60. In coming to this conclusion, the African Commission would like to draw inspiration from Principle 1(2) of the UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Mental Care. Principle 1(2) requires that“all persons with mental illness, or who are being treated as such, shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.” 61. The African Commission maintains that mentally disabled persons would like to share the same hopes, dreams and goals and have the same rights to pursue those hopes, dreams and goals just like 10 any other human being . Like any other human being, mentally disabled persons or persons suffering from mental illnesses have a right to enjoy a decent life, as normal and full as possible, a right which lies at the heart of the right to human dignity. This right should be zealously guarded and forcefully protected by all States party to the African Charter in accordance with the well established 11 principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. 62. The Complainants also submit that the automatic detention of persons considered ‘lunatics’ within the meaning of the LDA violates the right to personal liberty and the prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention in terms of Article 6 of the African Charter. 63. Article 6 of the African Charter provides: “Every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person. No one may be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions previously laid down by law. In particular, no one may be arbitrarily arrested or detained.” 64. Article 6 of the African Charter guarantees every individual, be they disabled or not, the right to liberty and security of the person. Deprivation of such liberty is only acceptable if it is authorised by law 12 and is compatible with the obligations of States Parties under the African Charter . However, the mere mention of the phrase ‘except for reasons and conditions previously laid down by law’ in Article 6 of the African Charter does not mean that any domestic law may justify the deprivation of such persons’ freedom and neither can a State party to the African Charter avoid its responsibilities by 13 recourse to the limitations and claw back clauses in the African Charter . Therefore, any domestic law that purports to violate this right should conform to internationally laid down norms and standards. 65. Article 6 of the African Charter further states that no one may be arbitrarily arrested or detained. Prohibition against arbitrariness requires among other things that deprivation of liberty shall be under the authority and supervision of persons procedurally and substantively competent to certify it. 66. Section 3(1) of the LDA prescribes circumstances under which mentally disabled persons can be received into a place of detention and they are: • • On submission of 2 certificates by persons referred to under the LDA as “duly qualified medical practitioners”; Upon an order being made by and signed by judge of the Supreme Court, a Magistrate or any two Justices of the Peace. 67. A “duly qualified medical practitioner” under the LDA has been defined as “every person 14 possessed of a qualification entitling him to be registered and practice medicine in The Gambia” . 68. By these provisions, the LDA authorises the detention of persons believed to be mentally ill or disabled on the basis of opinions of general medical practitioners. Although the LDA does not lay out fixed periods of detention for persons found to be mentally disabled, the Respondent State has submitted that in practice the length of time spent by patients in the unit ranges from two to four weeks and that it is only in exceptional circumstances that patients may be detained longer than this period. These exceptional circumstances apply to mainly schizophrenics, and vagrant psychotics without any family support and known addresses. The African Commission takes note of the fact that such general medical practitioners may not be actual experts in the field of mental health care and as such there is a possibility that they could make a wrong diagnosis upon which certain persons may be institutionalised. Additionally, because the LDA does not provide for review or appeal procedures, persons institutionalised under such circumstances would not be able to challenge their institutionalisation in the event of an error or wrong diagnosis being made. Although this situation falls 15 short of international standards and norms , the African Commission is of the view that it does not violate the provisions of Article 6 of the African Charter because Article 6 of the African Charter was