A fundamental tension exists today between the increasing willingness of States to participate in international efforts to protect fundamental human rights, and their desire to retain control over internal laws and procedures. The Refugee Convention provides international protection to individuals fleeing persecution in their countries of origin. This paper argues that the degrading and discriminating treatment of refugees with mental disabilities in certain countries constitutes the violation of the international protection. Furthermore, it argues that the language of the Refugee Convention and recent developments in case law relating to the scope of the "particular social group" category support the right of individuals with disabilities to seek international protection if they fear being persecuted on account of their particular mental disability. As a result, individuals who fear such treatment for reasons of their mental disability should be entitled to refugee protection. People with mental disabilities constitute a "social group," those who have a "wellfounded fear of persecution" on account of their mental disability should qualify for refugee status. In addition, I address the concerns of those in opposition to the granting of refugee protection to the mentally disabled. I argue that the numerous elements that an applicant must establish in order to be granted refugee status prevents the granting of protection to those who do not genuinely face a "well-founded fear of persecution."