Georgia: Georgia celebrates World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2024, the same date every year. The day aims to raise awareness about mental health in the community.
This day brings together various stakeholders’ efforts, including governments, civil societies, and individuals worldwide, to protect mental health rights.
This year, mental health protection in the workplace has been declared as the main priority and special attention is paid to the vital link between mental health and work.
In today’s world, with increasing rates of mental health issues, it is crucial to minimize the underlying factors and take preventive measures.
An unhealthy working environment, including stigma, discrimination, harassment and other inappropriate working conditions, poses a significant risk to human mental health and quality of life.
The unresolved systemic problems in Georgia for years have not allowed for improving the legal status of people with mental health problems.
Until now, the issue of overloading inpatient psychiatric services is acute, which is directly linked to the shortage of bed funds and the lack of modern community-based services. It must not be noted that the severe therapeutic, infrastructural and sanitary-hygienic conditions in many of these facilities do not meet national or internationally established standards and conditions for decent treatment of patients. Community-based outpatient psychiatric services are geographically unequivocal and do not fully cover all people with appropriate needs.
Persons with mental illness are most often targeted by stigma, inequality and hate language, which makes it difficult for them to integrate into society fully.
The challenge is to realize the labour rights of people with disabilities, promote their competitiveness, and employ them in the open labour market. No rehabilitation programs have been developed in Georgia that would facilitate the resocialization, employment, and social integration of people with mental health problems.
Implementing the disability reform in practice does not comply with Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Existing legislation still allows, in some cases, the pattern of employment for recipients.
In parallel with existing challenges, measures to prevent mental health problems need to be strengthened and implemented effectively.
The Public Ombudsman urges responsible government agencies to strengthen measures in the field of mental health to address systemic problems that have been unresolved for years and to take practical steps to prevent mental health problems in various areas, particularly in the workplace.
To achieve this goal, the Public Ombudsman must make more efforts to raise mental health awareness, reduce stigma in the community and actively engage people with mental health problems with employers in the workplace.
Also, it prevents the formation of regulations and practices that further deepen the stigma and stereotypical attitudes toward those with mental health issues.
