Caso Ximenes Lopes vs. Brasil: responsabilidade do Estado e Ordem Jurídica Internacional

Abstract

The human rights violation of people who suffer from mental issues was recognized by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The case Ximenes lopes Vs Brasil has reveled in which ways the State, who should be the biggest guardian of this groups’s rights, used do take actions of isolation, maltreatment in psychiatric hospitals that didn’t respect the human dignity. The conditions in which the death of Damião Ximenes Lopes happened, showed the inhuman and degrading actions that were wrongly taken in our country. The Inter-American Court besides determining the payment of pecuniary indemnity asked the Brazilian State to guarantee that theses violations won’t happen again. The Federal Govern, because of theses facts, has structured a process of uninstitutionalization of pacients in psychiatric institutions, which has brought great advances, but hasn’t represented the real necessity of people who need them. The evaluation of these programs reminds us the fundamental discussion about how the Inter-American System of Human Rights may supervise theses steps of non-repetition, contributing to a new view about people with mental issues.