The UK Government should withdraw from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Abstract

Many psychiatrists in the UK may be surprised to find that the Government ratified a convention ten years ago that suggests compulsory mental health treatment be prohibited. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is arguably the most important legal instrument that no one in psychiatry ever discusses, but if moved from ratification to enforcement it would have enormous effect on day-to-day practice. Here, Dr Paul Gosney argues that the convention if enforced would be damaging for the people it aims to protect, whereas Professor Peter Bartlett defends it as a necessary challenge to the inequalities in our current system.