MDRI's Work in The Middle East

MDRI's work in the Middle East has been focused primarily in Turkey. Following a two year investigation, MDRI released its findings in a 2005 report detailing the human rights abuses perpetrated against children and adults with psychiatric and developmental disabilities in Turkey. Behind Closed Doors: Human Rights Abuses in the Psychiatric Facilities, Orphanages and Rehabilitation Centers of Turkey, describes the widespread use of electroconvulsive or "shock" treatment (ECT) on psychiatric patients - as young as 9 years old - without the use of anesthesia. The investigators also found evidence of children dying from starvation, dehydration and lack of medical care in so-called residential Rehabilitation Centers.

Since the release of our report and through our efforts:

• The Initiative for Human Rights in Mental Health, Turkey’s first grassroots organization by people with mental disabilities and their relatives, was created. IHRMH challenges inhumane treatment by defining people with mental disabilities as full human beings, who are equal citizens in every way. IHRMH runs advocacy campaigns, organizes free vocational and empowerment trainings for its stakeholders, and creates monitoring groups to inspect institutions to ensure they are compliant with legal and health regulations;
  
  
• The Turkish government has now made it illegal to use electroshock therapy without anesthesia.

Staff Contact: Laurie Ahern, Eric Rosenthal or Sehnaz Layikel