ECT – WHAT THE UNITED NATIONS SAYS ABOUT ELECTROSHOCK

ECT – what the United Nations says about Electroshock

ECT – what the United Nations says about Electroshock

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In February 2013, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr Juan Méndez, when speaking amongst other things, ECT (electroconvulsive therapy o electroshock) to the UN Human Rights Council recommended an:

“absolute ban on forced and non-consensual medical interventions against persons with disabilities, including the non-consensual administration of psychosurgery, electroshock and mind-altering drugs such as neuroleptics, [and] the use of restraint and solitary confinement, for both long- and short-term application.” [i]

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING website TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT
1 February 2013

39. …Medical care that causes severe suffering for no justifiable reason can be considered cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and if there is State involvement and specific intent, it is torture.

63. … It is essential that an absolute ban on all coercive and non-consensual measures, including restraint and solitary confinement of people with psychological or intellectual disabilities, should apply in all places of deprivation of liberty, including in psychiatric and social care institutions….

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