Edinburgh Napier University

  Mental Health Law and its relationship to human rights has become increasingly contested following the
adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Human rights arguments
coupled with rising rates of compulsory mental health treatment have prompted major reviews of mental
health laws across the United Kingdom and beyond. These reviews have heralded a new era of human
rights based mental health laws. There is, however, considerable differences amongst the jurisdictions
with respect to engagement and interpretation of human rights obligations. How the full realisation of
human rights of those with psycho-social disabilities should be addressed in mental health law has
become the focus of the global reform. This project will conduct a critical discourse and doctrinal analysis
of current law reform debates and consequential legislative reforms to identify the philosophical and legal
rationales and legislative structures that constitute human rights based mental health laws.