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The system of medical-labor dispensaries (LTP) for chronic alcoholics. Therapeutic and labor dispensary

Drunkenness was a serious problem in Soviet society, a considerable proportion of crimes were committed in a state of alcohol intoxication. To fight it dangerous phenomenon in the mid-1960s, special institutions were created - medical and labor dispensaries (LTP). What methods were used to treat drunkards in them?

form of re-education

The first of the well-known medical and labor dispensaries was opened in 1967 in Kazakhstan. According to other sources, the institution appeared in 1974. Soon, LTPs began to open throughout the USSR.
The main goal of the initiators of the creation of such institutions is the re-education of a person, giving him a stable feeling of disgust for alcohol, and accustoming him to work. They were sent to LTP for a period of six months to two years. Those who had serious problems with alcohol and who, according to the decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, “malignantly evaded treatment and continued to lead an antisocial lifestyle, violating public order».
It is noteworthy that medical and labor dispensaries did not fall under the category of medical institutions, but were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and were part of the system of penitentiary institutions. Together with prisons, colonies and detention centers. Quite logical, since the idea of ​​introducing LTP was developed as part of measures to combat crime. And offenses on the basis of drunkenness were among the most common in the USSR.

How did you get

It was not so easy for even the most inveterate alcoholic to get into LTP. A person was sent for treatment only on the basis of an application from relatives or automatically after six “walkers” to a sobering-up station.
To begin with, the drunkard was sent for a medical examination, which determined whether the candidate needed compulsory treatment. If yes, then the court ruled on the isolation of the alcoholic and his determination in the LTP.
However, some themselves expressed a desire to take shape in a "dispensary", but there were an overwhelming minority of such conscious people.

How they were treated and lived

The first time in the LTP, the drunkard was waiting for quarantine. After that, the alcoholic was examined, where he was prescribed a simple treatment. In the first month, large doses of Antabuse were mainly given. They also gave analgin and valerian.
Some were forced to undergo reflexology. Alcoholics were injected with special drugs that caused an aversion to alcohol. After that, the patient was given a drink. As a rule, this was followed by vomiting. The procedure was carried out several times.
Patients lived in large rooms with bunk beds. The number of people living in one room was about 20 people, sometimes more.
In medical and labor dispensaries, a special mode isolation. Visits with relatives were allowed once a week, vacations home were prohibited. In extreme cases (death of relatives or natural disasters), patients could be granted leave for 10 days. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in its reports complained that the rules of detention in the LTP were periodically violated.

Occupational therapy

It was believed that along with medicines to wean drinking man from the "green serpent" and return it to a sober life can work. So most of time of the LTP patients was busy with work.
They were sent to the most different areas National economy: for agricultural work in collective farms, factories and factories. Man became practically free labor force, so the enterprises almost competed with each other for the opportunity to get additional workers at their disposal.
In most cases, LTP patients performed unskilled labor, many were used as porters and cleaners. There were no opportunities for training and advanced training.
The working day began at 7-8 am, ended at about 4 pm. There was time for lunch, as well as six short breaks of 10 minutes each. By the end of the 70s, LTP patients made up a large proportion of auxiliary workers at the enterprises of the Union. Thus, about 700 prisoners worked at the Likhachev Plant (ZIL) in Moscow alone.

Liquidation of LTP

The work of medical and labor dispensaries was often criticized, many experts expressed doubts about their effectiveness and expediency of existence. By the beginning of the 1990s, according to some data, about a million Soviet citizens. Most of them continued to drink alcohol after their release, often even more than before. After all, deprivation of liberty has a severe effect on the human psyche.
The issue of transferring these institutions from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the competence of the Ministry of Health was regularly raised in the 70s and 80s. After the collapse of the USSR, it was decided to abolish LTP as a relic of the Soviet past.
In July 1994, by decree of President Boris Yeltsin, medical labor camps ceased to exist in Russia. Currently, they are preserved only in Belarus, Turkmenistan and Transnistria.

In order to implement the Law Russian Federation dated July 2, 1992 No. 3185-1 "On psychiatric care and guarantees of the rights of citizens in its provision", in terms of providing state-guaranteed types of psychiatric care, as well as in accordance with paragraph 3 and subparagraph 6 of paragraph 4 of Article 23 of the Law of the City of Moscow dated 9 July 2008 No. 34 "On social services for the population of the city of Moscow" and the order of the Department social protection of the population of the city of Moscow dated December 2, 2010 No. 2802 "On approval of the Approximate regulation on medical and labor workshops of institutions of stationary social services of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of the City of Moscow" in the boarding school, work was organized in medical and labor workshops (hereinafter LTM).

The head of LTM, together with the contracting department of the boarding school, organizes the involvement of third-party organizations for the execution of LTM orders and develops the necessary package of documents for signing Service Agreements, as well as reporting accounting documents for the execution of work performed and their payment.

Involvement of the recipient of social services in medical treatment labor activity is carried out on a voluntary basis, taking into account the state of health, interests, desires and on the basis of the opinion of the attending physician. Incapacitated recipients of social services are involved in medical and labor activities by decision of the VC and with the consent of the guardianship commission (guardian).

When a beneficiary of social services is sent to work in LTM, the attending physician must talk with him and explain to him the therapeutic value of labor processes, indicate the type and duration of work. The duration of medical and labor activity of recipients of social services should not exceed 4 hours a day. Every 3 months, the medical commission of the institution, together with the attending physician and the LTM instructor, decides whether it is expedient to continue the work of the recipient of social services in the LTM.

Works in LTM are carried out under the guidance of instructors of industrial training. Persons referred to LTM, but experiencing difficulties in learning, study with a labor training instructor in a specially allocated room according to an individual program.

Making a person's life interesting is one of the tasks of social service.

Occupational rehabilitation and habilitation of people with handicapped in the conditions of a psycho-neurological boarding school is diverse: employment, occupational therapy, occupational training and employment.

​Four workshops are successfully operating in the Medical and Labor Workshops of the GBU PNI No. 3, more about them:

"Sewing workshop".

The sewing workshop is visited daily by recipients of social services. Workplace instructors help them learn hand sewing and use a household sewing machine. The recipients of social services have mastered many new techniques and techniques of needlework (cross-stitch and satin stitch embroidery, patchwork, patchwork, knitting, weaving, decorative stitching). Recipients of social services are made a large number of household items for decorating their rooms and common areas (pillows, panels, bedspreads, bags, needle cases, vests, paintings, etc.). Persons attending the Therapeutic - labor workshops actively participate in the preparation of festive events held in the institution, making costumes and props.

​More recently, the second personal exhibition of the residents of the State Budgetary Institution PNI No. 3, organized jointly with the Dmitrov inter-settlement library under the name "Creativity will warm the soul", the first was held in December 2015 under the title "We see the world with our soul".

The guests who visited it, as well as the artists themselves, whose works were exhibited at the exhibition, received great pleasure from the exhibition.

​The Shchelkovo Gallery exhibited the works of the Sewing Workshop and the LTM Carpentry Workshop, as part of the Red Russian Cross project "150 years on guard of mercy and humanism." The exhibition took place in April 2017.

Shop "Packing".

In May 2015, on the basis of LTM, a packing shop for a tile laying system was opened to provide social service recipients with employment and remuneration for their work. The work was organized jointly with the companies "Krita" and "DLS". Recipients of social services have the opportunity to earn some money on their own, which encourages them to work further.

​Before starting work, a daily briefing is carried out, which includes the rules of conduct in the workshop and the rules for working with parts and equipment.

Shop "Landscaping".

In 2015, for the first time, work was organized on sowing and growing flower seeds in the premises of the Medical and Labor Workshops. More than 15 recipients of social services were involved in the work. More than 500 seedlings were grown in this way. At the end of May, seedlings were successfully planted in the ground. Organized daily care for seedlings (watering, weeding, loosening). In August and September, flower seeds were collected for future sowing. The flowers grown in LTM have pleased the eyes of employees, recipients of social services and guests of the orphanage throughout the season. Seedlings are also planted in the greenhouse cultivated plants(cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, dill, parsley) and daily care for her. AT winter period time in the shop are grown houseplants for landscaping the premises of the institution.

To date, the volume of grown plants has been increased to 1000 pieces.

​In this way, beneficiaries of social services referred to occupational therapy get great pleasure from the results of their work.

joinery shop

In September 2016, the carpentry shop began its work. The workshop is equipped with machines (lathe, drilling, woodworking, universal). As well as hand carpentry tools (screwdrivers, chisels, pliers).

Beneficiaries of social services receive skills and knowledge to work with hand carpentry tools. The workshop produces bird feeders, various wooden handicrafts and household items, preparations for de-coupage, etc.

​Before starting work, a daily briefing of social service recipients is carried out, which includes the rules of conduct in the workshop and the rules for working with hand carpentry tools.

SEWING FACTORY

It is well known that the very diagnosis of a mental disorder, officially made to a sick person, often pushes him out of society, creates enormous difficulties in obtaining a decent education and work.

In the history of the rehabilitation of the mentally ill, a number of points can be distinguished that played a significant role in its development:

1. The era of moral therapy. This rehabilitation approach, which was developed in the late XVIII - early 19th century, was to provide the mentally ill with more humane care. The basic principles of this psychosocial impact remain relevant to this day.

2. Introduction of labor (professional) rehabilitation. In Russia, this approach to the treatment of "mentally ill" was introduced in the first third of the 19th century and is associated with the activities of V.F. Sabler, S.S. Korsakov and other progressive psychiatrists.

in the report World Organization Health care dedicated to the state mental health(2001), states: “Psychosocial rehabilitation is a process that enables people who are debilitated or disabled as a result of mental disorders to achieve their optimal level of independent functioning in society.

Who are the professionals involved in psychosocial rehabilitation? Patients and their families should be aware that psychosocial rehabilitation is carried out by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, social workers, occupational therapists, nurses. At the same time, patients themselves should feel no less full-fledged citizens than other groups of the population. The purpose of rehabilitation can be defined as follows: it is to improve the quality of life and social functioning of people with mental disorders by overcoming their social alienation, as well as increasing their active life and civic position.

Occupational therapy, as an orientation of modern domestic psychiatry, began to be given Special attention since the 1950s. There was a network of medical and labor workshops and special workshops where mentally ill people who were in inpatient and outpatient treatment could work.

There are also such medical and labor workshops in the Tomsk Clinical Psychiatric Hospital. For example, the "Sewing Shop", in which patients work from 8 am until the end of the working day, competing with each other who sewed the most products. And they sew a lot: medical overalls, overalls for cooks, bedding sets, towels, dresses, gowns and much more, always under the supervision of an instructor and medical staff.

The head of the sewing shop is Doroshchenko Valentina Nikolaevna, who has been working in the OGBUZ "TKPB" for more than 30 years, and the head of the sewing shop for about 25 years.

THERAPEUTIC AND LABOR REHABILITATION

From the very opening of the Tomsk Psychiatric Hospital, a course was taken to "develop occupational therapy so that patients are not kept, but treated." Long time successfully worked weaving, tailoring, basketry, bookbinding and shoe workshops.

However, the war years led to the decline of the hospital's labor activity. And only with the arrival in 1967. chief doctor A.I. Potapova and head. Department of Psychiatry E.D. Krasik began rehabilitation restructuring. Patients carried out one-time orders of individual enterprises of the city, with which the workshops were equipped. Along with this, social and labor rehabilitation programs were specially developed and implemented, based on the priority of medical tasks. Gradual rehabilitation assumed subsequent employment at the industrial enterprises of the city.
In 1978 LTM was opened in a newly built 3-storey building, where about 26% of the patients of the hospital worked.
In 1980 the activities of LTM in the Tomsk Psychiatric Hospital were recognized as the best in the USSR.
Since the beginning of the 90s, the socio-economic crisis in the country has affected the state of LTM. In 1997 the number of employees decreased to 500-600, and the employment rate of inpatients to 5.8%. The conditions of market relations required the search for new forms of work. These include cooperation with the Federal Center for Employment.
In 1996 A shop for baking bread was opened at the hospital. In the same year, a state unitary medical and industrial enterprise was created, and a subsidiary farm was introduced into its structure. It was supposed to make this enterprise more promising in terms of providing social assistance disabled people. However, this experience did not live up to expectations, and in 2002. LTM and subsidiary farming were transferred to operational management hospitals. In 2007 farm has been eliminated.

AT last years rehabilitation in the hospital is developing towards a psychosocial model, interacting with social services, social support using psychoeducational programs and trainings.
For more than 30 years, the hospital has been successfully operating a hostel for patients who have lost relatives and housing. The number of beds in the dormitory has increased to 50. All patients are group II invalids and are on the “ open doors”, are employed, independently spend their pension and earned money. With the participation of the staff, their leisure time is organized and the self-government council works.
Since 2002 social work specialists work in the hospital, they lobby the interests of patients in administrative institutions, courts, defend their property rights.
Throughout the existence of the hospital great attention given to the entertainment of the sick. From the first days of work, there was a brass band composed of hospital employees and a balalaika orchestra. The magazine "Duma" was published, which was printed on a typewriter in 4-5 copies. Every year there was a "holiday white flower(sale of wreaths and bouquets of daisies in favor of the All-Russian League against Tuberculosis). Festivities, dances to the orchestra were organized (this tradition has been preserved to this day).

Now patients willingly participate in festive events, chess and checkers tournaments are held. On the basis of the 26th department (dormitory) successfully operates football team, which takes prizes in city competitions. Artwork patients were exhibited three times in the Regional Art Museum. The poetic abilities of the patients are reflected in the poetic collection of poems.

Medical-industrial (labor) workshops- an auxiliary enterprise mainly at a psychiatric hospital, psycho-neurological or narcological dispensary, intended for occupational therapy and occupational training of mentally ill patients, providing medical supervision over them and, if necessary, continuation of drug treatment.

In medical production workshops are used:

  • various types of labor in order to have a therapeutic effect on the patient, increase his mental and physical tone, create favorable conditions for achieving stable remissions and preventing further mental and social degradation;
  • labor training for the purpose of mastering patients new profession corresponding to the degree of their ability to work;
  • assistance in the employment of patients at enterprises after completing the course of occupational therapy and mastering a new profession.

The process of labor training, mastering professional skills should arouse interest in patients, bring them emotional satisfaction.

In accordance with this, the labor processes that are used in the conditions of medical and industrial workshops should be diverse, including the operations of modern industrial production and quite complex. At the same time, it is important to take into account that medical production workshops should not be a place of permanent employment for patients. In the future, the rehabilitation of the mentally ill should be carried out in industrial production, taking into account the compensatory possibilities, personal attitudes of patients, their emotional attitude to certain types of work, existing professional skills and state dynamics.

Patients discharged from a psychiatric hospital after a long stay in it with severe social and labor decompensation should be included in a phased program of measures for industrial rehabilitation. Patients begin with the development of simple labor processes, and then, if possible, master professional skills of varying complexity.

The employment of patients in special workshops, which are organized by industrial enterprises and state farms together with psychiatric hospitals or dispensaries, has become widespread. The organization of labor processes of varying complexity in special workshops allows for labor training with subsequent employment of patients with reduced ability to work, including the disabled. ultimate goal restoration of the social and labor status of patients in relation to the conditions of modern industrial production should be their inclusion in the systematic work on industrial production and in the active life of the production team.

The greatest social compensation with the maximum use of labor opportunities for mentally ill patients is achieved under conditions industrial enterprise. In this case, many patients with schizophrenia retain their former professional status, successfully master new professions, including highly qualified specialties (engineers and technical workers, employees, highly skilled workers). Patients working in production are provided with qualified medical supervision, a complex of all types of therapy. Important role In this section of the work, the active assistance of the administration and the public of the institution plays.

Http://site/ru/news/66186 2013 2013-10-01T18:13:24+0300 2013-10-01T18:13:24+0300 2013-10-02T09:44:28+0300 en http://site/files/images/sources/ltp-1.jpg Human Rights Center "Vesna" Human Rights Center "Vesna" Human Rights Center "Vesna"

Human Rights Center "Vesna"

As part of the monitoring of places of detention of citizens in the Republic of Belarus, the Human Rights Center "Viasna" offers to attention this material on the LTP system, legislation on the forced isolation of persons suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction, as well as the practice of its application. The article also provides brief analysis compliance with the norms of the current national legislation governing the forced isolation of persons suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction, the provisions of the country's Constitution and international human rights standards.

I. Historical context

System inherited from the USSR

The first medical and labor dispensary appeared in the USSR in 1967 on the territory of the Kazakh SSR. AT further system LTP was actively used for the forced isolation of persons suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction, violating public order and the rules of the "socialist way of life." Citizens were sent to LTP by order of district courts for a period of 6 months to 2 years. The decision of the court was final and not subject to appeal in cassation. Escape from LTP was criminalized. Human rights activists in the USSR called LTP part of the Soviet punitive system.
On October 25, 1990, the Committee of Constitutional Supervision of the USSR adopted a Conclusion, according to which some norms of the then current USSR legislation in this area, including those of the Union republics, were recognized as inconsistent with the Constitution of the USSR and international standards in the field of human rights. The Committee of Constitutional Supervision came to the conclusion that, according to the legislation, compulsory treatment in LTP (ie, restriction of freedom close to a criminal sentence) applies to persons who have not committed any crimes.
After the collapse of the USSR, the LTP system was eliminated in most of the former Soviet republics. In 1993, by Decree of the President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, medical and labor dispensaries were liquidated in Russia (the Decree entered into force on July 1, 1994). Currently, LTPs exist only in Belarus, Turkmenistan and the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldavian Republic.
In Belarus, the LTP system was not actually used after 1991. The revival of the practice began in the late 1990s and has become widespread in recent years. LTPs are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). Isolation of citizens in LTP is regulated by the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated January 4, 2010 No. 104-3 "On the procedure and conditions for sending citizens to medical and labor dispensaries and the conditions of stay in them", the norms of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Belarus (paragraph 12 of Chapter 30 (special proceedings) Code of Civil Procedure), the Internal Regulations in LTP, approved by the Decree of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of 09.10.2007 No. 264.

II. National legal framework

For a long time, the procedure for sending and keeping in LTP was regulated by the Law "On measures of coercive influence against alcoholics and drug addicts who systematically violate public order and the rights of others", which was adopted by the Supreme Council of the BSSR on June 21, 1991, with amendments and additions that were made to this Law in 1994, 2000 and 2008. In December 2009, the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus adopted new law"On the procedure and conditions for sending citizens to medical and labor dispensaries and the conditions of stay in them", which entered into force on January 4, 2010. According to the adopted Law, amendments were made to the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Belarus, chapter 30 of which (special proceedings) was supplemented by paragraph 12 "Peculiarities of considering cases on sending a citizen to an LTP, extending the period of stay in an LTP, terminating a stay in an LTP."

Medical and labor dispensary - an organization that is part of the system of internal affairs bodies of the Republic of Belarus, created for forced isolation and medical and social readaptation with the obligatory involvement in labor of citizens suffering from chronic alcoholism, drug addiction or substance abuse, and citizens who are obliged to reimburse the costs spent by the state on the maintenance of children who are on state care, in the event of a systematic violation by these citizens labor discipline due to the use of alcoholic beverages, narcotic drugs, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances.

In accordance with Art. 4 of this Law, the following shall be sent to LTP:

Citizens suffering from chronic alcoholism, drug addiction or substance abuse, who during the year three or more times were brought to administrative responsibility for committing administrative offenses in a state of alcoholic intoxication or in a state caused by the use of narcotic drugs, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances, were warned in According to current law about the possibility of being sent to an LTP and within a year after this warning were brought to administrative responsibility for committing administrative offense in a state of alcoholic intoxication or in a state caused by the use of narcotic drugs, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances;

Citizens who are obliged to compensate for the expenses spent by the state on the maintenance of children who are on state care in the event of a systematic violation by these citizens of labor discipline due to the use of alcoholic beverages, narcotic drugs, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances.

Not subject to referral to LTP:

Citizens under the age of 18;
Men over 60;
Women over 55;
Pregnant women;
Women who are raising children under the age of one;
Disabled people of the 1st and 2nd groups;

Citizens who have diseases that prevent them from staying in LTP.

In accordance with Article 5 of the Law, persons brought to administrative responsibility three or more times during the year for committing administrative offenses in a state of alcoholic intoxication or in a state caused by the use of narcotic drugs, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicating substances are sent to healthcare institutions for examination and diagnosis of chronic alcoholism or drug addiction. According to Art. 5 of the Law, a citizen has the right to appeal this direction superior head of the internal affairs body or the prosecutor, or to the court.

If a diagnosis of chronic alcoholism, drug addiction or substance abuse is established, the corresponding medical report is transferred to the head of the internal affairs body, who, within 10 days after receiving it, issues a warning about the possibility of being sent to an LTP. This warning is announced to the citizen in respect of whom it was issued with the delivery of a written copy. According to Art. 6 of the Law, a citizen has the right to appeal the warning issued to him to a higher head of the internal affairs body, the prosecutor or to the court.

In accordance with Art. 7 of the Law, the head of the internal affairs body, within 10 days after receiving information about bringing a person who was warned about the possibility of being sent to an LTP, to administrative responsibility for committing an administrative offense while intoxicated or in a state caused by the use of narcotic, psychotropic, toxic or other intoxicants, within a year after the said warning sends this citizen for a medical examination.

The head of the internal affairs body or his deputy, within 10 days after receiving a medical opinion that the specified citizen is ill with chronic alcoholism, drug addiction or substance abuse, and also that he has no diseases that prevent him from staying at the LTP, sue a statement about the direction of this citizen to the LTP.

For example. Citizen A. used foul language in public place while under the influence of alcohol. After that, he was detained by the police, brought before the court and received an administrative penalty in the form of a 15-day administrative arrest for petty hooliganism. A few weeks after his release, the police detained him while drinking alcohol in a public place, as a result of which he was fined. After that, during the year, he was twice brought to administrative responsibility in the form of fines for appearing drunk, insulting public morality in a public place. All these events took place within a year, and the district internal affairs agency sent him for a medical examination in order to establish the presence of alcoholism. After receiving the appropriate medical opinion, Mr. And within 10 days he was officially warned by the head of the police department about the possibility of sending him to an LTP, if within a year after the warning he was brought to administrative responsibility for committing an offense in a state of alcoholic intoxication, in a state caused by the use narcotic substances or other intoxicants.

The next time he is detained in a state of alcoholic intoxication for an offense committed in such a state, and he will be brought to administrative responsibility within a year after the warning was issued, representatives of law enforcement agencies will once again bring gr. A. to the hospital to confirm that he has chronic alcoholism. The representative of law enforcement agencies will transfer all the documents to the district court of general jurisdiction, which, within the framework of special civil proceedings (according to Articles 361 - 393.12 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Belarus), will make a decision on sending to LTP (isolation) gr. A. for a period of 1 year. The case is considered with the participation of the prosecutor and the person to be sent to the LTP. In case of non-appearance of the latter, the judge draws up the forced bringing of this person to court. The decision of the court in the case may be appealed in cassation within 10 days. The person against whom the case is being considered has the right to use the legal assistance of a lawyer.

Thus, isolation in LTP is not a sanction for committing a specific administrative offense, but is imposed in connection with the illness of gr. And chronic alcoholism and the offenses committed by him before while intoxicated, for which he has already been punished in the framework of administrative proceedings.

Courts, in accordance with Art. 393.9 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Belarus, must consider cases within 10 days, in an open meeting with the participation of an interested person. The person may be represented by a lawyer. The decision of the court may be appealed in cassation to a higher court. According to Art. 8 of the Law, the period of isolation in LTP is 12 months. However, in some cases, referred to in Art. 55 of the Law (the presence of several disciplinary sanctions, absence from LTP for more than a day without good reason, untimely return to LTP from social leave), the stay of a citizen by a court decision can be extended for up to 6 months.

The legal status of persons isolated in LTPs remains unclear. They are not sentenced to deprivation or restriction of freedom and are not under administrative arrest.

The law provides that persons held in medical and labor dispensaries enjoy the same rights as citizens of the Republic of Belarus, but with some restrictions. These restrictions arise from the need to ensure compulsory isolation and medical and social rehabilitation with forced labor, as provided by law. In practice, this means that persons held in an LTP do not have the right to leave it without permission, they are obliged to comply with internal regulations, and they are subject to control and supervision. Persons contained in LTP, according to Art. 47 of the Law, are obliged to work, refusal of employment or independent termination of work entails the imposition of disciplinary measures in relation to such persons (accommodation in a disciplinary room for up to 10 days). The presence of several disciplinary sanctions entails an increase in the period of stay in LTP up to 6 months by a court decision. With regard to isolated persons, personal searches, searches of personal belongings are used. Persons held in LTP are not allowed to keep personal documents, money (or other prohibited items); the administration of the dispensary ensures the safety of their personal documents and money.

Article 16 of the Law provides for the use of physical force and special means LTP employees and military personnel internal troops in relation to isolated persons in accordance with the legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus.

*Constitution of Belarus

In accordance with Article 26 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, no one can be found guilty of a crime if his guilt is not proven in the manner prescribed by law and by a court verdict that has entered into legal force. Deprivation of liberty can only be applied to a person who has been found guilty of a crime, i.e., if her guilt has been confirmed by a court verdict. However, the duration and conditions of isolation in LTP are in many ways comparable to deprivation of liberty, and in accordance with international human rights standards, is nothing more than deprivation of liberty.

Article 14 of the Constitution establishes work as a right and not as an obligation. Thus, the forced involvement of citizens in labor, provided for by the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the procedure and conditions for sending citizens to medical and labor dispensaries and the conditions of stay in them", is in complete contradiction with the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, since it is applied outside the framework of the execution of a court sentence in connection with with the crime committed.

* Law "On Health"

Compulsory treatment of persons suffering from chronic alcoholism or drug addiction is contrary to the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Health Care". According to this law, treatment in Belarus is voluntary and not mandatory. Article 46 provides for one exception: compulsory treatment of persons suffering from diseases that pose a threat to public health and who refuse treatment. In this case, compulsory treatment is prescribed by a court decision adopted within the framework of a special civil proceedings(Articles 391 - 393 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The official list of diseases that pose a danger to the population, approved by the Decree of the Ministry of Health in 2002. Chronic alcoholism and drug addiction is not included in it.

The legislation of the Republic of Belarus provides for two more exceptions to the voluntary nature medical care. Firstly, it allows the implementation of compulsory treatment on the basis of a court verdict related to criminal prosecution in connection with a crime committed. This type of compulsory medical measures is regulated by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus. Another exception concerns involuntary psychiatric treatment for persons suffering from mental illness and posing a threat to themselves or others.

The coercive measures of a medical nature applied in LTP are outside the existing provisions, which are provided for by the Belarusian legislation mentioned above. The practice of compulsory medical measures established by the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the procedure and conditions for sending citizens to medical and labor dispensaries and the conditions of stay in them" is in conflict with the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Health Care", and violates the legal rights of citizens and their personal integrity .

Such a super-repressive policy of "medical-social readaptation" is of particular concern in a country where the work of law enforcement agencies causes much criticism. In the case of LTP, this "rehabilitation" is applied to thousands of sick people (about 4000-5000 people annually) who need real medical or social assistance.

Over the past few years, the government of Belarus has introduced a number of new regulations that broaden the scope of this law and further restrict the rights of people suffering from addictions. For example, Presidential Decree No. 18 of November 24, 2006 allows the state to take children from families of alcoholics or drug addicts without judgment. According to this Decree, such parents, by decision of the district court (within the framework of civil proceedings), undertake to compensate the state for the costs of maintaining children in state-run child care institutions and are subject to forced employment. Such parents receive the status of "obliged persons", about which they are stamped in their passports. In case of systematic violation of labor discipline related to the use of alcohol, "obliged persons" are subject to direction to LTP. For avoiding such work, these persons are subject to administrative arrest, and then criminal liability in the form of restriction of freedom with direction to institutions. open type with compulsory employment. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko spoke personally about the need to create labor camps in Belarus for people deprived of parental rights and that such people should not be subject to human rights.

III. International human rights standards

The Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the Procedure and Conditions for Sending Citizens to Medical Labor Dispensaries and the Conditions of Staying in Them" and the practice of confining citizens to LTPs, their forced treatment and forced labor are also serious violations of international human rights treaties ratified by the Republic of Belarus. In particular, they are contrary to Article 8 and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (prohibition of forced labor and the right to personal liberty), Article 6, which guarantees "the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to have the opportunity to earn their own life by work which he freely chooses or accepts" and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the right to the highest accessible standard of health, which includes the right to be free from compulsory medical treatment). This practice also includes forced labor, which is prohibited by ILO Convention No. 29, to which Belarus is a signatory, and which defines forced labor as “any work or service to which a person is forced under the threat of any punishment and which this person does not accept voluntarily”. Exceptions are provided for working as a result of a judgment in a court of law, however, in this case isolation in LTP is issued by the court within the framework of a civil, not a criminal process - that is, not in connection with a committed offense or crime, which is not provided for by Belarusian legislation.

Thus, the Viasna Human Rights Center believes that the country's practice of forced isolation of citizens suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction is in conflict with international human rights standards, and also violates the rights guaranteed to citizens of Belarus by the country's Constitution.