Accessing Justice Through Mental Health Law Reform in the Pacific (Human Rights: Background and Issues)

Much of the mental health legislation in the Pacific region is archaic, pays no attention to the rights of mental health consumers and is long overdue for reform. A small number of countries in the Pacific has recently undertaken such reform. This work analyses the provisions of past and present mental health statutes in selected Pacific countries to establish, firstly, whether the new legislation has prima facie created or improved pathways for access to justice for mental health consumers and, secondly, whether these pathways offer any practical benefit for those subject to involuntary detention. The research is based on field work involving interviews and correspondences with mental health professionals, court officials, law reformers, lawyers and other professionals in the Pacific region. About the Author Helen J Ménard holds a PhD in Law, a Graduate Diploma in Insurance Law; and a B.Juris and LL.B. She has been admitted to practice as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria; the High Court of Australia; the National Court of Justice of Papua New Guinea; and the Supreme Court of Vanuatu. As a lawyer the author has worked across a broad spectrum of the legal profession in Australia including private practice, the corpo-rate sector, public mental health, legal aid and community legal services. She has practised predominantly in the areas of civil litigation, medical law and mental health law. Prior to admission to legal practice, the author held certificates in General Nursing, Midwifery and Operating Theatre Management and worked extensively within the health profession. The author commenced as a fulltime academic at the School of Law, Universi-ty of the South Pacific, Vanuatu in 2004 and since 2014 has continued to teach there on a consultancy basis, along with various other tertiary institutions in Australia. Her primary area of legal research is health law and ethics, specifically the South Pacific region and has co-authored several editions of a text on medical law in the South Pacific. She is currently a legal consultant on mental health law reform with the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been engaged as an international legal consultant with International Development Law Organization (IDLO).