Suhananto, 30, sits inside a cage, where he has been locked up in a confined space for a year by his parents because he suffers from mental illness.
[From article]
This is the harrowing Indonesian village where people with mental illnesses are shackled to the floor and locked up in dark, cell-like rooms.
In Sidoharjo, Karangpatihan and Krebet, both adolescents and adults suffer from severe physical retardation, also known as 'Kampung Idiot', which is comparable to Down's Syndrome.
The horrifying images show a 40-year-old woman called Sijum with Down's Syndrome lying immobile on her back as her mother spoon-feeds her, while Saimun, 45, sits on the ground in his house, where his legs have been chained for 20 years by his parents because he suffers from mental illness.
These victims live below the poverty line and many suffer from malnutrition, visual and hearing impairment - but villagers and government officials blame incest, malnutrition and iodine deficiency as the cause for their illness.
[. . .]
This is the harrowing Indonesian village where people with mental illnesses are shackled to the floor and locked up in dark, cell-like rooms.
In Sidoharjo, Karangpatihan and Krebet, both adolescents and adults suffer from severe physical retardation, also known as 'Kampung Idiot', which is comparable to Down's Syndrome.
The horrifying images show a 40-year-old woman called Sijum with Down's Syndrome lying immobile on her back as her mother spoon-feeds her, while Saimun, 45, sits on the ground in his house, where his legs have been chained for 20 years by his parents because he suffers from mental illness.
These victims live below the poverty line and many suffer from malnutrition, visual and hearing impairment - but villagers and government officials blame incest, malnutrition and iodine deficiency as the cause for their illness.
This is the harrowing Indonesian village where people with mental illnesses are shackled to the floor and locked up in dark, cell-like rooms.
In Sidoharjo, Karangpatihan and Krebet, both adolescents and adults suffer from severe physical retardation, also known as 'Kampung Idiot', which is comparable to Down's Syndrome.
The horrifying images show a 40-year-old woman called Sijum with Down's Syndrome lying immobile on her back as her mother spoon-feeds her, while Saimun, 45, sits on the ground in his house, where his legs have been chained for 20 years by his parents because he suffers from mental illness.
These victims live below the poverty line and many suffer from malnutrition, visual and hearing impairment - but villagers and government officials blame incest, malnutrition and iodine deficiency as the cause for their illness.
[. . .]
Thousands of Indonesians with a mental illness are currently shackled, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released on Monday.
The 74-page report, 'Living in Hell: Abuses against People with Psychosocial Disabilities in Indonesia' examines how people with mental health conditions often end up chained or locked up in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions.
Chaining up the mentally ill has been illegal in Indonesia for nearly 40 years but remains rife across the country, especially in rural areas where health services are limited and belief in evil spirits prevail, according to HRW.
Thousands of Indonesians with a mental illness are currently shackled, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released on Monday.
The 74-page report, 'Living in Hell: Abuses against People with Psychosocial Disabilities in Indonesia' examines how people with mental health conditions often end up chained or locked up in overcrowded and unsanitary institutions.
Chaining up the mentally ill has been illegal in Indonesia for nearly 40 years but remains rife across the country, especially in rural areas where health services are limited and belief in evil spirits prevail, according to HRW.
[. . .]
'Nobody should have to be shackled in Indonesia in 2016 - people told us again and again that it's like living in hell,' Kriti Sharma, disability rights researcher at the group and author of the report, told AFP.
As well as shackling, the report listed a litany of other abuses the mentally ill face in Indonesia - sexual violence, electroshock therapy, and restraint and seclusion in often overcrowded, unsanitary institutions.
There are just 48 mental hospitals in Indonesia, a country of 250 million, most of them in urban areas.
Treatment options are scarce for the millions living in remote regions, leaving desperate families to turn to faith healers in the Muslim-majority nation, some of whom chain up patients.[. . .]
HRW - who interviewed around 150 people for their report, from the mentally ill to health professionals - said there are currently almost 19,000 people in Indonesia who are either shackled or locked up in a confined space, a practice known locally as 'pasung'.
At least 14 million people in Indonesia aged 15 and over are thought to be suffering from some form of mental illness, according to health ministry data.
Shackling of mentally ill people happens across Asia but is particularly common in Indonesia, with studies showing that it is due to poor mental health services in rural areas and a lack of knowledge about suitable treatments.
Families that choose not to send mentally ill relatives to faith healers sometimes take matters into their own hands.
'Nobody should have to be shackled in Indonesia in 2016 - people told us again and again that it's like living in hell,' Kriti Sharma, disability rights researcher at the group and author of the report, told AFP.
As well as shackling, the report listed a litany of other abuses the mentally ill face in Indonesia - sexual violence, electroshock therapy, and restraint and seclusion in often overcrowded, unsanitary institutions.
There are just 48 mental hospitals in Indonesia, a country of 250 million, most of them in urban areas.
Treatment options are scarce for the millions living in remote regions, leaving desperate families to turn to faith healers in the Muslim-majority nation, some of whom chain up patients.[. . .]
HRW - who interviewed around 150 people for their report, from the mentally ill to health professionals - said there are currently almost 19,000 people in Indonesia who are either shackled or locked up in a confined space, a practice known locally as 'pasung'.
At least 14 million people in Indonesia aged 15 and over are thought to be suffering from some form of mental illness, according to health ministry data.
Shackling of mentally ill people happens across Asia but is particularly common in Indonesia, with studies showing that it is due to poor mental health services in rural areas and a lack of knowledge about suitable treatments.
Families that choose not to send mentally ill relatives to faith healers sometimes take matters into their own hands.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3512517/Village-damned-Hundreds-mentally-ill-patients-shackled-locked-away-Indonesian-village-suffering-blamed-incest-malnutrition.html
Village of the damned: Hundreds of mentally ill patients are shackled or locked away in Indonesian village where their suffering is blamed on 'incest and malnutrition'
People ranging in age from 10 to 50 are shackled to the floor in Sidoharjo, Karangpatihan and Krebet in Indonesia
They suffer from severe physical retardation, also known as 'Kampung Idiot', which is akin to Down Syndrome
Over 400 people suffer from psychosocial disabilities in Ponorogo, East Java - and many live below the poverty line
Government officials and villagers blame incest, malnutrition and iodine deficiency as the cause for the illness
By EKIN KARASIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 10:27 EST, 28 March 2016 | UPDATED: 13:28 EST, 28 March 2016
Village of the damned: Hundreds of mentally ill patients are shackled or locked away in Indonesian village where their suffering is blamed on 'incest and malnutrition'
People ranging in age from 10 to 50 are shackled to the floor in Sidoharjo, Karangpatihan and Krebet in Indonesia
They suffer from severe physical retardation, also known as 'Kampung Idiot', which is akin to Down Syndrome
Over 400 people suffer from psychosocial disabilities in Ponorogo, East Java - and many live below the poverty line
Government officials and villagers blame incest, malnutrition and iodine deficiency as the cause for the illness
By EKIN KARASIN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 10:27 EST, 28 March 2016 | UPDATED: 13:28 EST, 28 March 2016
