59 his or her personal integrity has been violated, for such features may change the insight of his or her individual reality and, therefore, increase the suffering and the sense of humiliation when the person is subjected to certain types of treatment. 2. The right to the respect for the dignity and autonomy of the persons with mental illness and to effective health care 128. The States have the duty to guarantee the provision of effective health care services to all persons with mental illness. 114 This duty entails the obligation of the State to ensure the access to basic health care to all persons, the promotion of mental health, the provision of such services in the least restrictive possible way, and the prevention of mental illness.115 129. Due to their psychological and emotional condition, persons with mental illness are particularly vulnerable to any health treatment, and such vulnerability is greater when they are admitted to mental health institutions. This increased vulnerability is due to the imbalance of power between patients and the medical staff responsible for their treatment, as well as to the high degree of intimacy which is typical of the treatment of psychiatric illnesses.116 130. The Court considers that any health treatment administered to persons with mental illness should aim at achieving the patient´s welfare and the respect for his or her dignity as a human person, which is translated into the duty to adopt the respect for the intimacy and autonomy of persons as guiding principles for administering psychiatric treatment. The Court concedes that the foregoing principle is not absolute, since the patients´needs themselves may sometimes require the adoption of measures without their consent. Notwithstanding, mental illnesses should not be understood as a disability for determination and the assumption that persons with mental illness are capable of expressing their will, which should be respected by both the medical staff and the authorities, should prevail. When the patients´inability to give their consent has been proven, their next of kin, legal representatives or pertinent authorities will give the consent required as regards to the treatment to be administered thereto.117 114 Cf. Principles for the Protection of People with Mental Health Illness and the Improvement of Health Care, supra note 32, principle 1; Division of Mental Health and Prevention of Substance Abuse of the World Health Organization. Ten Basic Principles of Mental Health Care Law, supra note 37, principle 2; Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. UN General Assembly Resolution No. 48/96, Document A/48/49 (1993), art. 2; Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons. UN General Assembly Resolution, Document A/8429 (1971), art. 2; and World Program of Action Concerning Disabled People. UN General Assembly Resolution No. 37/52, Document A/37/51 (1982), paras. 95 to 107. 115 Cf. Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, supra note. 35, Article III(2); and World Health Organization. Division of Mental Health and Prevention of Substance Abuse. Ten Basic Principles of Mental Health Care Law, supra note 37, principles 1, 2, and 4. 116 Cf. Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, supra note 114, art. 9(4); Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 5 “Persons with Disabilities”, supra note 35, para. 9; and Standards of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, CPT/Inf/E (2002) 1 – Rev. 2004, para. 51. In this regard, cf. European Court of Human Rights, Keenan v. United Kingdom, Application No. 27229/95, judgment of April 3, 2001, p. 111, and European Court of Human Rights, Herczegfalvy v. Austria, Application No. 10533/83, judgment of September 24, 1992, p. 82. 117 Cf. Principles for the Protection of People with Mental Illness and the Improvement of Health Care, supra note 32, principles 9(4) and 11; Division of Mental Health and Prevention of Substance Abuse