Behind closed doors

Feeling the pressure
The government is being called to account for these conditions. Though MDRI credits the Serbian government for adopting progressive policy goals for caring for the mentally disabled, its report states that “actual practice violates Serbia’s own law and policy on a large scale.” It concludes: “The government of Serbia has no plan or program to end the improper detention of thousands of people with disabilities – or to end the abusive treatment within its institutions.”

A handful of groups in Belgrade are trying to make changes in the way the government and Serb society treats the mentally disabled. Among them is a group called Familia, which is advancing the idea of foster care replacing institutions for mentally disabled children. There’s good reason. Evidence clearly shows that disabled children improve dramatically when they are taken out of institutions and placed with families. But, says Familia’s Dr. Maida Stefanovic, the foster family concept is still foreign to Serb society.

“It is very difficult to find a foster family for children with disabilities,” she laments.   “And the most difficult is to find [a] foster family for children with conduct disorder[s].  And I don't know why, but people are very scared about that. And I think even professionals.” The government, she says, needs to make community integration of disabled people a priority.

When we sat down in Belgrade to interview the Serbian Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Rasim Ljajic, he was new to the job and said he had not yet visited the institutions. When we showed him video of a child tied up and others, bone thin, left alone cribs, he didn’t attempt to defend the practices.

“These conditions are far from humane, far from humane,” he said through a translator. “Well below any acceptable level. Our general policy is to close down institutions like the ones you visited.  They should not be existing.”

He told us that his office is working with rights advocates to develop ways to assist families in need but that the Serbian government lacks the necessary resources to fundamentally change the system. That, he said grimly, could take years.

But mental disability advocates like Ahern don’t accept a lack of resources as a reasonable excuse when it comes to protecting mentally disabled adults and children.

“Lack of money is not a reason not to protect a person's human rights,” she said,   “The state has an obligation.  They took those children.  It's not like those children can walk out and leave.  They're prisoners in those institutions and the state is responsible for what they're doing to people.”

Note: Our initial reports on conditions in Serbian mental institutions and the release of MDRI’s report appeared on NBC Nightly News and the TODAY show last November. The government immediately announced its own investigation, though from the start it took issue with MDRI’s use of the word “torture.”  Days later, representatives from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture flew into Belgrade to begin their own investigation. The committee has not yet reported its findings.

How to help in Serbia Mental Disability Rights International www.mdri.org 202-296-0800 UNICEF www.unicefusa.org/serbia Save the Children https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/51.htm 020-7012-6400 If you would like your money to be used only on projects in Serbia you must tell Save the Children, either when you call or by emailing . Familia 011-381-11-3442-254 Great Little People 011-381-11-3565-502

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