A/HRC/34/32 liberty and security of the person as such measures impose treatment and the threat of detention if refused. 31. Forced institutionalization violates the right to personal liberty and security, understood as freedom from confinement of the body and freedom from injury to one’s bodily or mental integrity, respectively. 42 It amounts to a violation of the right to live free from torture and ill-treatment,43 and from exploitation, violence and abuse, and of the right to personal integrity. States parties should repeal legislation and policies that allow or perpetuate involuntary commitment, including its imposition as a threat, and should provide effective remedies and redress for victims. 44 32. Criminal law and procedures commonly deny due process of law to persons with disabilities considered unfit to stand trial and/or incapable of criminal responsibility, leading to deprivation of liberty on the basis of impairment, including through the diversion of persons with psychosocial disabilities into the custody of forensic institutions. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has consistently considered that this denies fair trial rights, amounts to arbitrary detention and often leads to harsher consequences than criminal sanctions, such as indefinite detention in mental health facilities. C. Forced treatment: forced medication, overmedication and harmful practices during deprivation of liberty 33. Many practices within mental health institutions also contravene articles 15, 16 and 17 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Forced treatment and other harmful practices, such as solitary confinement, forced sterilization, the use of restraints, forced medication and overmedication (including medication administered under false pretences and without disclosure of risks) not only violate the right to free and informed consent, but constitute ill-treatment and may amount to torture. 45 Accordingly, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has called for the abolition of all involuntary treatment and the adoption of measures to ensure that health services, including all mental health services, are based on the free and informed consent of the person concerned. 46 The Committee has also urged the elimination of the use of seclusion and restraints, both physical and pharmacological. 47 VI. Charting the way forward 34. Mental health is not merely a health or medical concern, it is very much a matter of human rights, dignity and social justice. The overview of the challenges facing persons with mental health conditions and those with psychosocial disabilities indicates that fundamental 42 43 44 45 46 47 See Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 35 (2014) on liberty and security of person, para. 3. See A/63/175, paras. 47 and 65. See, for example, CRPD/C/CZE/CO/1, para. 33; CRPD/C/DEU/CO/1, para. 34 (c); CRPD/C/KOR/CO/1, para. 32 and A/HRC/30/37, para. 107 (f). See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 14, para. 50, Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 1, paras. 37 and 41 and A/HRC/22/53, para. 63. See, for example, CRPD/C/ESP/CO/1, para. 36; CRPD/C/HUN/CO/1, para. 28 and CRPD/C/AUT/CO/1, para. 31. See, for example, CRPD/C/AUT/CO/1, para. 33; CRPD/C/MEX/CO/1, para. 32; and CRPD/C/DNK/CO/1, para. 39. 11