GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES DISCUSS MAIN CHALLENGES TO RIGHTS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Posted by: admin | Posted on: Февраль 24, 2014

On February 21, “Transparency Azerbaijan” Anti-Corruption Public Union, with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), held a roundtable discussion on major challenges to the rights and social protection of persons with disabilities in Azerbaijan. The roundtable is the latest in a series of events by government institutions and NGOs promoting transparency and accountability. Representatives from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of the Republic of Azerbaijan, local and international NGOs took part in the discussion.
The primary objective of this event was to discuss considerable shortcomings in this area and to review potential courses of action to address the problems. Another purpose of the roundtable was to establish a dialogue between the government and members of civil society and broaden public discussion on this subject.
In the process of preparing the report, questionnaires were made and small surveys were conducted among the state bodies, people with disabilities and organizations for disabled people in Baku, Ganja, Lankaran, Shaki and Guba. The survey assisted in exploring and defining the problems encountered by persons with disabilities and understanding the big picture.
In recent years, the government has taken several successful steps to investigate the problems of people with disabilities, remove those problems and integrate them into society. Nonetheless, serious problems remain in the legislation for this segment of the population and with their integration into all institutions of society. The report sets forth a number of proposals to improve the quality of disabilities designation service and to combat corruption. These proposals include making mechanisms of application effective and transparent, punishing employees involved in corrupt practices, etc.
The participants stressed the importance of the exchange of views between the government and civil society organizations. It was agreed that recommendations of CSO members on designating disability and ensuring transparency and accountability in addressing the social problems be collected and submitted to relevant state agency in a written form.