This paper analyses human rights violations within AI’s mandate which are relevant to psychiatry. It presents arguments for increased interest in and action by professional associations and individuals to further the protection of human rights and professional ethics. It presents the following as issues which ought to be of serious concern to the profession: abuse of psychiatry for political reasons; the effects of torture and “disappearance”; psychiatric aspects of the death penalty; imprisonment of mental health professionals; and psychiatrists and the defence of human rights.