Title: Bali, Indonesia
Around the world, hundreds of thousands
of people with mental health conditions are shackled, chained or confined in small spaces,
sometimes for years at a time.
This is Made. He's been locked in this room for two years.
This video contains violent and disturbing images. Viewer discretion advised
Shackling is a global problem. Human Rights Watch has documented the practice
across 60 countries.
Photo Montage: Kenya China
Yemen India
Afghanistan Morocco
Mozambique Nigeria
Shackling is driven by stigma and inadequate mental health services.
TITLE: Nigeria
Our feet are chained.
This way we can't walk around and we just sit quietly.
It's been five months since the chains have been on my legs.
It hurts when I walk.
TITLE: Somaliland
I felt really bad when I took him to the center but I had no choice.
I was just trying to do something for him.
I was chained for 14 months. I was rarely allowed to move around.
It really caused me a lot of problems.
TITLE: Indonesia
I'm in Bali, in Badung, one of the most prosperous districts
not only on the island but across the country
and even here I have found people
with mental health conditions who are chained.
Ngurah's about 40 years old and he has been living in this room
for the last ten years, chained by his family
because they don't know what else to do.
In some countries, people with mental health conditions are sent to faith healers
where they could end up chained for years. That was the case in Ghana.
TITLE: Ghana
When Human Rights Watch first encountered Felix in 2017, he was chained to this tree
for five years, at one of the many faith healing centers in the country.
Later that year, the Ghanaian government promised to crack down on the practice of shackling.
If anybody puts a patient in chains, you, the healer, you, the parent,
you'll be prosecuted in court.
When Human Rights Watch revisited the prayer camp, the chains were gone.
And now Felix walks free and is receiving support.
This is where you stay?
Felix: This is where I stay.
How do you feel to not have a chain?
I feel good. I feel very good. I feel very, very good.
I feel very good. I feel very good.
Things are starting to change in Indonesia as well. This is Sodikin.
He has been working in a clothing factory as the main breadwinner for his family.
When I first met him in 2014,
his family had locked him in a shed near his house. He'd been there for over eight years.
In the years since, Indonesia has launched a community- based mental health program
that sends workers door-to-door, both in small villages and big cities,
in an attempt to end shackling and get people the resources they need.
I am just happy. I'm happy now to be able to my parents.
Rumah Berdaya, which literally means empowerment house,
is a first of its kind effort to destigmatize mental health
by engaging with the community and being a safe space for people
with mental health conditions, including those who were formerly in shackles.
It's a place to socialize, earn a living. It's an initiative that's working.
Human Rights Watch is calling on all governments to ban shackling.
People with mental health conditions need community-based services,
like the ones here in Indonesia. And we need to work to end the stigma.
With the right kind of support, people with mental health conditions
can live free from chains in the community, like everybody else.
Please open the door. Please open the door. It can be locked again.
Don't put a lock on it. So I can go outside.