The UN human rights body criticised the UK government for the “involuntary and forcible treatment and detention” of people with disabilities both inside and outside hospitals, and called on British authorities to ensure access to community-based services.
The Human Rights Committee, a body of independent experts that monitors the implementation by states parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, published its findings last week after reviewing the UK’s records. The committee highlighted how authorities continue to detain and forcibly treat disabled people under the UK Mental Health Act solely on the basis of their actual or perceived disability. The committee expressed concern that the average length of stay for people with learning disabilities and autism detained under the act was more than two years.
UK-based organisations representing disabled people and their families have been raising the alarm about this issue for years, and British media have consistently exposed abuse in psychiatric wards across the country. In one incident reported by the BBC, at least eight hospital staff were seen picking up a young woman with autism and dragging her into an isolation room, where she had already been spending more than two weeks.
UN torture experts have said “involuntary treatment in a medical facility or other psychiatric interventions” can constitute forms of torture and ill-treatment.
A recent investigation by The Independent and Sky News revealed that around 20,000 cases of sexual abuse have been reported in NHS-run hospitals over the past five years. The latest data shows that more than 2,000 patients with learning disabilities and autism are still in inpatient wards, despite government promises to reduce the number of inpatient beds by 50% between March 2015 and March 2024 and roll out community-based services.
The UK Government should heed the Committee’s call and reform the Mental Health and Mental Capacity Act to ensure that disabled people are not locked up in institutions against their will. Instead, the Government should strengthen and develop voluntary, rights-respecting services to ensure that everyone has enough support to live with dignity in the community.