APAN: China escapes psychiatry censure, activists fume

08/26/2002

YOKOHAMA, Japan, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The world psychiatry body apparently backed down from a possible confrontation with China over its treatment of political prisoners on Monday, infuriating human rights activists who had wanted tough action.

Human rights activists told Reuters on Monday that a proposal passed by the general assembly of the World Psychiatric Association had fallen far short of their demands that an independent fact-finding group be allowed to investigate claims that Beijing systematically locks up political opponents as mental patients.

Instead, the congress decided that the make-up of a working group to visit China would only be decided after consultation with Beijing and not finalised until next May, according to Robert van Voren, head of the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry group, which has been critical of Beijing' s rights record.

He said the working group would not include members of Britain' s Royal College of Psychiatrists, which had been leading efforts for an independent investigation.

"I' m surprised they have taken a decision that is so far away from what the Royal College is proposing," van Voren said.

"It means we may have to look beyond the WPA and see what other ways can be used to put pressure on the Chinese over political abuse."

The week-long congress began on Friday in the Japanese city of Yokohama, with focus on a study that concluded abuse of psychiatry in China is rampant. No official announcement of the proposal has been made.

The British psychiatrists had called on the association to reconsider China' s membership if evidence of political abuse of psychology was uncovered, a potential embarrassment for Beijing as it works on sprucing up its image ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

The last time a major member was forced out was in the 1980s when the Soviet Union withdrew under intense criticism of its use of psychiatric diagnosis to persecute dissidents.

Rights activists say the WPA leadership was too slow then in its reaction to Soviet abuses, although it has since passed the "Madrid Declaration" banning the political abuse of psychology.

ACTIVISTS ANGRY

"It seems to be an abnegation of the WPA' s own ethical policies and standards as agreed in the Madrid declaration," said Robin Munro, who authored the recently published report on the political use of psychiatry in China.

"They seem more intent on defusing the situation than trying to adhere to their own ethical standards and to proceed with an investigation of the situation which alone can determine whether China can be censured."

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.

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."