ABSTRACT

The mentally and physically ill were considered as beings that should be pitied by society. The evolution of this concept and scientific progress have turned them into individuals that, though “different”, can be integrated into the community and thus have rights. In April 1994, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation 1235 on ''''Psychiatry and Human Rights”. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation 1235 (1994), which deals with psychiatry and human rights, in April 1994. The Resolution adopted on 17 December 1991 by the General Assembly of the UN on the “principles for the protection of persons with mental illness” gives many details in relation with a number of important rights. In the Winterwerp case, the European Commission and Court of Human Rights, had to judge about the right of the mentally ill to a treatment to ameliorate their health.