08/12/2025 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
A PACE committee has unanimously said it is against a new draft protocol on the involuntary placement and involuntary treatment of persons in mental healthcare services, pointing out it would “make it more difficult to abolish coercive practices” in such settings.
The Assembly must give its opinion on all new draft protocols prepared by experts within the Council of Europe before a final decision is taken by the organisation’s executive body, the Committee of Ministers.
Approving a draft opinion based on a report by Carmen Leyte (Spain, EPP/CD), the Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee said it recognised the need to provide a framework for “exceptional, last-resort measures” to treat persons in this situation. However, it said any such text should be in line with existing UN standards which place much greater emphasis on fully respecting patients’ autonomy and consent.
The committee said the new draft additional protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine should therefore be assessed for its compatibility with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities before any further consideration by the Committee of Ministers.
The UN text has already been ratified by all Council of Europe member states and embodies a “paradigm shift” towards respect for the autonomy of persons in this situation, the parliamentarians pointed out.
The Assembly’s final opinion on the draft protocol is due to be adopted during its forthcoming winter session in Strasbourg (26-30 January 2026).