Discrimination against people with mental illnesses and recognition of their rights: this is the subject of the appeal, filed a few days ago by Franco Previte, president of the Italian association "Cristiani per Servire", with the European Court for Human Rights. "The goal explains Previte is to have the rights of mentally-ill people recognised by some EU Directive that will bind all the EU member states". The appeal highlights the importance of taking measures to this end, according to the "Convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms". Previte explained that such legal measures, for instance the British one that provides for Compulsory Treatment for ill patients, "are disconcerting, because they bring us back to a situation that has already been overcome by the modern European democracies". At the same time, he adds, "the crimes and tragic events that happen nearly every day in the EU member states must make us reflect and hope that, before the tough problems of life, the respect of human dignity will increasingly come to the fore". Previte finally referred to the "International Convention on the Rights of Disabled People" adopted by the UN, which can be ratified from March 30th 2007.
