated against our will, and to have access to the freedom and dignity that are the inherent rights of all people.
The Universal Periodic Review: Another Way to Speak Our Truth
According to the US Human Rights Network:
"The U.N.’s first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the U.S., scheduled to take place December 2010, offers an important opportunity both to measure how the U.S. is meeting its human rights obligations and to continue pressuring the government to live up to those obligations.
Every four years, the UPR assesses each country's adherence to its human rights obligations under the U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), human rights treaties ratified by the country, its voluntary commitments, and applicable international law. Reviews are conducted by the UPR Working Group, which consists of 47 members of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
During the review, in addition to the “national report” provided by the country under review and the reports of U.N. bodies, the Working Group considers reports from other “stakeholders” such as civil society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and national human rights institutions.
As this is the first UPR review of the U.S., it is crucial civil society become engaged in the process, providing its perspective on how the U.S. is meeting its human rights obligations."
