Mental health and human rights: the MI Principles - turning rhetoric into action

The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain General Assembly Resolution 46/119 United Nations Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement for Mental Health Care and situate them in the current examination of mental health and human rights issues. The paper will provide country examples of human rights standards in mental healthcare, will exemplify some of the failures to use the MI Principles and comment on why this has occurred. The paper will also discuss the 'Principles to Respect': Initiative on Mental Health and Human Rights, a practical strategy to address the human rights standards of persons with mental illness.