Community Living in Croatia
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Croatian lawmakers meet to discuss the right of people with intellectual disabilities to live in the community
Press Release--Zagreb--October 24, 2006. Croatian lawmakers convene today to address the unjustified and inappropriate institutionalization of people with intellectual disabilities in the country. The parliamentary committees for Family and Youth and Human Rights will hear from both Croatian and international experts about why it is essential for Croatia-at the threshold of joining the European Community-to begin the process of deinstitutionalization and promote equal citizenship for all of its citizens.
"There is a need to finally start liberating thousands of forgotten and imprisoned people from institutions," said Davorko Vidovic, a Social Democratic Member of the Croatian Parliament. Vidovic was moved to organize these meetings after seeing the breakthrough documentary Living Proof which will also be screened for parliamentary members today as part of the proceedings.
Living Proof is a co-production of the Association for Promoting Inclusion, a Croatian NGO providing community-based support to people with intellectual disabilities, and WITNESS, an international human rights organization that supports human rights defenders worldwide to use video as a tool in human rights documentation and advocacy. The film relates the story of eight individuals who have spent most of their lives in long-stay residential institutions and are now living in apartments in Zagreb. "The day-to-day lives and aspirations of the people depicted in the film demonstrate that institutionalization without justification is a human rights abuse," says film maker Bojana Rozman. Ivka Krzelj, one of the people interviewed for the film, says, "Everyone should leave the institutions and be in apartments the way I am. They would be better off, like me. They would have their own lives."
In Croatia, Krzelj's experience is a rarity. One in three people with moderate or severe intellectual disabilities are institutionalized, excluded from society solely on the basis of a disability label. Stigma, prejudice and discrimination perpetuate a social welfare system that keeps people with intellectual disabilities locked up. Without opportunities to live independently, these individuals are denied a fundamental human right.
Respect for the human rights of all citizens is an essential component of European Union membership. Deinstitutionalization and the development of community-based alternatives are vehicles to reach these goals. In Croatia, as in other countries, the need for deinstitutionalization is accepted in principle, but it is not implemented at the national level. While the policy of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is to develop community-based services, in practice the Ministry continues to invest in long-stay institutions, and it has not taken steps to implement its policy or make the provision of community-based services a matter of priority.
The Budapest-based Open Society Mental Health Initiative (OSMHI), which financed the production of Living Proof, is committed to working with the Croatian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Association for Promoting Inclusion (API) to begin the process of deinstitutionalization. "API has nine years of experience in establishing and operating quality community-based services in Croatia and is ready, willing and able to work closely with the Ministry throughout the transformation process to ensure that the services developed meet international human rights standards" says Borka Teodorovic, President of API.
The Open Society Mental Health Initiative has committed substantial bridge-financing to facilitate the transformation of one Croatian institution into a community-based service provider. This initiative is the first effort in Croatia to develop a comprehensive system of community supports, eliminating the need for institutional care. "There is unlikely to be any significant positive change in the situation for people with intellectual disabilities in Croatia if this initiative is not implemented," says Judith Klein, director of the Open Society Mental Health Initiative. "While some people with intellectual disabilities would be given the opportunity to live in the community, they would be the fortunate few, with the vast majority relegated to end their lives in the institutions due to the lack of community-based alternatives."
The Association for Promoting Inclusion and the Open Society Mental Health Initiative are calling on Croatian lawmakers to ensure that the government implements its policy on deinstitutionalization and community living and brings an end to the unjustified and inappropriate social exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in Croatia.
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The Association for Promoting Inclusion provides comprehensive deinstitutionalization services for people with intellectual disabilities with the goal of empowering people with intellectual disabilities to realize their rights and participate as equal citizens in society. API has created a network of community-based support services in Croatia that include community-based housing for adults, a prevention of institutionalization program, specialized foster care for children, a regional educational reference center, and supported employment.
Bleiweissova 15, 10000 Zagreb, Republic of Croatia
Tel. +385 1 37 58 932, 935 Tel/fax. +385 1 37 51 696
E-mail: inkluzija@inkluzija.hr Web: http://www.inkluzija.hr/