There are different communities of people who relate to this Campaign. Some of you know a lot about the SDGs – the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For others it is just another alphabet soup. I’m somewhere in the middle.
The UN is asking for “Crowdsourced Briefs” on topics relating to sustainable development. I think that it is an ideal opportunity for survivors and allies to make proposals about mental health policy governed by the absolute prohibition of force and coercion; new or traditional social practices to replace mental health services; etc. What research do you have, what projects are you involved in, that could contribute valuable knowledge to this worldwide process?
The SDGs are a focal point of most of what is going on at the UN right now. This crowdsourcing is a way to put our ideas out where they can be seen by others on a global scale.
From the website:
Crowdsourced briefs are inputs received from the scientific community around the world, highlighting a specific issue, finding, or research with a bearing on sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environment – or the inter-linkages between them. The briefs are required to be factual and based on peer-reviewed literature, focusing on the review of up-to-date findings relating to a particular issue, or presenting solutions to a problem or challenge. Key messages from the current scientific debate are normally highlighted for the attention of policy-makers. Selected briefs could be featured in the Global Sustainable Development Report to be reviewed by policy makers at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Make sure to look at the call for contributions with more details and format.
All that material is from the UN, I don’t endorse it or have anything to do with it but think that it is a good synergy with this Campaign to take the baseline of absolute prohibition of commitment and forced treatment and use that as a jumping off point for positive visions and policy recommendations.
Edit: to answer the question posed by Christine in the comments, it might not be clear from this page alone that the absolute prohibition of commitment and forced treatment is not only a position held by survivors and allies, it is an obligation under international human rights law. This is why we have a different basis for action now than in 1982, a greater possibility to make these rights real.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has enacted into international law a prohibition against involuntary commitment and forced treatment, and an obligation on governments to create the supports and services that respect peoples’ rights and freedoms, without any exception. The CRPD is binding law on 161 countries that have ratified it, and now the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has also found that the same prohibition of commitment and forced treatment exists under general international law that applies to all countries. Please see the main page of this Campaign for details.
