Intersectional Oppressions

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Women and Psychiatric Oppression

Official Materials

Rashida Manjoo Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, August 2012 Report and Statement at side event (2012)

CRPD General Comment No. 3 on women with disabilities (2016)

Advocacy and Scholarship

Laura Prescott speech ‘Shattering the Silence’ (2010) – at WNUSP/MFI COSP side event

CHRUSP paper on Forced Psychiatry as Violence Against Women (2010)

INWWD paper on Violence Against Women with Disabilities (2010)

INWWD Beijing Plus 15 paper (2010)

WNUSP forced psychiatric interventions as harmful cultural practice (2011) – submission to CEDAW and CRC Committees

WNUSP/CHRUSP submission to OHCHR for study on violence against women with disabilities, documenting forced psychiatry legislation and practices (2011)

CHRUSP submission to Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Intersection between Women’s Oppression and Psychiatric Oppression (2013)

Minkowitz, Legal Capacity from a Gender Perspective (2014)

Bhargavi Davar, Gendering mental health: Knowledges, identities, institutions (2015)

CHRUSP submission to CEDAW Consultation on draft Update of General Recommendation No. 19 (violence against women) (2016)

CHRUSP comments on Human Rights Committee draft General Comment on right to life, from gender and disability perspective (dealing with abortion rights, and suicide) (2016)

Minkowitz, Individual submission for the CRPD Draft Guidelines on Addressing Multiple and Intersectional Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Girls with Disabilities (2025)

‘Who is Bapu?’ from Bapu Trust website

In the center in red are the words 'Strong women. Strong voices.' Then in green, smaller, 'What happens in systems that weren't built for them?' On the outside, in small letters, bounded by red and green dots, are the words, 'Gaslit,' 'Silenced,' 'Tokenized,' 'Go-opted,' 'Dismissed,' 'Undermined,' and 'Dismissed' again.
by Ailsa Rayner

Colonialism and Racial Injustice

Forced Psychiatry as Colonization

Pemina Yellow Bird, Wild Indians: Native Perspectives on the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians (n.d.)

About Bapu Trust (website)

Decolonizing Therapy (website)

WNUSP forced psychiatric interventions as harmful cultural practice (2011) – submission to CEDAW and CRC Committees

Bhargavi Davar, Globalizing psychiatry and the case of ‘vanishing’ alternatives in a neo-colonial state (2014)

Bhargavi Davar, Disabilities, colonization and globalization: How the very possibility of a disability was compromised for the insane in India (2015)

‘Surviving Race’ – Racial Injustice and Forced Psychiatry

Vanessa Jackson, In Our Own Voice: African-American stories of oppression, survival and recovery in mental health systems (2002)

Report to the Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination on forced psychiatry and psychiatric abuse against African Americans as intersectional discrimination based on race and disability (2014) – Campaign to Repeal Mental Health Laws, M.O.M.S. – Movement Of Mothers and others Standing Together, Center for the Human Rights of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights), Victorious Black Women, MindFreedom International, World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry and International Disability Alliance

See also reports of Stephanie Franklin, Esq. to CERD and Committee against Torture (CAT) on drugging of African American girls in foster care (2014)

The background is black. On the top in red, is the name of the group 'Surviving Race: The Intersection of Injustice, Disability, and Human Rights.' Below this is the number 10 in a red circle, with a line of white dots . Below that is the title, 'Things You Can Do Today - 11. If you count contacting us!' This is followed by numbers and text, the numbers in black on cream colored background outlined in red and the text cream-colored, that reads: (1) End Intergenerational and historical traumas and invest in resources for healing. (2) Support the elimination of police brutality and police killings. End police calls for supposed psychiatric reasons. (3) Support actions that hold police, psychiatrists, and others in authority accountable for their violence toward people with psychiatric histories. (4) Support people of color in leadership in our movement(s). (5) Support ending racism in our movements and in our larger societies and help end racist practices. (6) Support people of color speaking out about racism. (7) Support white people holding themselves and other white people accountable for racism. (8) Support people speaking out against psychiatric oppression as another form of oppression. (9) Support outlawing and eliminating psychiatric profiling. (10) Support Abolishing psychiatric institutions, forensic institutions, court-ordered psychiatry, and prisons. Below this in very small red writing it says 'http://survivingrace2014.wixsite.com/platformdevelopment' followed by in somewhat larger writing 'SurvivingRace2014@gmail.com'

The background is black. On the top in red, is the name of the group 'Surviving Race: The Intersection of Injustice, Disability, and Human Rights.' Below this is the number 10 in a red circle, with a line of white dots . Below that is the title, 'Things You Can Do Today - 11. If you count contacting us!' This is followed by numbers and text, the numbers in black on cream colored background outlined in red and the text cream-colored, that reads: (1) End Intergenerational and historical traumas and invest in resources for healing. (2) Support the elimination of police brutality and police killings. End police calls for supposed psychiatric reasons. (3) Support actions that hold police, psychiatrists, and others in authority accountable for their violence toward people with psychiatric histories. (4) Support people of color in leadership in our movement(s). (5) Support ending racism in our movements and in our larger societies and help end racist practices. (6) Support people of color speaking out about racism. (7) Support white people holding themselves and other white people accountable for racism. (8) Support people speaking out against psychiatric oppression as another form of oppression. (9) Support outlawing and eliminating psychiatric profiling. (10) Support Abolishing psychiatric institutions, forensic institutions, court-ordered psychiatry, and prisons. Below this in very small red writing it says 'http://survivingrace2014.wixsite.com/platformdevelopment' followed by in somewhat larger writing 'SurvivingRace2014@gmail.com'

Older Persons

International Law

The UN Human Rights Council has approved a resolution to draft a treaty on the rights of older persons, after years of preliminary discussion in the General Assembly’s Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing. CHRUSP participates in this work to maintain the standards in the CRPD on legal capacity and independent living for older persons with and without disabilities.

Contact us to collaborate from a CRPD perspective. You can also join the Global Alliance on the Rights of Older Persons to stay informed and participate in collective NGO advocacy.

Binding Regional Treaties

Inter-American Convention on the Rights of Older Persons (2015) see especially articles 9 (autonomy and independence) and 30 (legal capacity) which echo CRPD

Protocol to the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa has noteworthy provisions, e.g. on harmful cultural practices (Article 8) and the duties of older persons such as mentorship and guidance (Article 20) but includes provisions contrary to CRPD on incapacity (Article 5) and residential care (Article 11)

UN Summaries from Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing

These summaries of discussions on normative content may be used as a starting point for drafting and negotiations of the new treaty. Highlighted here are the summaries on issues to which CHRUSP contributed and has an interest.

Advocacy and Scholarship

RIADIS/WNUSP/CHRUSP recommendations to OAS for Draft Text on Rights of Older Persons, to Conform to CRPD English y Español (2013)

WNUSP/CHRUSP submission to OHCHR consultation on the rights of older persons and short version (2013)

Text proposals for potential new UN instrument on rights of older persons (2013)

CHRUSP Submissions to 9th session Open Ended Working Group on Ageing – on the designated topics Autonomy and Independence, Long-term and Palliative Care, and normative standards on Equality and Non-discrimination and on Violence, Neglect and Abuse (2018)

CHRUSP Statements to 9th OEWG on Ageing – General Debate, Autonomy and Independence, Long-term Care and Palliative Care, and Normative Standards on Equality and Non-discrimination and on Violence, Neglect and Abuse (2018)

CHRUSP Submission to 10th OEWG on Ageing – Joint submission by European Network on Independent Living and CHRUSP on Normative Elements for Autonomy and Independence (2019)

CHRUSP Statements to 10th OEWG on Ageing – General Debate and Normative Content (commenting on DESA/OHCHR normative summary on Autonomy and Independence)

CHRUSP Submission to OEWG on Ageing – Identification of Possible Gaps and How to Address Them (2023)

Minkowitz, Notes for Consultation on Care and Support of Older Persons (2024)