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1 Mission to Study Human Rights of Psychiatric Patients: Conclusions and Recommendations 1 (1992)

handle is hein.icj/mshurpsy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS MISSION TO STUDY HUMAN RIGHTS OF PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, APRIL 1992 1. Introduction The first International Commission of Jurists' (ICJ) mission to study the human rights of psychiatric patients in Japan took place in 1985. Its report emphasized the divergence of Japanese mental health services from those in other industrialized countries. While most countries had been reducing the number of hospitalized psychiatric patients by reducing the length of stay and by providing effective rehabilitation and care in the community, Japan had been steadily increasing the number of beds in psychiatric hospitals. These beds were filled with patients, the majority of whom stayed in hospital for long periods of time. Furthermore, Japan's existing mental health legislation did not provide any effective protection of patients' rights, there was also a striking deficiency in the human resources and programs available for rehabilitation and community care. The second ICJ mission took place shortly after the important revision of the Mental Health Law enacted in September 1987. The report of the second mission expressed guarded optimism about the legal reforms, as well as noting the increased awareness of the scope and seriousness of the problems of providing comprehensive mental health care. Nevertheless, it was also noted that the day to day conditions for over 300,000 hospitalized patients had hardly changed at all, and concern was expressed about the lack of resources 'for human rights protection and service development. The second mission expected that voluntary admission should become the norm and that the average length of stay in hospital would fall progressively. The mission suggested that a model for comprehensive mental health services should be developed and evaluated for a defined geographical area. The 1988 mission also expressed concern about the absence of an effective system of inspection and standard setting for psychiatric hospitals, the lack of adequate infrastructure for the Psychiatric Review

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