This Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re focusing on mental health as a human rights issue.
Good mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is deeply influenced by people’s access to secure housing, stable work, a decent income, and services free from discrimination. When these rights are denied, mental health can and does suffer.
Under international law, including Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, everyone has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The UK has ratified ICESCR, yet it continues to fall short.
Earlier this year, we submitted evidence to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), drawing on insights from organisations and individuals across the UK.
The message was clear: in the UK, policies are pushing people deeper into distress by failing to protect their rights. From punitive social security assessments to long waits for mental health care, the current system is causing unnecessary harm.
In its concluding observations on the UK published in March, CESCR raised alarm about “the lack of access to adequate and appropriate mental health services,” noting persistent underfunding, regional disparities, and long waiting times. It also urged the UK to align laws and practice with a human rights-based approach.
CESCR called for the UK to put people’s rights at the centre of mental health services – and we couldn’t agree more.
This week, we’re calling for meaningful change. It is time for the UK Government to:
- Recognise the right to health within UK domestic law, incorporating economic, social and cultural rights
- Invest in accessible, community-led mental health public services that prioritise people’s needs
- Reform social security to reduce harm, protect dignity, and support good mental health
- Tackle the root causes of mental health conditions — including poverty, poor housing, insecure work, and discrimination
Mental health is not just about access to treatment; it’s about the broader systems that shape people’s lives. And these systems must be grounded in human rights.
This Mental Health Awareness Week, we are calling on the UK Government to make that shift — and finally treat mental health as the rights issue it is.
More information
Right to health in the UK report
Backgorund image by Agnieszka Węglarska
