Today is World Mental Health Day and it’s impossible to tell, from the outside, what people are really going through.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, men, women, and children are chained or locked in confined spaces in 60 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, simply because they have a mental health condition.
These photos come from Nigeria, where I was working on a report on the shackling of people with mental health conditions said . Hundreds of thousands are chained around the world. They are often shackled by families in their own homes or in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions, against their will, due to widespread stigma and a lack of mental health services.
Many are forced to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in the same tiny area. They are often forced to fast, take medications or herbal concoctions, and face physical and sexual violence.
In Kano, Nigeria men and young boys are shackled together, held against their will, for perceived or actual drug addiction, for committing or being accused of minor offenses and for mental health issues. On today, world mental health day, we are continuing to highlight the use of shackling on people with mental health conditions.
“People can spend years chained to a tree, locked in a cage or sheep shed because families struggle to cope and governments fail to provide adequate mental health services,” said Kriti Sharma, senior disability rights researcher at HRW.
Mental health advocates and human rights organizations have come together to launch a global Break The Chains campaign to end shackling.
