For Immediate Release I
August 11, 2014
This
statement is released following the release of five persons with mental
disabilities from prison by the Lusaka High Court last week.
Disability Rights Watch is pleased
with the bold decision of the High Court to declare the long detention of the
five mentally disabled persons illegal. In our view, this is a landmark
judgment which will build up the portfolio of judgments which promote and
protect the rights of persons with disabilities. The judgment has established a
precedence in Zambia’s jurisprudence.
Disability Rights Watch DRW wishes to
congratulate the Lusaka High Court for this landmark judgment. The organisation
feels that it takes judicial activism to pass such judgments. DRW further congratulates
the Legal Resources Chambers (LRC) for representing the petitioners with mental
disabilities. We appeal to LRC to continue to take up more cases concerning
persons with disabilities
Persons with mental disabilities who
have been declared not fit to undergo trial and needed treatment have been
detained for many years in our prisons. The conditions under which they are
detained are not pleasant at all. Today, many more are still in prison without
a fair trial and there is no one to stand for the protection of their rights to
be only when found guilt after a fair trial.
The Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities indicates that “States Parties shall ensure
that persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others: enjoy the right
to liberty and security of person; are not deprived of their liberty unlawfully
or arbitrarily, and that any deprivation of liberty is in conformity with the
law, and that the existence of a disability shall in no case justify a
deprivation of liberty”.
Therefore, the continuous
detention of persons with mental disabilities in prisons for long periods of
time is in contradiction with international human rights law.
We wish to state here
that the Zambian government ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities and is bound to stick to its principles. Furthermore, the
government enacted a progressive law which requires the courts to provide
support for persons with disabilities to access court proceedings on an equal
basis with other persons. The Persons with Disabilities Act of 2012 says that the judicature shall take
necessary measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have equal and
effective protection and equal benefits of the law without discrimination. This
includes persons with mental disabilities. The Act in part 2, section 8.(3) further
states that there a person with disability is a party in any legal proceedings,
the adjudicating body shall take into account the condition of the person with
disability and provide procedural and other appropriate facilities to enable
the person with disability to access
justice and participate effectively in the proceedings. In this case,
the courts should now shape themselves to provide reasonable accommodation for
persons with mental disabilities rather than detaining them for many years as
they wait for psychiatry assessment.
An argument may be raised here that
such people may be a danger to the community. This is a justifiable argument.
It must however be realised that most of the people who commit crimes while in
a state of mental crisis are usually triggered by social factors. It is the
responsibility of the state and the citizenry at large to ensure factors that
trigger mental crisis in many of the persons with mental disabilities are
controlled. Steps should be taken to progressively develop community support
services that will act as a measure to reduce mental disabilities. Such
services include community based mental health services and community based
rehabilitation. Families and communities should be educated on issues related
to mental disability. Such education programmes should be supported by the
state in such a way that the support is equated to that given to HIV/AIDS.
Now that the five persons were
released from Chainama East Prison, a big question arises: is the family and
community ready for them? This is why we are calling for a serious
consideration to develop comprehensive community based support services for
persons with mental disabilities.
We wish to congratulate the Lusaka
High Court for the landmark judgment. It takes judicial activism to pass such
judgments. We also congratulate the Legal Resources Chambers for representing
the petitioners with mental disabilities. Will LRC continue to take up more
cases concerning persons with disabilities.
Wamundila Waliuya,
August, 2014.
