Human rights law is a powerful, but often neglected, tool in advancing the rights and freedoms of persons with mental disabilities. International law may seem marginal or unimportant in developed countries with democratic and constitutional systems of their own. Yet, even democracies often resist reform of mental health law and policy, and domestic courts do not always compel changes necessary for the rights and welfare of persons with mental disabilities. Additionally, human rights are obviously important for countries without democratic and constitutional systems because they may provide the only genuine safeguard against abuse of persons with mental disabilities ostensibly based on political, social, or cultural justifications.