New Zealand's Mental Health Act in Practice

Abstract

Mental health laws that enable the detention and treatment of persons with severe mental health problems are now being scrutinised in many developed countries in light of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the CRPD).1 The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states in its General Comment on Article 12 of the CRPD, that “mental health laws that permit forced treatment . . . must be abolished in order to ensure that full legal capacity is restored to persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.”