Moldova’s legislation does not stipulate special guarantees for preventing and combating acts of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment in psychiatric institutions. This is one of the conclusions of the report “Prevention and combating of torture in residential and neuropsychiatric institutions” that was compiled by UNDP Moldova, IPN reports.

The report focused on the compatibility of the national legislation on the prevention and combating of torture in psychiatric institutions with the international standards. The debates centering on the report data involved representatives of the Ministry of Health and of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

According to the report, among the most serious violations committed in residential and neuropsychiatric institutions are the encroachment on the freedom and safety of persons, limited access to medicines, physical and mental abuses, inappropriate living conditions and discrimination.

After monitoring psychiatric institutions, the experts formulated a series of conclusions about the quality of the national legislation on the combating of torture and inhuman treatment in such institutions. Report co-author, UNDP consultant Dumitru Sliusarenco has told IPN that now the national legislation does not meet the international standards. “Even if Moldova ratified a number of conventions, including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishments and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the analyzed legislation mainly does not correspond to these standards. Thus, it should be amended, adjusted and supplemented so that these standards are reached,” said Dumitru Sliusarenco.

The report authors worked out a series of recommendations. The head of the Health Ministry’s law division Andrei Shvets said that to avoid such problems in psychiatric institutions, appropriate measures should be taken. “We are obliged to train the employees of health facilities and to prevent ill-treatment and torture. Moreover, we hope that the bill by which the patient’s ombudsperson will be transferred to the Office of the People’s Ombudsperson will be adopted as this will make the process of examining complaints more efficient,” he stated.

According to the statistics contained in the report, in Moldova there are nine neuropsychiatric institutions, seven of which are intended for grownups, while two for minors. They are managed by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family. About 4,000 persons receive treatment at these institutions.