Declaration of Lima
Redesfera Latinoamericana de la Diversidad Psicosocial
(Latin American Network of Psychosocial Diversity)
DECLARATION OF LIMA
A group of activists from 10 countries in Latin America met on 7, 8, 9 December2018, in Lima, Peru in the framework of the "First Regional Meeting of the Redesfera Latinoamericana de la Diversidad Psicosocial (Latin American Network of Psychosocial Diversity) - Locura Latina".
The participants of this event would like to express the following:
1. We are a historically discriminated collective composed of users, ex-users and survivors of psychiatry, mad people, people with psychosocial disabilities, among other identities of psychosocial diversity. We live common experiences in which we face torture, deprivation of liberty, isolation, trauma, violence, stigmatization, exclusion and violation of our rights.
2. We reclaim our dignity, freedom, autonomy and personal independence, including the freedom to make our own decisions. Nobody knows or will know better than us what are our needs and demands.
3. We demand absolute respect for our human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly those recognized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by all the countries of the region.
4. We denounce the pathologization and medicalization of our diversity, and all other forms of discrimination and abuse from psychiatry, psychology and other specialties in the name of "mental health" and "normality". We demand the construction of a new paradigm of subjective unwellness, which accepts "psychosocial diversity" as a fact and a principle derived from human diversity and recognizes us as experts by experience.
5. We absolutely reject deprivation of liberty, electroshock, forced sterilization, forced treatment, involuntary medication, mechanical and chemical restraints, and other forms of torture and violations of rights in the name of "mental health". We demand that these practices are abolished and that the victims be redressed and compensated.
6. We commit to the fight of the feminist movement and we condemn all types of violence that the patriarchy and its institutions have exercised and continue to exercise against women and groups in situations of greater vulnerability, especially against those who do not adhere to the expectations of gender roles and "normality". We also adhere to claims of the movements for the rights of children and indigenous peoples.
7. We notice the grave situation of poverty and social exclusion in which our collective lives in Latin America, particularly those people who belong to the most marginalized and discriminated groups, which significantly reduces our educational, labour, artistic, cultural, recreational, political and full participation opportunities.
8. We defend that no person should be pathologized or psychiatrized because of their gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other expression of sexual diversity outside of what is established as "normal". We reject "corrective therapies" and other heteronormative practices which are practiced with the aim of "correcting" people.
9. We commit ourselves to work for the construction of a regional associative movement; to promote the exchange of experiences, knowledge and good alternative practices, including de-medicalization; to collaborate in the development and consolidation of peer support groups; to promote knowledge and compliance with our rights; to promote mad pride and the right to madness; and to participate and promote law and policy reform in the region, supporting the transformation of our communities and environments toward inclusive societies that value and respect human diversity.
10. We aim to be a democratic, participatory, open and horizontal space for all psychosocially diverse people in Latin America, without distinction of sex, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, colour, language, religion, origin or any other condition of diversity. We promote gender equality, the criterion of parity in participation and an intersectional perspective inside and outside our collective.
11. We are open to build alliances and working with allied people and organizations that share our principles, in a framework of respect, equality and equity to advance the construction of just and inclusive societies.