Tina Minkowitz, CHRUSP

I would like to introduce myself since readers of the USHRN blog may not know me.  My name is Tina Minkowitz, and I represent the Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (CHRUSP), an organization that I founded which has the mission to provide strategic leadership in human rights advocacy, implementation and monitoring relevant to people experiencing (or labeled with) madness, mental health problems or trauma. CHRUSP works for full legal capacity for all, an end to forced drugging, forced electroshock and psychiatric incarceration, and for support that respects individual integrity and free will.  I also serve as International Representative of the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP), a global democratic organization of users and survivors of psychiatry and people with psychosocial disabilities.

I am here in Geneva with my colleagues Patricia Bauerle and Aubrey Shomo with our shadow report for the review of the U.S. under the ICCPR, advocating the abolition of forced medication and other coercive practices in the mental health system.  Hege Orefellen from Norway and Jolijn Santegoeds from the Netherlands join us for global advocacy related to the same issue. 

As I write on Tuesday evening we have had two long and productive days of advocacy.  The most productive event for us was a side event we held on Monday evening, on “Torture and ill treatment in mental health settings.”  By interacting with members of the Human Rights Committee over an hour and a half we were able to reach past the conceptual positions to present personal stories, investigative reports by Human Rights Watch, and an analysis of international human rights law, as well as information on alternatives to the current abusive systems.  The event was moderated by the Disability Adviser of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

We were very happy with the attendance, counting seven Human Rights Committee members and one assistant to a Committee member, as well as OHCHR staff persons and a number of our fellow delegates from USHRN and other U.S. NGOs.  It was helpful that we provided food!