RESOLUTION B3-0560/93

The European Parliament,

A.stressing the duty of the Community and its Member States to defend the human rights of the most vulnerable people,

B.recalling the steps taken by the Community through Regulation 815/84 to end the appalling conditions in which mental defectives were living in the hospital on the island of Leros,

C.noting that the Commission and the team of external experts have been giving favourable reports on progress in Leros since 1990, but emphasizes the need to sustain the pace of progress in order to achieve the total disappearance of unacceptable conditions; noting that for this purpose a detailed programme covering the 1993-1994 period was defined with the agreement of both the Greek authorities and the hospital board,

D.having regard to the expiry on 28 February 1993 of the two year contracts of the Dutch and Italian psychiatrists and their colleagues requested by the Community to contribute to the effort in the hospital,

E.deploring the replacement of the qualified Greek nursing staff by the hospital's administrative board and its interference with the organization of the clinical work contrary to the terms agreed with the Commission,

1.Calls on the hospital's administrative board to reinstate the qualified staff at the hospital with a view to supporting the efforts of deinstitutionalization;

2.Calls for the continuation of the presence of the Dutch and Italian teams;

3.Calls on the Community to continue its scrutiny of, and to provide assistance for, the hospital on the basis of the terms of the detailed programme agreed with the Greek authorities in November 1992 and for the contracts of the Italian and Dutch medical teams to be renewed as soon as possible;

4.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the Leros Hospital Board.