Abandoned & Disappeared: Mexico’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities

Disability Rights International and the Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos

This report is the product of a year-long investigation and collaboration between Disability Rights International (DRI) and the Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH).  From August 2009 through September 2010, DRI and the CMDPDH investigated psychiatric institutions, orphanages, shelters, and other public facilities that house children and adults with disabilities. 

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Precautionary Measures Petition – 224 patients at the Federico Mora Hospital, Guatemala

Disability Rights International and the Human Rights Office of the Arch-Bishop of Guatemala

This petition was submitted to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) by Disability Rights International and the Human Rights Office of the Arch-Bishop of Guatemala requesting precautionary measures, in accordance with article 25 of the IACHR rules of procedure, on behalf 334 children and adults with disabilities detained at the National Mental Health Hospital in Guatemala City (“Federico Mora” hospital). The petition documents the serious risks of physical and psychological harm of those detained at Federico Mora.

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Torture not Treatment: Electric Shock and Long-Term Restraint in the United States on Children and Adults with Disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Center

Mental Disability Rights International

This report is the product of an investigation by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) into the human rights abuses of children and young adults with mental disabilities residing at the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) (formerly known as the Behavior Research Institute) in Canton, Massachusetts in the United States. This report is an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture or other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, by MDRI. The report documents many human rights abuses at JRC, including the intentional infliction of severe pain on children by the use of electric shock and longterm restraint.

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Torment not Treatment: Serbia’s Segregation and Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities

Mental Disability Rights International

This report is the product of an investigation spanning four years by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) into the human rights abuses perpetrated against institutionalized children and adults in Serbia. From July 2003 to August 2007, MDRI documented a broad array of human rights violations against people with disabilities, segregated from society and forced to live out their lives in institutions. 

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Hidden Suffering: Romania’s Segregation and Abuse of Infants and Children with Disabilities

Mental Disability Rights International

This report is the product of an 18-month investigation by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) into the human rights abuses of children with disabilities in Romania. This report documents a broad range of atrocious conditions for children with disabilities inside Romania’s institutions. While Romania has reduced its orphanage population and created foster care placements for many children, the reforms have left behind children with disabilities. This report documents serious human rights violations against children with disabilities in an institution for babies and in adult facilities. 

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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Human Rights Abuses in the Psychiatric Facilities, Orphanages and Rehabilitation Centers of Turkey

Mental Disability Rights International

This report describes the findings of a two-year investigation in Turkey by Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) and exposes the human rights abuses perpetrated against children and adults with mental disabilities. Locked away and out of public view, people with psychiatric disorders as well as people with intellectual disabilities are subjected to treatment practices that are tantamount to torture. Inhuman and degrading conditions of confinement are widespread throughout the Turkish mental health system. 

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