Bermuda’s human rights legislation lags years behind the legal framework of other comparable jurisdictions, according to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) — especially in cases of mental illness.

HRC chairman Michael Hanson told The Royal Gazette it was “outrageous” that the mentally ill still weren’t afforded any ground for redress in cases of discrimination.

Now that the tribunal process has been brought up to date, Mr Hanson said the organisation plans to present Government with a sweeping reforms proposal specifically targeting mental health issues.

Over the past nine months, the HRC has faced roughly five different cases where discrimination was alleged against the mentally ill.

Although commissioners are often able to refer complainants to other agencies, Mr Hanson said they’d been frustrated at the lack of coverage under the existing legislation with which to pursue a case.

“Most international businesses have handbooks that are better than our Human Rights Act,” the chairman added.

Now halfway through their three-year terms, the chairman and commissioners have assembled a broad-brush document which should swiftly bring Bermuda’s Human Rights Act up to date, he said.

“Over the past few months we have been looking at the gaps in the Human Rights Act 1981, and at present we’re compiling a letter that we will send to Government,” Mr Hanson said.

“We hope that before the end of our three-year term, some of these will be plugged.”

Some of Bermuda’s most vulnerable people are those with mental health problems, he continued — and currently “those people are not protected”.

The HRC anticipates some wariness from the business community on the contentious issue of employing people with mental health issues, he said — concerns similar to those which confronted persons with physical disabilities who nonetheless fought for the right to join the workforce.

Under the rules of reasonable and unreasonable hardship, Mr Hanson explained, a business could rightly be expected to make a $20 modification to a door to allow a person in a wheelchair to gain access.

“If it were something that would cost a business $300,000, that would not be a reasonable adjustment,” he said. “The same would apply to mental health.”

An enhanced Act “can’t really affect businesses, if they follow the Act, any more than the current law over physical disabilities”.

Added Mr Hanson: “In this day and age, I’m not aware of any other jurisdiction that follows Common Law and that doesn’t have any protection for people with mental health disabilities under the Human Rights Act or its equivalent.”

Although the Commission doesn’t anticipate a prolonged struggle as was recently seen with the inclusion of sexual orientation under the Act, Mr Hanson admitted the HRC on occasion finds the community’s views “get polarised very quickly”.

“Some people can take extreme views very quickly, and none more so than on human rights,” he said.

Commissioner Louis Somner pointed out that mental health issues affect “at least 25 percent of the population”.

“That’s why this issue needs to be the focus of an ongoing campaign,” he said.

Although mental health issues are to be to main focus of the HRC’s formal presentation to Government, a host of other gaps in the Island’s human rights laws will be addressed as well.

These will include issues arising out of a person’s association with others, the perception of an individual, and the definition of what constitutes a public place — the latter coming to the fore recently in a high-profile ruling by the Tribunal.

Mr Hanson added that he felt optimistic the gaps in the law would be dealt with swiftly by Government, as none presented significant logistical challenges to put in place.

“It should have been done 25 years ago,” he said.