Statement: Urgent measures required to close Russia’s psychiatric gulags

Reports suggest 37 people died following a major fire in a psychiatric hospital in Luka, south west of St Petersburg, Russia. Image: AP/Russian Emergency Ministry

MDAC expresses its serious concerns about reports of 37 deaths following a major fire at a psychiatric institution in the village of Luka, 140 miles from St Petersburg in Russia, yesterday.

“Russia must take urgent action to prevent such terrible loss of life in these gulag-type institutions,” said Oliver Lewis, Executive Director of MDAC. “We are particularly concerned at reports suggesting that residents of the institution may have been on sedatives at the time of the fire. Russia must immediately review safety at all psychiatric and social care institutions and close those found unsafe to prevent further loss of life.”

The tragic loss of life in Luka comes just months after a fire which killed 38 people at Psychiatric Hospital No. 14 in Ramensky, north of Moscow. Residents at that institution were kept in prison-like conditions, making it impossible for them to escape.

The warehousing of an estimated 100,000 people with intellectual disabilities and psycho-social (mental health) disabilities in Russia represents a gross violation of fundamental human rights provisions, including the right to liberty and freedom from ill-treatment. With serious events such as the fire in Luka occurring on a regular basis, Russia’s obligation to protect the right to life of people in such institutions must be seriously questioned.

Unsafe conditions, over-reliance on sedation and a lack of independent oversight in institutions such as the one in Luka result in multiple human rights violations. Residents are refused the right to access legal remedies or the possibility of returning to their lives in the community, in breach of Russia’s commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the European Convention on Human Rights.

MDAC calls on the Russian government to:

• Immediately and urgently review safety in all psychiatric and social care institutions, specifically focusing on fire regulations;
• Close all institutions where safety cannot be guaranteed, making appropriate arrangements for residents to be accommodated in safe, humane conditions;
• Take steps to expedite the process of deinstitutionalisation of people with intellectual disabilities and people with psycho-social (mental health) disabilities, per their international legal obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities