Lawsuit to be Filed Against Mexico for Alleged Abuses Against Disabled Enjoli Francis and Christine Romo - ABC News
go to original May 13, 2016

ABC News' David Muir Reports: Mexico to Be Sued for Human Rights Abuses Against Disabled (ABC News/International News)

Disability Rights International, an advocacy group that has teamed up with ABC News' David Muir to uncover youth, some with disabilities, living in deplorable conditions in government-funded facilities, has announced that it will move forward in its lawsuit at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against the government of Mexico for "allowing egregious human rights abuses against children and adults with disabilities to continue unabated."

In July 2015, after a visit by ABC News and Disability Rights International, Mexico City's Ministry for Social Development announced a ban on the use of restraints and cages for children under its care and said it would work to get many into homes.

"Effective immediately Mexico City will ban the use of restraints and cages," Secretary Jose Ramon Amieva of the Ministry for Social Development said at the time.

Last weekend, however, ABC News' Muir and Disability Rights International staff revisited several facilities and found little to no change. In one case, the site's doors were closed in their faces.

"They signed documents. They made it look official before the cameras. They didn't do nothing," said Priscila Rodriguez of Disability Rights International.

Last year, Disability Rights International, which has worked in Mexico for more than 20 years, released a report that detailed its findings after a year-long focus on the children, some with disabilities, growing up in state institutions. In its report, the organization said that it had obtained a so-called "black list" - dated November 2013 and created by the Mexican government - of 25 facilities where children continued to be left permanently, despite the Mexican government's declaring those sites abusive or in very bad condition.

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