#BreakTheChains is a global movement against the inhumane practice of confining and chaining people with mental health conditions.
Due to lack of access to mental health care resources, "men, women, and children, some as young as 10, are chained or locked in confined spaces for weeks, months, and even years, in about 60 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas," according to Human Rights Watch. The shackled victims are "forced to eat, sleep, urinate, and defecate in the same tiny area."
Most families who resort to this practice believe that mental health conditions happen to the sinned and are caused by evil spirits taking over the body.
In state-run, private, and religious institutions, many are victimized to sexual and physical abuse.
"Globally, an estimated 792 million people, or 1 in 10, including 1 in 5 children, have a mental health condition," Human Rights Watch reports. "Yet governments spend less than 2 percent of their health budgets on mental health."
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