UN-Convention Fraud
A chronicle of events

Geneva, April 17, 2001: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, makes an invitation to a meeting in the Palais des Nations which takes place during the 57th meeting of the UN Commission for Human Rights . In its report for the year 2001 on page 154 the following can be read:

In April 2001, during the 57th session of the Commission on Human Rights, the Office organized consultations with governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, United Nations bodies and specialized agencies, and national institutions including national human rights commissions, on the issue of human rights and disability. The consultations concluded with a reaffirmation that there is a human rights dimension to disability and the need to strengthen the link between the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Commission on Human Rights.

Hagai Aviel and René Talbot were likewise invited and present. They describe their impressions as follows:

Last Tuesday 17 April we were in the special consultation on 'human rights and disability' in the office of the united nations high commissioner for human rights in Geneva . We were very impressed that almost all the participants in this consultation addressed our issue, using the term 'psychiatric disability'. This term was specifically mentioned in the opening words of Ms. Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner. The only exception was, of course, the lady from WHO who talked about 'mental health'. 'Psychiatric disability' hit the nail on the head: of course are we disabled by coercive psychiatry - by the mental health laws! This consultation confirmed our conviction: we have to focus on Human Rights. Our claims in the human rights field have solid ground and we can speak for ourselves.

In a statement by IAAPA Hagai Aviel summarizes his impressions:

In a special UN meeting about disability in April 2001 there was a clear difference between speakers depending on whether they were government representatives or NGO advocates. Governments representatives called for a declaration supporting special laws, while the non-governmental organizations didn't even mention the need for laws and instead spoke about day-to-day difficulties. The reason is simply that new laws would confer more power to the state and state-sponsored professional help. They would have little to do with the wishes of the affected individuals themselves or their organizations. It was all about more power to the government and the professionals it supports and maintains.

From the outset there was thus a need from the side of the states, instead of changing the practices, to just make any international agreement, in order to stifle criticism with reference to these “great” agreements. That is a typical method how those with power in the state negate the demands for the respect of Human Rights of the oppressed, in democracies just as with dictatorships, in order to maintain the deception that human rights are being upheld. With regard to this, it is to be noted that Human Rights aims for a human interaction free of violence and therefore an internal contradiction arises if it should be applied by force. The following developments are an example of the paradox that develops if the state with a monopoly on violence, in order to to distinguish justice from injustice, itself becomes a Human Rights criminal.

Berlin, June 2001: The Russell Tribunal corroborates and strengthens the verdict of the Foucault Tribunal in 1998. A greeting for the tribunal was read by the representative of the UN in Germany on behalf the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.

Already in the year 2001 it is decided by the UN General Assembly, i.e. the meeting of the state representatives of the nations, to prepare a Disability Rights Convention.

July 29, 2003: This preparation process is accompanied by a resolution of the General Assembly of the International Association Against Psychiatric Assault (IAAPA) of 10/29/2002 : Disabled by Psychiatry and the Law - Psychiatric Disability: Spearhead of the Struggle for Human Rights. All members of the so-called “ad hoc committee” at the UN received the text. Unfortunately the NGO´s taking part in the preparation could not push through our demand that the ban on coercive psychiatry must be explicitly taken up in the convention, as with its incompatibility with human rights. If that had succeeded, then with acceptance of the convention and/or its respective ratification, it would have been clear from the outset, what the decision was and it would not have had the smallest chance for any “interpretations”. It is well known that 3 lawyers typically have 4 different opinions.

In fact, the only thing achieved, was that this demand is implicitly included in the convention, one could say it was “legal logic” included in the articles thereof. That was probably a diplomatic compromise, so that ostensibly the convention would not seem so “conspicuous” anymore. However, in doing so, the weight of succeeding with the demand on a national state level had been shifted: With the ratifications it would now be decided whether the abolishment of coercive psychiatry was in fact accepted as an implicitly logical result of the convention and therefore either the convention was not at all signed in an honest way (as decided by e.g. the USA) or, just as honestly, after initialing was however not ratified, or whether a hypocritical fraud is made out of the convention, just as with all states which have ratified it so far.

However, you have to give credit to these states in that the national legislators committed this fraud without having been previously informed of this implicit logic. These legislators can thus declare their guilelessness, assuming themselves to be „innocent”. In complete contrast to this, in Germany the disability-political cynics delivered a disgusting farce: Lies and deception on an open stage.

New York, December 13, 2006: The UN General Assembly adopt the "Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities"

Berlin, March 29, 2007: the German national association of psychiatric survivors „the-BPE“ publishes a press statement on the initialing of the convention by the Federal Government on the following day: Only ratify the UN Disability Convention if at the same time all special psychiatric laws are abolished. In this statement the commissioning of an legal expert opinion on the question of the incompatibility of German psychiatric special laws with the UN convention is announced.

New York, March 30, 2007: the convention is initialed by the German Government

Berlin, April 19, 2007: An expert opinion by the renowned lawyers Wolfgang Kaleck, Sebastian Scharmer and Soenke Hilbrans, specialized in human rights, is commissioned. The expert opinion should concentrate on the investigation of the question of the (in)compatibility of the Berlin PsychKGs (mental health laws) with the Disability Convention.

April 24, 2007: Additionally, the General Assembly of IAAPA adopts and publishes a statement with the same demands as those of the „the-BPE“: Only ratify the UN Disability Convention if, in doing so, all mental health laws are abolished. This statement also serves as call for the Remembrance & Resistance Day.

Berlin, May 2, 2007: The 13th Remembrance & Resistance Day is a demonstration march from the T4 commemorative plaque in Tiergartenstrasse 4 to the seat of the commissioner of the federal government for the disabled, Karin Evers Meyer. Under a flimsy pretext she forbade us from entering this seat, the Kleisthaus building, where we wanted to inform the staff about our demands. We were thus obliged to distribute these flyers demonstratively in front of the entrance. When leaving after work, the employees all had to walk passed us. At this time this defensive reaction on our press statement of 29.3.07 was already an indication of the anti-human rights and disability-hostile attitude of Mrs. Evers Meyer. She becomes one of the „leaders of the pack“ of the convention fraud.

Geneva, December 11, 2007: In a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expert seminar titled Expert seminar on freedom from torture and ill treatment and persons with disabilities, Prof. Theresia Degener documents on page 12 that she considers torture (camouflaged as coercive psychiatric treatment) to be acceptable if it is legalized and the judges consent. Quotation: ..in her [Prof. Theresia Degeners] view, control and review of medical actions should not be exclusively on the hands of doctors (medical review) but of judges (judicial review). She thereby placed herself outside of the principles of Human Rights, in order to protect the psychiatric torture measures. In March 2008 this anti-human rights position is then directly reflected in the lies of the so-called “Institute for Humans, Ethics and Science” (Institut Mensch, Ethik und Wissenschaft see March 2008) which she supports.

In the seminar Prof. Degener was of course immediately contradicted, see the minutes on page 13: One participant clarified that in her view forced medical interventions targeting persons with disabilities constitute torture or CIDT, as discussed earlier in the seminar, and there is no judicial review of torture. She expressed her disagreement with any implication from Prof. Degener’s remarks that forced medical interventions on persons with disabilities might be permitted with the safeguard of judicial review. She emphasized as well that CRPD article 14 prohibited disability-based detention.

Berlin, January 30, 2008: The human rights lawyers Wolfgang Kaleck, Sebastian Scharmer and Soenke Hilbrans hand over the 45-paged expert opinion to the German national association of psychiatric survivors, the-BPE. This expert opinion comes to the clear conclusion that the Berlin PsychKG is incompatible with the UN Disability Convention. It is immediately passed on to the political scientist, Prof. Wolf-Dieter Narr and the Professor for rehabilitation pedagogy, Eckhard Rohrmann.

Berlin, February 25, 2008: Together with their comments, the expert opinion is made public at a press conference in the Berlin state parliament.

The complete explanation by René Talbot on the publication of the expert opinion can be read in English here. The expert opinion by Prof. Narr here, comments by Prof. Rohrmann here. The reactions in the press are documented here. (The publication was supported by the Green Party in the Berlin state parliament; the offer to the postcommunist party (Linkspartei), which together with the Labour Party forms the Berlin state goverment, to also support the publication was rejected by them without any reason being given)

March 2008: The prelude to the series of lies that developed thereafter was characteristically made by the hypocrites at the ”Institut for Humans, Ethics and Science”. Although the authors of the expert opinion in a letter explicitly requested the institute to revoke the following false assumption, the institute held firmly on to this lie disseminated on the internet and in print, quotation:

Apart from this, coercive treatment and incarceration in the event of a mental derangement should only be instructed by the judge as a last resort, when danger to oneself or others cannot be avoided in any other way and all attempts of voluntary help and support have been exhausted (Kaleck, among others, 2007)

Exactly the opposite of what the “Institute” insinuated is stated in the expert opinion, but the only task of this “Institute” seems to be holding a legitimizing shield for the torture methods on disabled people; with regard to this “Institute”, it can only disgust survivors. It is a perfect example of the wretched abhorrence which hypocrites invent for the only purpose of perpetuating the power of the physicians to practice systematic abuse.

April 11 – 17, 2008: A personally addressed letter with a copy of the expert opinion invited all members of the federal parliament (Bundestag) to a public discussion on the expert opinion, including a question and answer session with the experts on May 7. All members of all 16 federal state parliaments likewise received the expert opinion, the invitation and additionally an amusing but - above all - enlightening book: “Gert Postel: Playing Doctor ”. (The letter can be read in German in the Irren-Offensive magazine No. 14 on page 14.)

The president of the Bremen parliament reacted immediately: he ridiculed the rule of law via his manager, Mrs. Grotheer-Hueneke, by refusing to deliver the post to the Members of Parliament and instead wanted all letters to be returned or thrown away. On the written request of one of the expert opinion lawyers what the legal basis was for wanting to withhold or dump the members of parliaments post, the president made an u-turn and handed out it after all, because the censorship of the post threatened to become public.

Berlin, April 16, 2008: Kleisthaus: we distribute the printed expert opinion in the conference: „The UN-Convention on the rights of the disabled between everyday life and a vision of the future“.

Berlin, May 2, 2008: The T4 demonstration march on the 14th Remembrance and Resistance day. We still preserve the hope that with the UN Disability Convention it is actually meant what is stated in it. So we celebrate the entering into force of the convention the next day on May 3. The director of the German Institute for Government Complaisance still succeeds so well with his hypocrisy that we do not notice how we are duped as we celebrate with these people and then march from there to the Tiergartenstr. 4.

Berlin, May 7, 2008: Public meeting in the Berlin state parliament for a discussion of the expert opinion and our demand with Wolfgang Kaleck, Sebstian Scharmer, Helga Wullweber, Wolf-Dieter Narr and the member of the Berlin state parliament, Dirk Behrendt. Subsequently, Gert Postel reads from his book. On the same day the second article appears on the incompatibility of PsychKG and the convention in the daily newspaper “Neues Deutschland”, a newspaper in line with the post-communist party. Since the Berlin Senat [the government of the state of Berlin is called the “Senat”] consists of a coalition of the Labour and the LINKEN (postcommunist) parties, the responsibility for the abolishment of the Berlin PsychKG law (and/or the therein inherent violence and coercion legalizing paragraphs) and the agreement of Berlin to the ratification of the UN Disability Convention in the second house of the federal parliaments (“Bundesrat” consisting of the governments of the 16 regional German states) lies with these two parliamentary groups. A key role is played here by the senator [minister in the state of Berlin] for health, whose department is responsible for the realization of this part of the convention. However, her party responsible for this department already revealed the planned fraud and its purpose. Alarmed by the article in “Neues Deutschland”, Dr. Ilja Seifert, Member of the federal Parliament and the party´s spokesman for disability politics, writes us on the same day on behalf of his party and the Bundestag fraction that, among other things, quotation:

If we actually place the protection of the most elementary rights of defense as a precondition before the ratification, we run the risk of sustaining a procrastination of the ratification until the cows come home.

He thus recognizes psychiatric abuse as a violation of the most fundamental rights but then puts off its removal indefinitely. Why? Because his Berlin comrades, the health senator, Katrin Lompscher, and her Secretary of State, Dr. Benjamin Immanuel Hoff, who have the political power to remove the Berlin PsychKG, have to be shielded in order to leave untouched psychiatric violence! Dr. Seiferts tremendous callousness in relation to most fundamental rights fatally reminds one of Stalin‘s ignorance of Human Rights in his Gulag politics while at the same time putting his signature under the UN-Declaration of the Human Rights of 1948 and his tactical relationship to Human Rights.

In this regard, the responsibility of the „Linken“ party is ascertained: Since, in order to ratify the UN Disability Convention in accordance with Article 3 of the Lindauer Agreements of 1957, ALL Federal states must consent, the „ Linken“ party also can make as a condition of its consent of the ratification that beforehand the Berlin PsychKG is to be abolished. The „Linken“ party thus has, independently of the likewise governing Labour party, the undivided and full responsibility for the convention fraud if it should agree to the ratification for Berlin without beforehand having removed the parts of the PsychKG which legalize violence. By having the option of refusing their consent for the ratification, the „Linken“ party therefore had the power to persuade the coalition partner to agreeing to the abolishment of the PsychKGs.

Berlin, May 15, 2008: Through the state secretary of the minister for work and social affairs, Mr. Brandtner, the Federal Government gives an evasive answer to the question from the spokesman for disability politics of the Liberal party (FDP), Jörg Rohde, (documented on page 33 of the Bundestag documentation No. 16/9210) on whether the Federal Government recognizes the incompatibility of the PsychKGs with the UN-Convention. Rohde asks the question as a supporting reaction to our letter to all Members of Parliament in April.

Bochum, June 11, 2008: The federal association of psychiatric survivors, the „Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener“, positions itself by a public statement on the UN Disability Convention almost identical to that of the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Psychiatrie-Erfahrener (the-BPE): both organizations demand the abolishment of the PsychKGs not later than the date of the ratification of the convention.

Berlin, June 20, 2008: The second governments answer by the state secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Mr. Altmaier, on the second question by Jörg Rohde, FDP, (documented on page 8 of the Bundestag documentation No. 16/9832). With this answer it becomes clear that the grand coalition and the government supporting them will let it come down to a convention fraud.

Berlin, July 15, 2008: Together representatives of the associations Irren-Offensive, Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Psychiatrie-Erfahrener, Landesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener Berlin-Brandenburg, Verein zum Schutz vor psychiatrischer Gewalt, Betroffenenberatung, Weglaufhaus and a representative of the Humanistischen Union Berlin discuss the situation. It is agreed upon that the associations involved are to be asked to adopt a resolution for the creation of a working group to co-ordinate further action. This working group is active on several issues and writes, among other things, two calls for a demonstration .

The government draft of the ratification law is passed on us. It finally proves how the convention fraud by the conservative party (CDU) and the Labour party (SPD) as well as the federal government is planned with the help of the so-called “memorandum” as a part of the ratification law, which however all other parties likewise endorse.

Bochum, July 18, 2008: In a second public statement the Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener criticizes the governmental draft for the ratification of the convention: „The governmental draft of the Federal Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs for the ratification of the Disability Convention is pure window-dressing politics. While in the shop window human rights are presented, torture continues to takes place in the back rooms (psychiatric institutions and homes for the elderly). The complete contortion of the paragraphs 12 and 14 of the Disability Convention in the governmental memorandum serves that purpose.“

Berlin, July 22, 2008: On the occasion of the “hearing” of invited various associations (we were of course not invited) we demonstrate in front of the Kleisthaus, seat of the Commissioner of the Federal Government for the Disabled, Karin Evers Meyer, who plays a central role in the convention fraud. With a flyer all participants are informed about the hypocrisy of the Federal Government and the planned fraud.

Berlin, July 23, 2008: On the occasion of the hearing of the regional state representatives concerning the ministerial draft, we demonstrate in front of the Federal Ministry for Work and Social Affairs. With a flyer all participants are informed about the hypocrisy of the Federal Government and the planned fraud.

29 July 2009, Berlin: the-BPE writes a letter to the Office of the Federal Chancellor with the title: Instead of abolishing the special mental health laws, hypocrites plan a convention fraud

August 20, 2008: In order to give the Berlin “Linken” party, which left our letters unanswered, an opportunity to speak to us directly, in a letter we suggest a discussion with the State Secretary of the Health Senator, Benjamin Hoff, because in fact, a confrontation was imminent. This should clear up the potentially false assumption that the “Linken” party in Berlin was involved in the planned convention fraud, just to leave untouched the coercive psychiatry practices in Berlin. Paradoxically, he accepted, although the conversation ended after only 5 minutes, but nevertheless created clarity about the fact that the “Linken” party stands fully behind the convention fraud. They couldn‘t care less about human rights. What almost becomes a cynical deception of their followers is the fervently sung, "The Internationale unites the human race" [German version translated: “The Internationale fights for Human Rights”]

August 29, 2008: A handing out of flyers in front of the Institute for Government Complaisance [This name is appropriate for this institute, which deceives the public with the false name " German Institute for Human Rights”.] That this institute was just acting hypocritically on May 2 now became obvious, when we were no longer invited by this institution to a round-table discussion with other organizations about the UN Convention. The government complaisant people of this institute no longer had an interest in yet another deception, because at now it was already apparent that human rights are completely unknown to the federal government, particularly when it comes to the crimes of coercive psychiatry. The government complaisant people had learned that they would be rewarded for their toadyism and the betrayal of human rights with € 463,000 a year.

September 3, 2008: The first day of a indefinite demonstration in front of the seat of the Berlin Senator for Health and its State Secretary, Benjamin Hoff. This was followed by another 56 days of demonstrations of 2.5 hours each.

September 4-17, 2008: The second letter is sent to all members of all parliaments respectively a reply to those who responded to our first letter (see letter template in the magazine Irren-Offensive No.14, page 15)

September 15, 2008: We are invited in the Kleisthaus to participate in a conference named "all inclusive", which means in fact: “all lies!” Accordingly, we were sent out of the assembly after pointing to our issue. After that we move on to hand out flyers in Berlin's health bureaucracy.

September 19, 2008: Handing out flyers in the "leftist cinema night". Here the issue is not welcomed. Those distributing flyers are kicked out and are only able to inform the visitors at the door as they enter.

October 6, 2008: Week of Berlin's "mental health" - Before the press conference we hand out our flyers with the call for demonstration.

October 6-12, 2008: On the occasion of the Dignity and Justice for Detainees Week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights publishes Information No. 4, which fully confirms our legal opinion on the convention.
This clarification of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is also part of the statement that the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Psychiatrie-Erfahrene, along with the complete expert opinion of Kaleck, Scharmer and Hilbrans sent to the appropriate Bundestag Committee which then became on 11/11 part of the Bundestag documentation as committee publication No.16 (11) 1179 (see page 30-49). This documentation had the purpose of concealing the non-invitation of the psychiatric survivors and the complete disregard of their statement at the session of the Committee on 24/11.

October 21, 2008: Demonstration with handing out of flyers in front of Berlin's health bureaucracy

October 23, 2008: Handing out of flyers at the presentation by prof. Dörner in the University

October 30 - November 7, 2008: The third letter is sent to all MPs of all 16 state parliaments (see sample letter in the Irren-Offensive No.14, page 18)

November 11, 2008: An open letter is sent to the German Institute for Government Complaisance explaining why they are becoming part of a fraud.

November 12, 2008: Demonstration in front of the second house of the federal parliaments (Bundesrat) because of its first reading on the Disability Rights Convention
November 12, 2008: The first reading in the federal parliament (Bundestag); we were not able to participate in the reading, because visitors to the debate are only allowed in before 10 p.m. and we arrived there at 10:30 p.m. - a purely bureaucratic exclusion, but did we really miss anything? The hypocrisy bla-bla of the first reading in the Bundestag can be read on the Internet here: See Page 19904

Erkner, November 13/14/15, 2008: in front of the bi-annual conference of all those who earn their money with guardianship (Vormundschaftsgerichtstag) (documentation of the announcement and pictures)

November 17, 2008: Demonstration in front of the German Institute for Government Complaisance, distribution of the open letter

November 24, 2008: In a public session of the Bundestag Committee for Work and Social Affairs on the ratification draft, Mr. Lachwitz and Mr. Kruckenberg betray us, Mr. Degener says nothing - by keeping silent they support the slaughter of the UN Convention.

November 26/27, 2008: Demonstration at the entrance to the ICC Convention Center in Berlin during the Congress of the DGPPN (Federal psychiatrists organization in Germany): Our slogan on the banner: "From 1.1.2009 onwards, all those who work in a closed ward are criminals"

November 27, 2008: A third letter is sent to all members of the Bundestag

November 28, 2008: Demonstration in front of the second house of the federal parliaments (Bundesrat)

Further demonstrations and handing out of flyers at various "celebrations" of 60 years of Human Rights:
December 1, 2008: Handing out of flyers at the conference of the German Institute for Government Complaisance, allegedly on the subject of "Human Dignity"

December 1, 2008: Demonstration in front of the SPD headquarters

December 2, 2008:
a) English flyers handed out in the Kleisthaus
b) handing out of flyers at the Boell Foundation on the occasion of the Kelly award. The Minister of Justice, Mrs. Zypries, who landed us in the soup with her memorandum (part of the ratification law), holds a laudatory speech

December 3, 2008: Handing out of flyers at the Franzoescher Dom at the Gendarmenmarkt 60th anniversary „celebration "

December 4, 2008: We counter the 2nd + 3rd reading in the Bundestag with our statement: The sale of stolen human rights

December 9, 2008: Handing out of flyers at the House of World Cultures

December 10, 2008: Demonstration with flyers handed out in front of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Hiroshimastrasse 17: Political ceremony with top political prominence – scornful of human rights, the police relegate us from our place. Amnesty International, as co-organizer, allows this to happen. The demonstration is dissolved and only flyers are handed out.

December 11, 2008: Flyers are handed out at the Amnesty International reading in the Water Tower Library.

December 18, 2008: At the celebration of Human Rights at the University of Potsdam flyers are handed out

December 19, 2008: The second house of the federal parliaments (Bundesrat) also decides on ratification in accordance with the "Lindauer Agreement“ [this means that international treaties have to be positively affirmed at the federal level as well as by all 16 regional German states, with the result that all parties have to consent because they are all in a coalition in at least one of the 17 governments. Any disagreement would result in the abstention of one body and failure of the ratification]. Our answer is the press release: deception failed

January 1, 2009: The convention enters into force by a proclamation in the Federal Law Gazette Part II 2008 Nr. 35 31.12.2008 page 1419 - but the UN reports the ratification as taking effect on February 24, 2009.

Geneva, January 26, 09: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reaffirms all of our demands, which we had already made on March 29, 2007. In a report to the General Assembly of the United Nations "to improve the awareness and understanding of the Disability Rights Convention" it is definitely clear that:

• criminal proceedings with a finding of insanity defence "must be abolished" (see Article 47 below)

• the Convention differs radically from the UN Resolution No. 46/119 of December 17, 1991" (see Article 48 below)

• all laws „must be abolished ", where "mental illness " is an excuse for a special law in the event of danger to themselves or others - that is a definitive confirmation of our call for the immediate abolition of all PsychKGs by the highest Human Rights body (see Article 49 below).

Here are the most important sections of the report as a quotation:

47. In the area of criminal law, recognition of the legal capacity of persons with disabilities requires abolishing a defence based on the negation of criminal responsibility because of the existence of a mental or intellectual disability.* Instead disability-neutral doctrines on the subjective element of the crime should be applied, which take into consideration the situation of the individual defendant. Procedural accommodations both during the pretrial and trial phase of the proceedings might be required in accordance with article 13 of the Convention, and implementing norms must be adopted.
* Often referred to as “insanity defence”.

5. Right to liberty and security of the person
48. A particular challenge in the context of promoting and protecting the right to liberty and security of persons with disabilities is the legislation and practice related to health care and more specifically to institutionalization without the free and informed consent of the person concerned (also often referred to as involuntary or compulsory institutionalization). Prior to the entrance into force of the Convention, the existence of a mental disability represented a lawful ground for deprivation of liberty and detention under international human rights law.* The Convention radically departs from this approach by forbidding deprivation of liberty based on the existence of any disability, including mental or intellectual, as discriminatory. Article 14, paragraph 1 (b), of the Convention unambiguously states that “the existence of a disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of liberty”. Proposals made during the drafting of the Convention to limit the prohibition of detention to cases “solely” determined by disability were rejected.** As a result, unlawful detention encompasses situations where the deprivation of liberty is grounded in the combination between a mental or intellectual disability and other elements such as dangerousness, or care and treatment. Since such measures are partly justified by the person’s disability, they are to be considered discriminatory and in violation of the prohibition of deprivation of liberty on the grounds of disability, and the right to liberty on an equal basis with others prescribed by article 14.

* See for reference the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Health Care, A/RES/46/119, available at: http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/46/a46r119.htm.

** In the course of the third session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, proposals were made to add the word “solely” to then draft article 10, paragraph 1 (b), so it would read “any deprivation of liberty shall be in conformity with the law and in no case shall be based solely on disability”.

49. Legislation authorizing the institutionalization of persons with disabilities on the grounds of their disability without their free and informed consent must be abolished. This must include the repeal of provisions authorizing institutionalization of persons with disabilities for their care and treatment without their free and informed consent, as well as provisions authorizing the preventive detention of persons with disabilities on grounds such as the likelihood of them posing a danger to themselves or others, in all cases in which such grounds of care, treatment and public security are linked in legislation to an apparent or diagnosed mental illness…

February 14, 2009: The IAAPA prize to criminalize the psychiatrists ends: 1st Prize: „Psychiatrists: state protected criminals“

April 1, 2009: The regional state of Brandenburg parliament exposes itself as a human rights criminal gang (see Irren-Offensive No. 14, page 14): It issues a new mental health law including coercive measures – all parties agree.

April 26, 2009: On the occasion of a federal meeting on disability policy of the Green Party on May 5 we inform everyone with flyers about the deception failed. We do the same in front of the chancellery at a SPD “demonstration” and on May 13 at a meeting on invitiation of the SPD in the Bundestag.

May 2, 2009: The 15th Remembrance & Resistance Day is a demonstration march from the T4 commemorative plaque in Tiergartenstrasse 4 to the seat of the Federal psychiatrists organization in Germany: Our slogan on the banner: "Since 1.1.2009, all those who work in a closed ward are criminals" and "Psychiatrists: state protected criminals" (the poster is now available in 11 langauges). So they are all informed!

On June 2, 2009 the general assembly of the Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Psychiatrie-Erfahrener (the-BPE.de) decided the publication of this Chronicle. It is allredy published in German here: www.zwangspsychiatrie.de/kampagnen/chronik-eines-betrugs