CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ RESTRICTIONS OF PERSONAL FREEDOM IN THE CONTEXT OF PSYCHIATRIC CARE … ever read, Mrs. Rowling started to campaign against cage-bed use. 59 In July 2004, several days after receiving Mrs. Rowling’s letter of concern, the Czech Minister of Health Jozef Kubinyi promised to cease the use of cage beds in all health institutions by the end of 2004. 60 Cage beds were eventually excluded from the list of legal means of restraint in 2008. Mrs. Rowling also founded the charity Children’s High Level Group, later renamed to Lumos , promoting an end to unnecessary institutionalization of child care worldwide. 61 Mrs. Rowling’s letters, however, were not the first appeal to solve the problem of cage beds made to Czech officials. We can recall the Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) report on the use of cage-beds in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia from 2003, 62 and also the criticism made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, or the CAT. 63 The CPT Report from March 2004 had recommended that cage-beds be immediately withdrawn from service. 64 In its official Response to the CPT Report 2004, the Government stated that the use of cage-beds is considered “essential”. 65 It may be considered quite ironic that the state is capable of ignoring the recommendations of the Council of Europe and yet changes its policy after a letter by a world-famous author (and a subsequent mass media attention). Cage-beds were replaced by net-beds, but according to its critics, the change was purely semantic. 66 The opponents of the use of net-beds state that it is degrading for the patients and may result in negative psychological consequences. 67 Furthermore, they consider net- beds unnecessary if there were only an adequate number of health care staff and appropriate therapeutic techniques used. 68 However, the opponents of means of restraint acknowledge 59 See New Statesman, „It’s probably the thing of which I am most proud“: J K Rowling in conversation with Eddie Redmayne. (8 December 2016.) accessed 28 April 2017. 60 Amnesty International. Czech Republic: J K Rowling letter prompts end of „cage beds“. (16 July 2004.) accessed 28 April 2017. 61 Website available at WWW: accessed 28 April 2017. 62 Mental Disability Advocacy Center. Cage Beds. Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Four EU Accession Countries . (Mental Disability Advocacy Center, Budapest 2003). accessed 25 November 2016. 63 ŠUSTEK, Petr, The Provision of Health Services in the Czech Republic from the Perspective of the UN Convention against Torture. In ŠTURMA, Pavel, LIPOVSKÝ, Milan et al., Preventivní mechanismy dle opčního protokolu k Úmluvě proti mučení. (Univerzita Karlova, Právnická fakulta v nakladatelství Eva Rozkotová, Praha 2016), p. 74. 64 Council of Europe. Report to the Czech Government on the visit to the Czech Republic carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 21 to 30 April 2002, p. 48. accessed 28 April 2017. 65 Response of the Czech Government to the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to the Czech Republic from 21 to 30 April 2002 p. 38. accessed 29 April 2017. 66 See Mental Disability Advocacy Center. Klecová lůžka a používání omezovacích prostředků v českých psychiatrických zařízeních . (Mental Disability Advocacy Center, Budapest 2014), p. 11. accessed 25 November 2017.

67 Ibid ., p. 38. 68 Ibid ., p. 5.

419