5(F)(vi). Community living

English

The CRPD sets out in Article 19 the right for people with disabilities to live independently and to be included in the community. Institutionalising people constitutes a “pervasive violation” of Article 19 of the CRPD.56 Monitoring teams at Dobřany Psychiatric Hospital found that a number of patients in the institution had recently been trans-institutionalised – that is, moved out of a social care institution and into a psychiatric institution. This raises significant questions about the Czech government’s commitment to ensuring the right to live in the community.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights has considered the institutionalisation of people with disabilities as “one of the most egregious forms of isolation”.57 High levels of institutionalisation are a direct result of a failure to develop community-based services, he has found. People with mental health issues have “no viable choice other than living in an institution”.58

The CPT has noted that the international trend is to reduce the number of beds in psychiatric establishments and to develop community-based mental health services.59 As such the CPT states that “large psychiatric establishments pose a significant risk of institutionalisation for both patients and staff” and have a “detrimental effect on patient treatment”.60


56 Council of European Commissioner of Human Rights, The Right of People with Disabilities to Live Independently and Be Included in the Community (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Issue Paper, 13 March 2012, CommDH/IssuePaper(2012)3), at p. 5.

57 Ibid. at p. 35.

58 Ibid.

59 European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Committee in the Prevention of Torture Standards, supra note 36, at p. 57.

60 Ibid.

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