The misconceptions in section 35 (1)(e) of the Nigerian constitution and the right to liberty of persons with mental disability

Author: Abasiodiong Ubong Udoakpan
Data Protection Advisor, Researcher and a Human Rights Lawyer

The basic principle of any type of essential psychosocial care, is to respect the safety, dignity and rights of anyone you are helping, but can this be excused? An aspect of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) appears to be particularly challenging to conventional mental health practice. This concerns involuntary treatment. Along with the general right to liberty, similar to that contained in other human rights instruments, the CRPD provides that ‘the existence of a disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of liberty,[1] but what happens when the Constitution set out standards and procedures by which psychiatric interventions can be imposed against the will of a person?

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