Reuters: China faces censure over "political psychiatry"

Friday August 23, 6:33 PM

YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - China is under pressure to open its mental asylums to foreign scrutiny as the world' s psychiatry body responds to allegations that they contain thousands of political dissidents locked up as mental patients.

A week-long congress of the World Psychiatric Association began on Friday in the Japanese city of Yokohama, with focus on a study that concluded abuse of psychiatry in China is rampant.

A WPA general assembly vote is expected on Monday on whether to adopt a motion demanding that Beijing open the asylum doors to an independent investigation of prisoners' mental health.

If Beijing refuses, it could lead to eventual expulsion from the organisation.

The last time a major member was forced out was in the 1980s when the Soviet Union withdrew under intense pressure.

With the Communist government keen to avoid international censure as it prepares to host the Olympics in 2008, human rights activists say it is unlikely to risk a serious breakdown of relations with the WPA.

Robin Munro, a China specialist who authored the study published by U.S-based Human Rights Watch and the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry, said the Chinese Health Ministry had already agreed to an "educational" visit by the WPA.

"I suspect that the Chinese side are under a lot of pressure internationally so rather than just denying everything they' ve at least making a show of cooperating with the WPA," Munro told Reuters on Friday.

"I' m not sure that' s going to be substantive cooperation, but let' s wait and see."

In his report, Munro said China was using psychiatry to have political opponents declared insane -- a practice he likened to what had happened in the old Soviet Union.

He said the situation had worsened since Beijing began a crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

FALUN GONG SAID TARGETED

Munro said a surge in cases involving Falun Gong followers was clear evidence that police and forensic psychiatrists were working together to enforce the suppression of dissidents. [..]

Citing numerous official documents, the report said that up to 15 percent of people held in Chinese mental institutions may be political prisoners, including labour activists and individuals who complain about political persecution.

The evidence showed "a long-standing record of the misuse of psychiatry for politically repressive purposes, one that resembles in all key respects that of the former Soviet Union."

If a fact-finding mission uncovers evidence of political abuse of psychiatry, which runs counter to the WPA' s rules, then China' s membership should be reconsidered, the report said.

Munro said he was worried that the WPA leadership, which he described as "conservative", would avoid a direct conflict with Beijing by agreeing to a less stringent mission.

"The mission should be allowed to medically examine the political and religious dissidents who are being held in mental asylums with a view to establishing whether they have any mental illness," Munro said.

"That' s obviously very controversial from China' s point of view."