Public Defender asks government to support suggested measures for disabled people
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, August 28
The Public Defender, Ucha Nanuashvili has initiated several recommendations for disabled people and asks the government for support.
On August 26, the Public Defender’s Office has released a statement which contains support measures for independent living of people with disabilities.
The statement says that the persons with disabilities, who were under the state care in their childhood, have to leave respective institutions after reaching full age without any preparations for independent living and the state does not offer them adequate support; as such, they are left without housing and necessary services and are unable to fully enjoy their fundamental human rights and freedom.
“The Government does not have a clear policy/strategy, which would provide adequate standards for independent living or opportunities for overcoming barriers for people with disabilities leaving care. In some cases the issue is regulated by national regulations, though in most cases they are inefficient in practice,” reads the statement.
It also says that statistical data analysis makes it clear that support measures for independent living of persons with disabilities leaving care do not require big financial resources from the state and are not an insurmountable burden, if there is a relevant will.
The Public Defender lists several recommendations in his statement, asking the government to provide legislative regulation of support measures for independent living of persons with disabilities leaving care, through engagement of responsible ministries, in compliance with the commitments under the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The government also needs to develop a strategy and an action plan on support measures for disabled people, which should cover components of preparation for independent living, housing, financial support, training, employment and development of life skills for persons with disabilities leaving care.
“The Government should create a mechanism/format for effective cooperation and coordination between the state agencies for ensuring effective spending of budget assignments allocated to the ministries for taking various support efforts for independent living of persons with disabilities,” the statement states.
Moreover, the Public Defender calls upon the government to provide asylums and adequate social protection to persons with disabilities leaving care who are in critical need of it.
The government has not yet responded to the proposal.
