Conclusion Almost anywhere in the world, persons with mental disabilities can be placed in an institution, whether voluntarily or not, based on criteria that include “mental disorder”, the “risk” that the persons present to themselves or to others and a “therapeutic need”. In these institutions, they run the risk of being subjected to different forms of ill-treatment that, in some cases, can amount to torture. Despite some progress, both on a normative and practical level, thousands of persons with disabilities are still institutionalised for longer or shorter periods depending on the contexts, at the expense of alternatives that would favour their (re-)integration in society by providing care services in the community. The Symposium allowed representatives of monitoring bodies and other international experts to examine crucial issues related to the deprivation of liberty, as well as the treatment and conditions that persons with mental disabilities are subjected to during their institutionalisation. The participants underlined the need to move away from a primarily medical approach to disability, in line with the spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This means acknowledging that persons with mental disabilities are subjects of rights who must be supported, if needed, to exercise their rights effectively, including the right to live independently in the community. Reference was also made to the fact that public policies on involuntary treatment must be based not on exceptional emergency situations, which may require overriding the individual’s consent in the event of an imminent risk to their life or that of others, but rather on the overwhelming majority of non-urgent situations, where seeking consent must always prevail. To implement the paradigm shift embodied by the Convention, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health underlined the importance of developing a network of psychiatrists who are prepared to debate current practices and challenge them if these 39