Dagbladet (Norwegian daily newspaper): The opposition in mental hospitals

The Chinese mental hospitals are full of political opponents. Chinese people who actively criticises the rulers do not only risk being forced into mental hospitals, but many are also tortured, claim western psychiatrics.

The number of opponents forced into mental hospitals probably has to be counted in the thousands. The situation strongly resembles what in its time was prevailing in the Soviet Union, it says in a new report from the human rights organisations Human Rights Watch and Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry.

Among those locked up in mental hospitals are many members of the [spiritual] movement Falun Gong [..]. Members of independent professional organisations and single persons who complain about persecution also risking being locked up, the report claims.

Demands opening up

A demand that China opens up its institutions for international inspection, was put forward on Monday at the World Psychiatric Association general assembly in Yokohama in Japan. A vote on the proposal was not expected until Monday evening Norwegian time at the earliest.

Galli Viviana, a child psychologist from the American state of Ohio and who herself is a practising member of Falun Gong said, in a meeting associated with the Yokohama congress on Monday, that more than 1000 members of the movement are locked up in mental hospitals. There they share their fate with Christians – Protestants and Catholics alike – and Buddhists she added.

She also pointed out that many of these “patients” are being tortured in many ways. “They are tied up for many days at a time, being brutally dipped in water, or forcefully given medicine,” said Viviani, while other participants in the congress said it was about time the world community did something.

“Enough evidence”

“We have enough evidence from independent sources that harassments are taking place, also against others than Falun Gong members. This is especially true for independent trade unionists and people who complain about the corruption in public life,” says Jim Birley, board member of the Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry.

In his earlier commission as leader of the British Psychiatric Association Royal College of Psychiatrists, in 1991 Birley lead a delegation who investigated the situation for forcefully admitted patients in what was then known as the Soviet Union. He thinks the situation in today’s China strongly resembles what he saw and heard then.

Jim Birley urges sobriety around the chances that international professionals really can visit psychiatric institutions in China. The question is if a resolution from WPA will be taken seriously in Beijing, he said on Monday.