Citizens Commission on Human Rights is More Determined Than Ever to End Coercive Psychiatric Practices

International human rights organization demands implementation of World Health Organization (WHO) and UN guidelines to end all forms of abuse and coercion in the field of mental health

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a nonprofit charitable mental health watchdog organization established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology, is determined to see to the immediate and full implementation of the UN and WHO direction to end psychiatric human rights abuse. 

In October, the UN and WHO called for an end to psychiatric abuse, stating “Human rights violations and coercive practices in mental health care are still far too common. Involuntary hospitalization and treatment, unsanitary living conditions, discrimination and physical, psychological, and emotional abuse characterize many mental health services across the world.”

Making their voices heard at psychiatric conferences, summits and congresses and bringing their protests to notorious psychiatric hospitals, CCHR intends to continue exposing and demanding an end to psychiatric abuse until these reforms are not simply words on a page but are fully accomplished. To begin with, CCHR is demanding the immediate end of electroconvulsive treatment, enforced drugging, restraints and involuntary commitment. 

So far this month:

 

CCHR Germany set up their traveling exhibit, Psychiatry: An Industry of Death, at the German Congress of Psychiatry in Berlin. They called for the immediate end to the use of electroconvulsive treatment. And they marched through the streets demanding immediate compliance with the UN’s directions.

CCHR France brought their protest to the gates of Le Vinatier Psychiatric Hospital and the meeting of the National Congress of Psychiatry in Lyon.

 

CCHR Florida rallied at the “Technology in Psychiatry Summit” at the Marriott Water Street Hotel in Tampa to protect children from ECT and dangerous suicide and violence-inducing drugs. They are also collecting signatures on a petition to ban the use of electroshock (ECT) on children as its use is “in direct contradiction to the World Health Organization’s Resource Book on Mental Health, Human Rights and Legislation, which states, ‘There are no indications for the use of ECT on minors, and hence this should be prohibited through legislation.’”

For decades, CCHR has been working to close a glaring gap in the European Convention on Human Rights that led to involuntary commitment of patients and the spread of coercive psychiatry.

After years of reporting on psychiatric abuse in 18 nations, CCHR received a formal invitation to the UN Consultation on Human Rights in Mental Health—the first time such a session had ever been held. CCHR presented expert testimony, vehemently calling for a ban on “coercion and the deprivations of liberty in mental health.” When the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights put the mental health mandate before the UN Human Rights Council, the result heralded a sea change to preserve and protect human rights in the field of mental health.

CCHR chapters around the world are more determined than ever to end psychiatric abuse.

For more information visit the website of Citizens Commission on Human Rights or watch a series of documentaries on the Scientology Network: 

Therapy or Torture: The Truth About Electroshock

Psychiatry: An Industry of Death

The Marketing of Madness

Or contact the nearest Scientology Church or Mission or CCHR International to find or begin a new chapter of CCHR in your community.

The work of Citizens Commission on Human Rights is inspired by visionary and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. CCHR today is the preeminent international psychiatric watchdog, established by the Church of Scientology as an independent social reform group.