Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention, Mirko Tomassoni: “The Bioethics Committee of San Marino steps out of alignment in its favor”
“Reading the title of this, the question will arise for most of what I’m talking about, why it should be of interest to such a thing and, mainly, what has to do with San Marino”.
Thus begins the press release, entitled “The vote on the highly contested Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention postponed to the end of 2024 “of the president of Attiva-Mente, Mirko Tomassoni.
“It’s about the fourth Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention, a draft that defines the (mandatory Tso) medical treatment methods for people with mental disorders, consent, protection of their dignity during hospitalization, etc., put forward by the Council of Europe’s Bioethics Committee – explains Tomassoni -. A text that is the subject of a long and hard battle because it would include in some formulas, coercive and institutionalizing elements that they have generated at the international level strong perplexity. It is believed, in fact, that violates and human rightsinfringes the dignity of people and, above all, both in clear contradiction with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities“.
Among those who strongly oppose it “are, among others, organizations of people with disabilities, mental health organizations and human rights organizations from all over Europe”.
There final vote “It was expected at the end of 2021 but, still unofficial news, it was postponed an end 2024 (in a few days the announcement will be formalized by the European Disability Forum, a body directly emanating from the European Commission) “. Its adoption “for now, therefore, seems averted”.
“Well, to this story already written with respect to some past at least on a couple of occasions but I have never received any feedback or a reply from anyone – underlines the Attiva-Mente -. Not that an answer to the undersigned could settle the question, whether it was due or necessarily important, but however, the position (the vote) that the Republic of San Marino will express will be relevant. Because if the news of the final vote undoubtedly represents a positive result of the tenacious battle and joint action of the aforementioned organizations, which have also launched a pressing campaign called #WithdrawOviedo (www.withdrawoviedo.info/join) to collect the pizza, this battle, which has been going on for four years now, is not yet definitively over and the desired final solution is by no means taken for granted“.
And again: “In some including Italy, countries initially agreed to the ‘treatment’ of a person with mental disorders against his will, it was even possible to overturn the position and in other countries to converge towards abstention, conferring thus progressively greater consistency on the opposite side. The hope of many from the outside, given that no one in the Republic has ever known about these facts, is that it can also happen for San Marino and therefore our Bioethics Committee review the orientation it has maintained since the beginning of the discussion and that it goes out of the line in favor of the draft“.
“Knowing the professionalism and the human side of some who make it up, in my opinion they are engaged members reflect that in the end I will be members on the right side but this story, even if a little embarrassing, in my opinion testifies and teaches some things on which instead, it is worth the penalty Note: of little incisiveness; that we can and must cooperate by sharing values and interests that are common to all citizens. Not as it is erroneously maintained or thought that certain topics, such as disability, concern only those who face them and live them today; finally, that the tendency to move citizens away from decision-making processes must be culturally reversed: decisions are too often taken above and in the dark of those who directly subdue them. Citizens are little involved in politics and institutions with respect to the dynamics and developments of the debates and are sometimes informed about decisions already taken. This also applies, as in this case, to the international organizations where San Marino is present and fully plays an active role. The reasoning is all the more valid when one takes positions or makes choices on their skin ”, says Tomassoni finally.