By Pino Pini

The Withdraw Oviedo is a campaign backed by the European Disability Forum and Mental Health Europe that are working to urge the Committee of Ministers to permanently halt work on the draft Additional Protocol.¹

Conflict with the UNCRPD

The Draft Additional Protocol is clearly in conflict with the UNCRPD² for the following reasons:

• Violates human rights by allowing for the continued use of involuntary treatment and placement in psychiatry which are prohibited under the UNCRPD
• Creates legal conflicts between the obligations of States under the regional level (Council of Europe) and the international level (CRPD)
• Solidifies institutionalisation instead of promoting community-based care
• Increases coercion as evidenced by countries where similar laws have been adopted

Recent Developments

Recently, on 4 December 2025, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development (SOC) unanimously adopted its opinion on the draft Additional Protocol. It issued a negative opinion³ aligning with EDF & MHE calls to respect the rights, will, and preferences of persons with disabilities and to bring Council of Europe standards in line with the UNCRPD.

This outcome represents a significant advancement for EDF & MHE’s collective advocacy which was supported by a variety of stakeholders from different European countries.

The Importance of the UNCRPD

It is worth considering that the drafting of the CRPD, approved by the UN in 2006 and ratified by nearly all countries around the world, involved various mental health stakeholders with experiences of deinstitutionalisation and a significant participation of psychosocially oriented experts by experience. The psychosocial orientation of the UNCRPD remains an extremely important element to counterbalance the current neoliberal society, which is too individual-centred.

Furthermore, the local knowledge of diverse communities must be re-evaluated, preventing it from being strangled by the global knowledge produced by today’s technologies in the hands of a few powerful groups.

The Final Decision and Call to Action

The final decision on the draft Additional Protocol rests with the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Let’s hope that the Committee of Ministers, whose vote is expected in January 2026, will confirm the negative opinion on the Draft Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention.

EDF and MHE continue to closely monitor this process and circulate updates. It would be useful for all the involved stakeholders to put pressure on the ministers of their countries to support the WithdrawOviedo Campaign in this final step.

1. European Disability Forum. Stopping coercion in mental health: The #WithdrawOviedo campaign.
2. Wikipedia. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
3. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. PACE committee unanimously rejects a new protocol on involuntary measures in mental health. (8 December 2025).

About the author

Pino Pini is an Italian psychiatrist who worked for decades in the public mental health services of Florence and Prato, directly experiencing the deinstitutionalisation process in relation to Law 180 (1978).

For over ten years he has been practising in the NHS North London Mental Health Trust, United Kingdom. He is a board member of Mental Health Europe (MHE) and a long-standing advocate of community-based, psychosocial approaches within the critical psychiatry movement.