We have had our first meeting in the reorganized human rights committee, that Michaela Amering will continue to chair. Members at the meeting were:
Gabriele Rocca, Murali Thyloth, Marit Borg, Guadalupe Morales, Solange De Vidts, Errico Landi, V. K. Radhakrishnan & Audun Pedersen
The committee affirmed that the UN-Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN-CRPD with 185 ratifications by October 2022) will continue to be the key perspective of the work of the HR committee. The focus will be on entitlement rights pertinent to the core tasks of psychosocial rehabilitation as well as the right to freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The HR committee will formulate the current consensus on the main consequences of the rule of law of the CRPD for the field of psychosocial rehabilitation in a mission statement.
The committee will follow the legal obligations formulated in the UN-CRPD to follow in all plans and actions the suggestions of and consensus with the representatives of persons with psychosocial disabilities. The committee also considers the involvement of representatives of family and informal carers essential for the success of the implementation of the obligations formulated by the UN-CRPD in real life. Therefore, consensus and democratic decision making with their representatives will be sought.
The WHO-WAPR collaboration on the QualityRights e-learning is seen as adhering to the legal obligations of the CRPD and able to provide the necessary training to the global psychosocial community. Immediate past president Murali Thyloth will lead WAPR’s activities in this collaboration with WHO. WAPR’s commitments will be discussed in the regional vice-presidents group. The HR committee will support this process in any way they can and will seek contact to service users’ and family carers’ organizations in WAPR’s regions in order to increase awareness of WAPR’s efforts in this collaboration with WHO QualityRights e-training. WAPR Bulletin and website will regularly follow up with information on experiences and progress.
The committee will meet every 2nd month