Institutions Remain Dumping Grounds for Forgotten People

Reform is coming too slowly to institutions for adults with intellectual and mental health disabilities in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia, where chronic neglect, filthy conditions, and the use of physical restraints and high-dosage drugs to control behavior remain routine.

In an investigative article and video published by the European Coalition for Community Living (ECCL), Bulgarian journalist Yana Buhrer Tavanier highlights the appalling human rights abuses that take place on a daily basis in institutions for people with disabilities in the three countries and the lack of real progress towards developing community-based alternatives. 

The article, which followed four months of undercover investigations, appeared in the ECCL October 2009 newsletter with a foreword from Open Society Mental Health Initiative Director Judith Klein. Download the article and complete newsletter.

Watch a short video of the investigation above.