Children with disabilities in specialized state hospitals and institutions in Serbia are
neglected and mistreated, according to a report released by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) last week. The report alleges some 2,300 children are hospitalized in Serbia under horrific
circumstances, including tying them to their beds for years without proper care.
Titled 'Torment not Treatment: Serbia's Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities,' the
report involved four years of investigation of approximately 11,000 children with disabilities in 78 organizations in Serbia, and includes uncensored pictures and video footage to support the
allegations.
'Thousands confined to institutions are subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment and abuse. Children and adults tied down and restrained over a lifetime is dangerous and
painful treatment tantamount to torture - clear violations of the European Convention on Human Rights," said Attorney Eric Rosenthal, executive director of MDRI and an expert on human rights law,
in the official MDRI press release.
"World Vision is aware of the harsh living conditions that the majority of families and children, especially children with disabilities, cope with
in Serbia and in Montenegro nowadays. For years children with disabilities have received treatment through government institutions or not at all,' said the National Director of World Vision in
Serbia, Kyhl Amosson.
"In the past couple of years, parents of kids with disabilities have taken action and formed local NGOs to educate families and advocate for proper
treatment for their children. This is a big step for them, since families have traditionally hidden their children with disabilities out of ignorance or shame. We are here to help them to fight for
their children with dignity", said Amosson.
World Vision projects in Vranje, southern Serbia, and Kraljevo, central Serbia, aim to improve the physical and mental conditions of
children with disabilities by providing them with necessary equipment and financing surgeries and summer camps. These projects are part of World Vision's community development program Happy Child,
which aims to improve inadequate health and education in Serbia's rural areas, where children with disabilities are most neglected.
More than 7,000 children, including approximately 500
children with disabilities, have benefited from the Happy Child program.
World Vision has been operating in Serbia in 1999, when it started to provide relief and shelter for the Internally
Displaced Persons from Kosovo. World Vision began supporting vulnerable youth and children in 2004 through the Happy Child program; over 200 projects have been implemented.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
