Suicide is not a crime, sufferers need help and counselling

I could’ve done a jig when news of legal reforms in the UAE first broke last weekend. While all of them were important milestones in their own right, there was one I personally celebrated: the decriminalisation of suicide attempts.

Six years ago, in the wake of a media frenzy surrounding a certain high-profile celebrity suspected to have died by suicide, I did an extensive piece on suicide prevention for the WKND magazine. The issue was, after all, an insidious global reality — even if not many were openly talking about it.

I had to tiptoe around the reporting though, speaking to suicide survivors and helpline directors based outside the country, instead of quoting local sources as we usually would — simply because we wanted to avoid the legal ramifications that might arise from speaking to anyone who’d attempted the act here (suicide being punishable by law at the time).

I remember the reactions we received to the story. So many readers reached out wanting to either know how they could help — or where they could get help. A conversation ignited among total strangers but, as expected, fizzled out without the backing of the law.

But the news that, from now on, people who’d harmed — or attempted to harm — themselves would be referred to a doctor and not a judge is one that is, without a doubt, being hailed by mental health advocates across the country. It’s a treatment-over-punishment approach that promises multiple advantages.

We’re talking open dialogue, which will lead to the creation of stronger resources: workshops, support groups (official, not underground, and therefore easily accessible), even a national hotline. That’s the one I can’t wait to see. “No one’s trying to rescue people with one phone call,” a former India-based helpline director once told me. “But a helpline is critical because it provides that human connection and allows that moment of distress to pass away.”