International legal approaches to the protection of persons with mental disabilities in peacetime and wartime

In the context of an increasing number of armed conflicts, ensuring the legal protection of persons with disabilities remains an urgent problem for society. Special attention should be paid to the protection of the rights of the people with mental disorders, since such health disorders are not always obvious to society and the person himself, but they are no less significant than physical diseases. The subject of the study was the norms of international human rights law and international humanitarian law governing the protection of persons with mental disorders. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of the implementation of international legal protection of these persons in peacetime and wartime, as well as to identify possible directions for its further development. To achieve this goal, the work uses general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition: analysis and synthesis, analogy, abstraction, as well as logical, systematic, comparative legal and formal legal methods. The study examines the existing approaches within the framework of international human rights law and international humanitarian law to the protection of persons with mental disorders, and analyzes the substance of the concept of psychosocial disability. It is revealed that the international legal protection of persons with disabilities has a different focus in peacetime and wartime. In the first case, the social model of disability prevails with an emphasis on creating conditions for a person to live a full-fledged life in society. The severity and nature of mental disorders is of no fundamental importance, since attention is focused on helping a disabled person overcome various kinds of social barriers. In the second case, the medical model of disability prevails, which focuses on ensuring a person's need for treatment. This specificity is due to various law enforcement conditions and does not constitute a violation of the rights of persons with disabilities.