A/HRC/31/57/Add.2 A. Mental Health Act and Mental Health Authority 64. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Mental Health Act (846) of 2012 (Act) which presumes the “incapacity” of persons with mental disabilities, has not been amended to bring provisions concerning mental capacity and involuntary admission and treatment in line with international standards as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 65. The Act established the Mental Health Authority as an agency under the Ministry of Health. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that the Board was inaugurated on November 19, 2013, immediately after his first visit to Ghana. However, he expresses concern that the Legislative Instrument (LI) designed to enforce and implement the Act has not yet been approved and enacted into law. The Special Rapporteur learned that ongoing inertia in this regard, including a failure to allocate funding to the Authority, has largely precluded the operationalization and translation of the Act into meaningful achievements on the ground. 66. The Special Rapporteur is nonetheless encouraged by the progress achieved by the Board with funding provided by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). Efforts to decentralize the system by setting up Regional and District Mental Health Sub-Committees, some of which have already been inaugurated, are welcome. In addition, the Special Rapporteur was informed of plans to set up regional Visiting Committees under the Authority, which would undertake regular visits to all mental healthcare facilities, including prayer camps; and a Mental Health Review Tribunal, which would be empowered inter alia to examine the legality of detention and complaints regarding abusive treatment and detention conditions in both psychiatric institutions and prayer camps – and to issue adequate penalties, including fines and prison sentences. It is essential for the Review Tribunal to cover persons deprived in privately-run institutions, to provide access to legal aid, and to establish an accessible complaint mechanism and remedies. 67. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the Board’s ambitious plans for the future that include the establishment of 45- to 50-bed Regional Psychiatric Hospitals and psychiatric wings in all regional hospitals and dedicated beds in medical wards in district hospitals, and halfway homes, the establishment of Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams, and a telephone hotline, and urges the Government to deliver on its commitments to provide adequate funding and other resources to assist the Board and its partners to capitalize on this recent momentum. The Board’s collaboration with local NGOs, like BasicNeeds Ghana, local associations, development agencies, and other local and international organizations continues to be essential, particularly with regards to efforts to promote deinstitutionalization and foster alternative community-based forms of treatment and support. In addition, the Board’s efforts to combat discrimination, raise public awareness, and reduce stigmatization around mental health issues, particularly at the community level, ought to be supported, and education and sensitization must reach the public as well as health practitioners, prayer camp leaders and traditional healers, law enforcement personnel, the judiciary, and other public actors. B. Psychiatric Institutions 68. The Special Rapporteur visited the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, and was encouraged by the frank exchange and unfettered access provided by the Chief Psychiatrist. Regrettably, low levels of staffing, inadequate financing and resources, and deplorable conditions continue to give rise to inhumane treatment and human rights abuses against patients. While the Hospital, which was built in 1906, has an official capacity of 600, it has 18