The SSA interviews Professor Gabriele Fischer in advance of her Society Lecture at the 2022 Annual Conference in November. This year’s conference will be in Bristol on 4 and 5 November. Early-bird tickets are now available here.
In this interview, Professor Gabriele Fischer discusses what first interested her about applying human rights work to people who use drugs. She outlines the implications of United Nations (UN) human rights treaties and their relevance to psychiatry. She also talks about the importance of incorporating family planning and trauma-informed care into treatment services, and some of the international issues around coercion in treatment.
“I’m not a supporter of only talking about female substance use disorder. It has to be about sex and gender differences […] and what both sexes share.”
Professor Fischer talks about the human rights of people who use drugs, as well as the human rights responsibilities of states in providing treatment services – noting that “financial complaints [are] no justification for having violated human rights”.
For related content, start with an SSA article on what Scotland is doing to implement a rights-based approach to treatment delivery.
by Rob Calder
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