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Bucharest, June 16, 2006.
[Last updated Monday, June 19, 2006]
16th of June 2006 Bucharest
To: Mr. Cãlin Popescu Tãriceanu
Prim Minister
Dear Prim Minister,
On the 10th of May, the American organization MDRI published its report: “Hidden Suffering: Romania’s Segregation and Abuse of Infants and Children with Disabilities”, which exposed serious violations of the human rights of people with intellectual disabilities in Romanian institutions. Information revealed in the report was reported and broadcast` widely in both national and international media. The national daily newspaper Jurnalul National has published during May 23 - June 6, several articles about the situation and conditions in 15 institutions for people with intellectual disabilities in Romania.
As Jurnalul National concluded on June 6, “The situation we met in the visited institutions could be generalized for the entire country. The heroic measures taken by the authorities when the media shows irregularities in certain places have the same effect as aspirin does when used to treat sepsis. The pus gathering goes from one part of the system to the other. The mammoth orphanages have been disaffected (a good part in the eyes of the EU), but the children in them have been moved to areas that didn’t get in the way of the Brussels investigation. They got to the special boarding schools.” (A Refined Auschwitz, by Adriana Oprea Popescu)
As the national advocacy organization for people with intellectual disabilities and their families, Inclusion Romania takes serious issue with the fact that the focus of the public debate, that have followed the press exposure of human rights violations of people with disabilities, was moved to international adoption. The children and adults with disabilities, segregated in the institutions about which the media reports, have been forgotten. The public statements, including the ones of some Governmental authorities, have turned instead to whether the Romanian government’s ban on international adoptions should stand. The centrally important issue of ending abuses in the institutions and of the need to promote community living for people with intellectual disabilities is forgotten.
In the last few years, there has been remarkable progress in the disability field. However, in spite of all of these developments, the situation of people with intellectual disabilities is still alarming, with the continuation of grave human rights violations.
Moreover, the reforms were surely not intended to simply move persons with disabilities from large and inhuman institutions to smaller and well furnished institutions where the fundamental problem of social exclusion continues. “The reform must mandate that every child, regardless of disability level has the right to a quality education, to services that take into account individual needs, that every adult with disability has access to meaningful occupation or supported employment. The reform means moving from types of institutions to person centered planning and individual designed services. The closure of institutions is not the goal, it’s the method. The goal is to offer each Romanian citizen the freedom and the opportunity to live in the community. Reform means social inclusion, self-determination, services and support when needed, nondiscrimination, a job, a decent place to live. In other words, what we all want: a meaningful life!, declared Laila Onu, vice-president of Inclusion Romania.
Taking into consideration the issues raised here as well as the European Commission country report, who calls the Romanian Government to accelerate the reform and to reduce the institutionalization, Inclusion Romania urges the Prim Minister, to adopt a road map in this field, appointing responsible persons and clear deadlines for achieving goals. NGOs can and should be involved as partners with the government in both the planning and the implementation of the road map. The road map should prioritize:
1. Putting an immediate end to the human rights violations in institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. Inclusion Romania has already proposed the creation of an independent body, aiming to continuously monitor the human rights situation of persons with intellectual disabilities in institutions, with clear accountability for violators.
2. Accelerating the deinstitutionalization process and the development of the community based services along with the implementation of the National Strategy for disability.
Inclusion Romania is ready, willing and able to assist the government in the development and the promotion of a social policy in the disability field, based on the respect for human rights. Inclusion Romania members have considerable experience in developing community based services, many of which are recognized at the international level as models of good practice. Emanuela Leampãr Laila Onu
President Vice-President
Foundation Pentru Voi
300523 Timisoara
47, Slavici Street
phone: +40 256 228062
+40 356 421216
phone/fax: +40 356 421215
mobile: +40 722 503181
email: laila@pentruvoi.ro
webpage: www.pentruvoi.ro
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