MINDFREEDOM NEWS - 29 September 2005

 

http://www.MindFreedom.org

Report documents massive human rights

violations in Turkey psychiatric facilities.

MDRI investigates forced electroshock

including of nine-year-old.

Below is a forwarded announcement from Mental

Disability Rights International (MDRI) about

their report released yesterday regarding

extensive human rights violations in the

mental health systems of Turkey.

The report is winning global media attention.

MDRI is one of 100 sponsor groups in MindFreedom

International.

Please forward MDRI's news BELOW. For more info

and media coverage on the report see MDRI's web site

http://www.mdri.org  or e-mail MDRI at mdri@mdri.org.

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FROM: Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI)

MDRI RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ACCUSING

TURKEY OF TORTURE AGAINST CHILDREN

AND ADULTS WITH MENTAL DISABILITIES

Report Receives Worldwide Press Coverage

Following a two-year investigation,

Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI)

released the findings on Sept. 28, 2005 in

a report detailing the human rights abuses

perpetrated in Turkey against children and

adults with mental disabilities.

_Behind Closed Doors: Human Rights Abuses

in the Psychiatric Facilities, Orphanages

and Rehabilitation Centers of Turkey_,

describes the widespread use of

electroconvulsive or "shock" treatment

(ECT) on psychiatric patients –- as young

as 9 years old – without the use of

anesthesia.

The investigators also found evidence of

children dying from starvation,

dehydration and lack of medical care in

so-called residential Rehabilitation Centers.

Locked away and out of public view, people

with psychiatric disorders as well as

people with intellectual disabilities,

such as mental retardation, are subjected

to treatment practices that are tantamount

to torture.

Inhuman and degrading conditions of

confinement are widespread throughout

the Turkish mental health system.

This report documents Turkey's violations

of the European Convention for the

Prevention of Torture (ECPT), the

European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),

the UN Convention on the Rights of the

Child (CRC) and other internationally

accepted human rights and disability

rights standards.

To read articles on this issue from

_The New York Times_, _The International

Herald Tribune_ and more please visit

http://www.mdri.org.

- end of announcement -

MDRI e-mail is mdri@mdri.org .

Forwarded by MindFreedom International

http://www.MindFreedom.org

MIND YOUR FREEDOM: United Action for Human Rights.

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