UN Brings Forward New Plans to Support People with Disabilities at Round Table Marking International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Ashgabat, 3-4 December 2009 – Since 2005, when UNDP Turkmenistan launched the pilot project “Social and Economic Integration of Visually and Hearing Impaired People” in partnership with the Deaf and Blind Society (DBS) of Turkmenistan, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities has been seen as a peculiar landmark measuring the progress made in creating sustainable approaches to rehabilitation of people with disabilities in Turkmenistan. 

As this year marks the completion of the project, the programme of celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities featured a Round Table at “President” hotel that brought together all project stakeholders, including the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), representatives of Europa House and EC TACIS as well as national institutions such as the Mejlis, the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and Development, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Culture and Broadcasting, responsible for overseeing the fulfillment of rights of people with disabilities.

The round table reviewed the achievements of the project over the last five years and discussed plans for future cooperation presented by the UNCT to further support people with disabilities in Turkmenistan. According to Chary Ovezov, Head of the Deaf and Blind Society of Turkmenistan, the most salient achievement of the joint project was the implementation of programmes on basic and vocational rehabilitation of the DBS members which is a cornerstone of the successful integration of people with disabilities into the society at large.  As of today, more than 80 percent of the graduates of rehabilitation courses have been mainstreamed into workforce either at special enterprises of disabled or in their home towns.

Against the background of increased demand for services and jobs by visually and hearing impaired people, this experience proves that with proper state support an inclusive model of rehabilitation of people with disabilities demonstrated by the joint project can be laid in the basis of a comprehensive National Plan of Action on Disabled in Turkmenistan, and proposals to this end have already been submitted to the Government for consideration.

The round table participants commended the efforts of all stakeholders promoting the rights of people with disabilities that led to Turkmenistan’s accession to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008. In this regard, the United Nations Country Team emphasized the importance of initiating a joint programme to support Turkmenistan in its efforts to fully realize the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly through incorporating the provisions of the Convention into national legislation, providing technical assistance to the formulation of a National Action Plan on Disability, as well as piloting at the community level a model for inclusion of persons with disabilities into society and increasing public awareness on potential, concerns and interest of persons with disabilities.

In tune with the theme of this year “Making the Millennium Development Goals Disability-Inclusive” the round table participants shared their views and experiences on best ways of creating inclusive environment for people with disabilities in Turkmenistan and agreed on the need to work at a policy level to address the issues of inclusion of disabled and their involvement in a decision making process. It was emphasized that the project served as a good platform for introducing various new joint initiatives promoting the rights of people with disabilities in Turkmenistan.

As UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan Richard Young noted ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, “we’ve been working with the Deaf and Blind Society on this project for five years now. We’ve shown that people with disabilities have skills and competencies to be mainstreamed into regular society and what can be done to assist disabled people to realize their rights. We are firmly convinced that, by guaranteeing the full enjoyment by persons with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, we are also making an important contribution to the betterment of the Turkmen society as a whole.”

The celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities continued on December 4 at the Deaf and Blind Society of Turkmenistan and the Physical-Sports Club of People with Disabilities of Turkmenistan where visually and hearing impaired people performed a music concert and engaged in sports activities followed by a ceremony of awarding the activists of these organizations.