A unified religious stance on mental health and suicide at the G20: the Lombok Declaration.

Religion has an important role in community perceptions of mental health and suicide, influencing stigma and help-seeking behaviours, 1 Crowe A Averett P Scott Glass J et al. Mental health stigma: personal and cultural impacts on attitudes. J Counselor Pract. 2016; 7: 97-119 Google Scholar , 2 Lyons Z Laugharne J Laugharne R Appiah-Poku J Stigma towards mental illness among medical students in Australia and Ghana. Acad Psychiatr. 2015; 39: 305-308 Crossref PubMed Scopus (21) Google Scholar government policy, 3 Onie S Daswin A Taufik K et al. Indonesian national suicide prevention strategy 2022: a preliminary report. PsyArXiv. 2022; (published online Sept 8.) (preprint).https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xhqgm Google Scholar and even the criminalisation of self-harm and suicide. 4 Mishara BL Weisstub DN The legal status of suicide: a global review. Int J Law and Psychiatry. 2016; 44: 54-74 Crossref PubMed Scopus (97) Google Scholar , 5 WHOPreventing suicide: a global imperative. World Health Organization, Geneva2014https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241564779Date accessed: January 2, 2023 Google Scholar Thus, religious leaders have the opportunity to address key barriers to improve individual and societal mental wellbeing. In 2022, representatives from more than 400 religions and belief systems practised in Indonesia convened to craft the world's first unified religious declaration on mental health and suicide for the Group of 20 (G20) leaders, called the Lombok Declaration. A religious approach to advocacy is not without precedent: in 1983, the Catholic Church revoked a long-standing ban on ecclesiastical funerals for individuals who died by suicide (canon 1184), 6 The Holy SeeCode of Canon Law: ecclesiastical funerals (cann. 1176–1185); can. 1184. https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann1166-1190_en.html#TITLE_IIIDate accessed: March 3, 2023 Google Scholar responding to a deeper understanding of suicide. The Lombok Declaration was designed to be a global declaration, to be implemented first in Indonesia to capitalise on the country's G20 presidency in 2022. The English and Bahasa Indonesia versions of the declaration are available online. 7 Onie S Lombok Declaration. https://osf.io/g4rwq/Date: 2023 Date accessed: January 2, 2023 Google Scholar In this Comment, we briefly discuss the development and positive impact of the declaration.