Last week, as part of our advocacy against the draft additional protocol to the Oviedo Convention, EDF sent a joint letter to the Committee of Bioethics of the Council of Europe. We reiterated our strong opposition to the draft additional protocol to the Oviedo Convention and expressed deep concerns over the human rights violations potentially about to be undertaken by the Council of Europe.
Our organisations have been engaged in the discussion on the draft additional protocol to the Oviedo Convention since 2014. From the beginning, we have expressed opposition to the development of measures that violates the rights of persons with disabilities and contradict international human rights laws.
Since then, many actors from the United Nations system, civil society and within the Council of Europe have also condemned the work undertaken by the Committee on Bioethics on involuntary treatment and placement in psychiatry.
The adoption of the protocol will create a legal conflict between the obligations of States at the regional level (Council of Europe) and the international level (CRPD).
2020-11-30_final_edf_comments_to_oviedo_draft_additional_protocol_