The 2006 United Nations convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD) enshrined a range of rights, with the aim of ensuring independence and full social inclusion for people with disabilities. The convention is based on a “social model” of disability, which underscores the role of social environments and systems in contributing to disability; it thus moves beyond a “medical model” where the focus is on individual deficits associated with disability, or a “charity model” that highlights need and dependency of people with disabilities. The CRPD covers people with disability arising from mental disorders, who are particularly vulnerable to rights violations.

The human rights outlined in the CRPD cover “positive rights” such as access to employment, social, and health services, as well as so-called “negative rights” such as the right to refuse treatment and the deprivation of liberty. However, it has been noted that there is an undue attention on “negative rights” in treatment services, and limited capacity for the law to guarantee “positive rights”.