UN Committee Against Torture calls for end to abuses against children with disabilities in Serbia
Child dies after denial of medical treatment
Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) – the oversight body for the Convention Against Torture – recently made recommendations to the Serbian government regarding torture in the country, with a special section addressing “Torture and Disability.” Following MDRI’s November 2007 report, Torment not Treatment: Serbia’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture requested MDRI to present its finding to him and CAT at their headquarters in Geneva.
The shocking findings, which included both video and photographic documentation, included children and adults with disabilities tied to beds and cribs indefinitely, immobile young adults never taken out of bed for years and children denied even the most basic medical care simply because they had a disability. Last month CAT again requested an update from MDRI and learned that little or no improvements have occurred despite promises by Serbian officials. Sadly, one little 7 year old girl with untreated hydrocephalus – and MDRI found many – had died because she was denied a simple medical procedure that would have saved her life. MDRI’s Serbia Director, Dragana Ciric, testified before CAT having just returned from Kulina, one of Serbia’s most notorious institutions for children with disabilities.
In its report to the Serbian government, CAT stated it was concerned with the treatment of children and adults with disabilities, forceful internment and long term restraint that amount to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. They also stated that Serbia should initiate “alternative community based support systems in parallel with the on-going process of deinstitutionalization.” MDRI maintains an office in Belgrade, Serbia and will continue to pressure the government to protect the human rights of all its children and adults with disabilities.
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