The United Nations Committee for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has issued an Open Letter reaffirming that involuntary detention and treatment in mental health settings violate international human rights standards. The Committee emphasized that any form of coercion, including as a last resort or with safeguards, is incompatible with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This stance has prompted the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) to urge the United States to adopt similar protections in its laws.
Jan Eastgate, CCHR's International President, noted that the U.S. has never ratified the CRPD, despite its influence on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She argued that the ADA should be reformed to explicitly prohibit forced psychiatric institutionalization and treatment, aligning with international human rights law. The CRPD Committee's Open Letter highlights that involuntary practices perpetuate power imbalances, expose individuals to torture and ill-treatment, and lack clinical evidence of therapeutic benefit. Such practices are discriminatory and may constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
The urgency of these issues is underscored by statistics: approximately 1.2 million Americans are involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities annually. A July 2025 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found that individuals who were involuntarily hospitalized were nearly twice as likely to die by suicide or overdose within three months of release. Additionally, an estimated 100,000 Americans receive electroshock treatment each year, often involuntarily, despite risks of memory loss and brain damage. A new evaluation of New York's 'Kendra's Law' found that forced outpatient treatment was more harmful than voluntary services.
Alarming trends include a 141% increase in pharmacologic restraint use among hospitalized children with mental health diagnoses between 2016 and 2022. Physical restraints have led to deaths, including a 7-year-old and a 16-year-old, resulting in homicide rulings and prosecution of staff. The 2023 WHO-OHCHR guidance also called for legislative reform to end coercion, replace institutions with community support, and ensure free and informed consent.
Eastgate concluded that the U.S. cannot claim disability rights leadership while allowing forced psychiatric detention and treatment. She insisted that U.S. law must align with international standards, as coercion has no place in mental health care. CCHR, established in 1969, has been instrumental in passing hundreds of laws protecting patient rights and informed consent.
