On this date, when the world observes the Universal Children's Day, mentally challenged children are dehumanised on daily basis in institutions that are supposed to provide them with necessary care, Sarajevo Canton Council of Parents said after MP Sabina Cudic published photos showing the 'Pazaric' home's patients in the conditions that she called a “modern-era slavery.”
“What we see in the photos is isolation, physical and mental restriction, and we know that these children are also exposed to the (medical) treatments inadequate for their age,” said the Council urging the competent authorities to ensure the freedom for every citizen and to prohibit “the torture, brutal, inhumane and humiliating treatment of children and adults with disabilities.”
Our Party (Nasa Stranka) MP, Sabina Cudic, unveiled on Wednesday shocking photos of the patients, mostly children, in a home for mentally challenged persons near Sarajevo, where they are seen tied to beds and other pieces of furniture.
This is how the patients spend most of the time, according to Cudic, which causes injuries and serious deterioration of their mental health.
In a press conference, she called on the House of Representatives of Bosnia's Federation (FBiH) entity to declare on the issue she named “a modern-era slavery” and asked the ministry in charge to dismiss the management in this institution.
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“There are 149 employees in this institution, of which 27 are economists, with 47 ill children, and only one nurse, often not professional enough, takes care of them during the night. The children often put their hands together alone to be tied, as they got used to that practice. Some of them are tied for 14 hours,” Cudic warned.
But, her initiative which among other things demanded that such practice in the ‘Pazaric’ home stops was rejected and, instead, the Parliament tasked a special body to investigate the allegations and collect the findings of the inspection bodies that were visiting the institution.
The Parliament set a seven-day deadline for the task group to prepare a report on this matter.
Meanwhile, a group of citizens organised on social networks and gathered in front of the FBiH Parliament building to raise their voice against such treatment of the children.
