Bulgaria sentenced over inhumane treatment of elderly

These are Bulgaria’s elderly people - citizens of the European Union…

One place we have not seen them yet is social care centers, where the state is supposed to ensure their dignified ageing… But when NGOs provide us with exclusive insight, we see the reality behind those walls too…

But in the EU Year of Active Ageing, this social ministry is maintaining 43 centers for people with psychiatric problems. Over 4 thousand Bulgarians have been placed there and thousands more are on a waiting list to enter soon.

Her colleague, the deputy minister of justice, says Bulgaria is determined to change its legislation - which dates back to the 50s - and treats “intellectual disability” as reason for deprivation of liberty.

So to break this vicious cycle, they call for the shutting down of such institutions and the physical and mental re-integration of elderly people into society. Authorities say they will need some 10 years to do this, but may well be forced to speed up efforts, as institutional pressure is already mounting…

The European Court of Human Rights has just sentenced Bulgaria over inhumane treatment of elderly people in social care centers. According to human rights advocates, this makes any current or future placement of such people in those institutions in stark breach of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Source: Press TV