Mental health and human rights

The universality of the affliction of mental illness underlines the fact that human beings inherently have a neurochemical constitution that makes them susceptible to psychological turbulence, at least, and serious mental disorders, at the worst. Recently, India has been ranked 139 out of 149 countries in the human happiness index. In the 2020 Human Freedom Index, India’s rank was 111 out of 162. On further examination of the rankings, what is noticeable is, that those countries which rank higher up on the human happiness index such as Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland also rank well in the human freedom index. There seems to be a positive correlation between human liberty and human happiness.

Inevitably, higher respect given to the inherent dignity of each human being accords each human being greater mental well-being. The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” This innate liberty and equality of human beings on the basis of which human beings enjoy the right to a dignified life and other human rights have been justified in the UN declaration on the basis of the “reason and conscience” of humankind.

The idea of human rights has often been subjected to what Amartya Sen calls “The Legitimacy Critique”. What has been mostly missing from the traditional response to this legitimacy critique is the idea of ‘mental health’. That, more than reasoning power, it is the psychological and emotional response to trauma that is universal. Thus the universal yet differential impact of trauma on human psychology and human emotion needs more recognition in terms of strengthening the foundation of human rights.

Central to the sustenance of human rights and human freedom are strong democratic institutions. India, which was once, known for being the world’s most vibrant democracy is now called “a partially free democracy”, “flawed democracy” and “electoral autocracy” by various international reports. The Middle East and Africa have the maximum number of authoritarian regimes and rank the lowest in the human freedom index. Similarly, Middle Eastern Countries such as Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and African countries such as Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi and Lesotho are in the lowest position in the World Happiness Report 2020. Thus, there is an inextricable corresponding connection between the three factors: Human happiness, Human Rights and Human Freedom.

Hence, a democratic country with a sound framework for ensuring human rights to its citizens is an integral component of the pursuit of human happiness. It is not a coincidence that India’s ranking has fallen on all three parameters simultaneously: Human Rights Index, Human Freedom Index and Human Happiness Index.

In a scholarly canon justified on the basis of the soundness of reasoning and rationality, emotional and psychological response of human beings to the traumatic experiences of their life which include violation of their fundamental human right to equality of dignity and liberty of autonomous agency has not been sufficiently taken into consideration.

For instance, it is no surprise that authoritarian regimes which thrive on suppressing their citizens through a reign of imbibing fear of disagreeing and peaceful dissent, also rank the lowest in the human happiness index. Fear is an emotional and psychological response, which is not always and entirely based on logical reasoning. Yet, we do not take into account this fundamental essence of all human beings who are deeply sentient beings, the essence of being able to perceive a violation of their rights and respond emotionally with fear and mental trauma(albeit to varying degrees), while defining the legitimacy of human rights.