1.0 - Introduction

Navigate Using the Menu Items

Human Rights

Australia formally recognises several Covenants and Principles, which endorse a range of rights and freedoms with regard to mental health and disability issues.

In 1991, the creation of the United Nations Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care represented a signpost of the modern progression of mental health standards and guidelines, both internationally and in Australia. The Principles intend to affect universal compliance to a range of minimum rights and freedoms for those persons who suffer a mental illness. More specifically, the Principles refer to minimum standards applicable to the involuntary assessment, detention, treatment and review of such persons.

In 2006, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In March 2007, the Convention opened for signature, and Australia was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the document. The Convention sets a new international standard for the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the human rights of a person with a disability.