Government of the Republic of Serbia
More than 650 children with disabilities, accommodated in institutions across Serbia, face neglect and isolation. Therefore the Government must develop a plan for their deinstitutionalization and stimulate the development of community support services for the families of these children, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 8 June. The Government should, inter alia, provide for the allocation of funds for support near dormitories for persons with disabilities, as well as to cease negative practices in dormitories, such as issuing too many medicines.
According to a researcher from this organization, Emina Ćerimović, the HWR report entitled “My Dream is the Leave Here” was drafted based on visits to institutions in Zvečanska, Sremčica, Subotica, Stamnica and Veternik, and three small dormitory communities, with interviews held with 118 children and young persons with disabilities, members of their families, activists fighting for the rights of such persons, as well as the staff of these institutions.
She said that medical interventions are being implemented without their consent over children and adults placed in these institutions.
“The majority of children with disabilities have at least one parent, but healthcare workers encourage families to send children to large residential institutions, claiming this to be the best solution. Over 60% of such children are not enrolled, and do not attend school, while the remainder is attending only schools for children with disabilities”, said Ćerimović.
She assessed that the Government of the Republic of Serbia should cease the practice of building new, and reconstructing existing institutional capacities for housing children with disabilities, instead providing greater support for families to raise such children at home, as well as to develop a plan for the deinstitutionalization of over 10,000 adults with disabilities, currently housed in institutions.
The Director of the HRW Disability Rights Programme, Shantha Rau Barriga, assessed that the Government of the Republic of Serbia made progress in this field, manifested through the development of the foster care system as an alternative to the institutionalization of children, establishment of a support system for families with children with disabilities, as well as the legal prohibition of referring children under three years of age to institutions.
The ombudsman competent for the rights of persons deprived of liberty, Miloš Janković, assessed that the key problem is that persons with intellectual and mental difficulties have been exiled from the community through placement in institutions.
Source: Beta, taken from www.euractiv.rs
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