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Mental health and human rights : Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
January 2017

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"The present report, mandated by the Human Rights Council in resolution 32/18, identifies some of the major challenges faced by users of mental health services, persons with mental health conditions and persons with psychosocial disabilities. These include stigma and discrimination, violations of economic, social and other rights and the denial of autonomy and legal capacity.

In the report, the High Commissioner recommends a number of policy shifts, which would support the full realisation of the human rights of those populations, such as the systematic inclusion of human rights in policy and the recognition of the individual’s autonomy, agency and dignity. Such changes cover measures to improve the quality of mental health service delivery, to put an end to involuntary treatment and institutionalisation and to create a legal and policy environment that is conducive to the realisation of the human rights of persons with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities"

A/HRC/34/32

Human Rights Council, Thirty-fourth session, 27 February-24 March 2017

Psychosocial counselling and social work with clients and their families in the Somali context : a facilitator’s guide

OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (UNHCR)
November 2009

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This handbook is "designed to be used as training support handbook for helping professionals in the Somali context. The focus is on psychosocial needs for the rehabilitation of persons with trauma, mental health related forms of distress and those who have experienced gender based violence and gender related abuses. The guidelines, developed within a UNHCR funded programme in Somalia, are intended to assist staffs, who are concerned with providing protection and assistance to refugees and IDP"

The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS. Economic and Social Council
February 2003

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This report identifies the three objectives for the UN's Special Rapporter on the right to health. The objectives are to promote the right to health as a fundamental human right; to clarify the content of the right to health, and to identify good practices for the operationalization of the right to health at the community, national and international levels. The report also outlines the issues to be studied through the idea of a right to health: povert reduction strategies, 'neglected diseases', impact assessments, World Trade Organization agreements, mental health, and the role of health professionals

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