5(F)(iv). Regular and independent monitoring
Article 16(3) of the CRPD requires that all facilities and services designed to serve people with disabilities (such as psychiatric hospitals) be monitored by a body independent from government.50 This is a similar obligation to that set out in the OPCAT, under which the government has designated the Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsperson’s office) as the “National Preventive Mechanism” to carry out preventive monitoring of all places in which a person can be denied their liberty. This includes psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric wards and social care institutions.
50 The ITHACA Toolkit is an example of a clear and practical way to monitor human rights and health care provision in European mental health facilities and it places a premium on the importance of involving service users in human rights monitoring. See ITHACA Toolkit: For Monitoring Human Rights and General Health Care in Mental Health and Social Care Institutions (Institutional Treatment, Human Rights and Care Assessment (ITHACA), 2010), available online at: http://www.ithaca- study.eu/toolkits/english/2.4%20Ithaca%20Toolkit%20English.pdf (last accessed: 15.06.2014).