In his presentation, Bert Johnson, president of EUFAMI, will speak about the needs and rights of people directly by mental illness from the perspective of the family. He will discuss, amongst a number of issues, the optimal balance between the promotion of the rights of the individual to full citizenship and the issue of social protection. Bert will highlight what he sees as some of the implications for those who are affected by mental illness when their individual citizenship rights are curtailed or taken away. Also, he will enunciate EUFAMI strong held view that the rights of any individual as set out in the UN Charter must always remain sacred and that legislation, at both national, European and international level must always have this as their core principle. Bert will also speak about some of the work EUFAMI and its members are undertaking which is related to the subject matter.