11 June 2008. Kyiv, Ukraine –
The Hearings of the Parliament Committee on pensioners, veterans and
people with disabilities take place today to address the issue of
observing the rights of people with disabilities (PWD) in Ukraine. During this session the practical manual for parliamentarians “From exclusion to equality: ensuring rights of people with disabilities” was presented to over 300
MPs, government officials, human rights experts, journalists and people
with disabilities. The Ukrainian version of this publication
was produced by the UN office in Ukraine in cooperation with the
National Assembly of People with Disabilities.
This day the participants of the session discussed the
results of monitoring on observing PWD rights in Ukraine and preparing
recommendations to implement their rights, to inform local
communities about the PWD standards as well as to speed up the process
of signing and ratification of the UN Convention on Rights of People
with Disabilities by Ukraine.
Opening the event the Head of the Parliament Committee of Verkhovna Rada on pensioners, veterans and people with disabilities and Member of the Parliament Valeriy Sushkevych underlined that only timely constructive reforms in Ukraine that would strengthen human rights protection mechanisms, could facilitate solving the issues of people with disabilities in our country. “Implamentation of such reforms requires availability of unbaised and comprehensive information regarding observance of rights of people with disabilities”, he added.
Mr. Sushkevych stressed that these Hearings are initiated by
the National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine,
which carried out the monitoring of the situation on implementation of
the rights of people with disabilities.
Presenting the practical manuel for for parliamentarians on PWD rights, Mr. Shushkevych said “I
believe that this is a unique publications. Every member of parliament
needs this comprehensive manual, which provides systematic knowledge on
the protection of rights of people with disabilities”.
UN Resident
Coordinator in Ukraine Francis O’Donnell also addressed the
participants and thanked the team of National Assembly of People with
Disabilities of Ukraine for cooperation. He also reminded that
according to the President of Ukraine instructions, Minister of Labor
and Social Policy is assigned to sign the Convention on the Rights of
People with Disabilities on behalf of Ukraine. “Tentatively the signing
is planned for September of this year and we hope that this will be a
push for improvement of ensuring and implementation of right of people
with disabilities in Ukraine”,
he added. O’Donnell underlined that inclusion and acceptance of people
with disabilities as full and equal members of this community is a
fundamental factor of successful development of Ukrainian society.
Other
speakers of the Hearings were Deputy Minister of education and science
of Ukraine Polyanskyi P.B., Deputy Minster of Regional Development and
Construction of Ukraine Negoda V.A., Deputy Minister of Labor and
Social Police of Ukraine Onyshchuk V.M., First Deputy Minister of
Transportation and Communications Shevchenko V.V., and other members of
parliament and government officials.
Photo report of Parliament Committee Hearings on Observing Rights of People with Disabilities in Ukraine.
Note for Editors:
People with disabilities, elderly and people with limited abilities constitute a growing group of society. On May 3, 2008 th UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities
entered into force stating as a priority the issues of protecting
rights of people with disabilities for the world community, and raises
the importance of addressing this problem at the national level.
The UN
Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities is the first
legislative document that has mandatory juridical power for
country-members. As of today the Convention was signed by 129
countries, 71 countries signed Optional Protocol, 25 countries ratified
Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, 15 countries
ratified Optional Protocol. Ukraine neither signed nor ratified the Convention. Currantly, 2.67 millions of people having disabilities are registered in Ukraine.
Around 10 per cent of the world's population, or 650 million
people, live with a disability. They are the world's largest minority. Eighty
per cent of persons with disabilities live in developing countries,
according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The World Bank
estimates that 20 per cent of the world's poorest people have some kind
of disability, and tend to be regarded in their own communities as the
most disadvantaged. According to the official statistics, the number of People With Disabilities (PWD) in Ukraine is around 2.67 million people, which amounts to 5.2% of the overall population.
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More information:
UN Department of Public Information in Ukraine – Veronika Vashchenko , Communications Officer, +38 044 254-00-35, 253-93-63.
11.06.08
