Siarhei Drazdouski:Though tactical tasks are resolved, strategic goal is not achieved
While tactical tasks of the Office on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities were mostly solved in 2012, then signing of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities haven’t taken place.
He noted that 2012 was fruitful for the Office on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. During the year lawyers working in the Office have managed to help more than 1500 people who turned to the establishment. Experts from the Office prepared a number of analytical material and research due to which the topic of disability was covered in Mass Media more broadly than the previous year. In the published documents of the Office on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities the questions of accessibility, facilitation were disclosed, as well as the suggestions for the governing bodies responsible for the social politics were made. Unfortunately, despite all this, the strategic goal is not reached yet – Belarus hasn’t signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Siarhei Drazdouski is waiting for it and is hoping that next year the Convention will be signed at last.
“It is both the problem, the challenge and the task for the future”, - said in the talk with the reporter of the EuroBelarus Information Service the coordinator of the Office on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Siarhei Drazdouski.
Though if it happens, then the new serious challenge will appear: after the signing of the convention the question of its further ratification will appear immediately. It means that the national legislation and law-enforcement practice should be adjusted I accordance with the Convention. And there is a big amount of work for Belarus, work with discrimination in particular.
- Belarusan law practically doesn’t describe discrimination. And creation of the anti-discrimination legislation will be our principal task, - highlighted Siarhei Drazdouski.
In 2013 the results of the work to provide accessibility will be discussed by the State. And monitoring of the accessibility which is conducted by the Office on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities should play its role, as the results declared by the State and the facts registered by the experts in the result of the monitoring are rather different. Siarhei Drazdouski doesn’t conceal that the process of harmonization and finding understanding will be pretty difficult.
Next year will also be full of educational events. Expert from the Office on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities assume that on the whole the education of the population on the questions of disability is on rather low level. The results of the research and opinion polls testify to that. It is a considerable challenge and the Office sees its task in balanced education of citizens it the part of the human rights of persons with disabilities.
- First, we will educate activists who are going to stand for the rights of people with disabilities. Secondly, we will run broader general campaigns so that the person who doesn’t know anything about disability will understand these topics better and they will become closer and more affordable for him. The announced contest of the essays “Disability and accessibility” which aims at the expansion of the knowledge on the problems of the people with disabilities in Belarus as well as expansion of equal participation and accessibility will be conductive to that. Thirdly, we are planning informational visits to the regions aimed at the expansion of the accumulated data in the accessible form – at level of public lectures and so on, - shared his plans Siarhei Drazdouski.
-
03.01
-
07.10
-
22.09
-
17.08
-
12.08
-
30.09
