Protecting mental health clientsʹ dignity — The importance of legal control

Protecting human beingsʹ dignity is a fundamental value underlying the UNʹs Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as several recommendations and conventions derived from this, among them the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), a declaration that also takes precedence over Norwegian legislation. Still, clientsʹ stories inform us that their dignity is not always protected in the mental health service systems. m of the study has been to investigate violations of dignity considered from the clientsʹ points of view, and to suggest actions that may ensure that practice is brought in line with human rights values. thod used has been a qualitative content analysis of 335 client narratives. nclusion is that mental health clients experience infringements that cannot be explained without reference to their status as clients in a system which, based on judgments from medical experts, has a legitimate right to ignore clientsʹ voices as well as their fundamental human rights. The main focus of this discussion is the role of the ECHR and the European Court of Human Rights as instruments for protecting mental health clientsʹ human rights. To bring about changes, recommendations and practices should be harmonized with the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). Under this convention, the European Court of Human Rights has support for the application of the ECHR without exemptions for special groups of people.