Amnesty’s stance on mental health

I WISH to respond to Seán Fleming who states that people can be “forced to… undergo electroconvulsive ‘therapy’ ” (ECT), and that “human rights organisations like Amnesty International refuse to condemn this” (Irish Examiner letters, December 5).

Amnesty International has repeatedly pointed out that free and informed consent should form the basis of mental health treatment.

Principle 11 of the 1991 UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness sets out the general principle that “no treatment shall be given to a patient without his or her informed consent”.