DPA co-wrote a commentary this week in the Straits Times entitled “When someone has a mental health crisis, arrest is not the answer” outlining our concerns on an upcoming bill to be debated in Parliament next week.
The full article can be accessed here. As there is a paywall set by the Straits Times and due to Straits Times copyright regulations, we are providing a synopsis of the main points from the article below.
—
Our commentary centred on the upcoming Law Enforcement and Other Matters Bill – which contains provisions to expand the police’s power to apprehend someone undergoing a mental health crisis.
DPA is deeply concerned that provisions in this bill will only further stigmatise mental health conditions (also known as psychosocial disabilities in disability terminology) and take Singapore further away from its obligations to and the standards of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) which Singapore has ratified in 2013.
One of the purposes of the provisions under the Law Enforcement and Other Matters bill is to add to the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act (MHCTA) enacted in 2008. However, as we highlight in our Straits Times commentary, the MHCTA in itself stigmatises mental health and is not aligned with Singapore’s obligations under the UN CRPD.
As we note in our commentary, the MHCTA already perpetuates the false notion that persons with mental health conditions are inherently a threat to public safety. For example, under Section 7(2)(a) of the MHCTA, a police officer has sufficient basis to believe that a person is “mentally disordered” If the police officer reasonably believes that the person may be a danger to themselves or others. This not only perpetuates stigma and harmful stereotypes, but also the use of the very archaic and outdated term “mentally disordered” in the MHCTA is concerning.
The MHCTA is also not aligned with Singapore’s obligations under the UN CRPD. For example, in their 2022 Concluding Observations to Singapore, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the UN Committee tasked to assist governments in implementing the standards of the UN CRPD) called on the Singapore government to “Repeal all legislative provisions allowing for the involuntary deprivation of liberty of persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with psychosocial disabilities” on the grounds of their disability or “their perceived dangerousness to themselves or others”.
We are thus concerned that the provisions under the upcoming Law Enforcement and Other Matters bill have the potential to further such concerning elements of the MHCTA.
As we note in our commentary, there are non-police alternatives to address and support individuals experiencing mental health crises – arrest is not the answer.
