Conference marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities
By Levan Abramishvili
Wednesday, December 4
Five years after ratifying the landmark UN Convention, Georgia has yet to fully translate its transformative potential into everyday reality, according to speakers at the conference.
The agenda focused on legislative and policy reforms necessary to align Georgian laws and practices with the UN Convention; ensuring that PwDs have access to all public facilities and services; and using artificial intelligence as a means of helping PwDs achieve their right to work and to live in the community.
UNDP Head Louisa Vinton called on all relevant actors to work together to build a more inclusive environment and break the stigma that currently marginalizes PwDs.
“Despite far-reaching legal guarantees aimed at protecting their rights, persons with disabilities remain largely invisible in Georgian society and thus face discrimination on a daily basis,” said Vinton. “In line with our promise under the Sustainable Development Goals to ‘leave no one behind,’ we need a joint commitment by central and local government, Parliament, civil society and the private sector to build an inclusive environment and break the stigma that currently serves to marginalize PwDs,” she added.
In her welcome speech, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria highlighted the priority issues held by the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. According to her, even though 5 years have passed since the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities took effect in Georgia, the rights situation of persons with disabilities has not improved significantly.
The main reason for this is the absence of a mechanism responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Convention, according to the Ombudsman. No systematic changes have been carried out to harmonize the national legislation with the requirements of the international treaty. The employment rate of persons with disabilities is extremely low; access to health services, the vicious practice of degrading environments in mental health institutions, inefficiency and inefficiency of children and adults with disabilities rehabilitation programs remain problematic; also the process of introducing a social model for granting the disability status is delayed, according to Lomjaria.
These concerns also featured in a recent independent assessment of Georgia’s progress on human rights since 2014, which noted that only 161 of 3,535 PwDs registered as active on the labor market were employed, and only 122 of 53,109 people employed by the public sector in 2015 were PwDs.
The Georgian Public Defender called on the government to take the necessary steps to establish as soon as possible an agency responsible for implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the highest executive level, which, at the same time, should be provided with adequate mandate, human and other resources, in accordance with the requirements of the Convention.
EU Ambassador H.E. Carl Hartzell thanked the audience and the panelists, including some of the key stakeholders from the Georgian Government.
“I see this high-level participation in today’s conference as a testimony of the Georgian Government institutions’ firm commitment to stand up for the rights of PwDs and their aspiration to further advance this cause,” noted the Ambassador.
On the policy front, conference participants urged the Government to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention, which would provide concrete mechanisms for individuals to seek redress for violation of their rights and to designate an effective focal point to coordinate the activities of all public bodies on PwDs.
Swedish Ambassador H.E. Ulrik Tidestrom noted that the rights of PwDs are strongly connected with the idea of freedom and human rights for everyone.
“People with disabilities have the right to participate in society on the same terms as others. And ultimately this is a question of equality, of dignity, of freedom, of human rights for everyone. No one should be left behind. Sweden is happy and proud to support Georgian initiatives and reforms for PwDs, ensuring accessibility for all citizens,” noted H.E. Tidestrom.
The British Ambassador Justin McKenzie Smith also pledged to continue supporting Georgia to tackle various important issues, including the promotion of more inclusion of PwDs.
“The Government of Great Britain takes its role as the global leader of promoting inclusion of PwDs very seriously. We will continue our way forward. It is important for us to see the challenges which the citizens with disabilities are facing, to listen and learn from them. Take active steps for a better future,” said the British Ambassador.
This strong resolve to achieve the full inclusion of PwDs was echoed in welcome remarks by other conference co-organizers, including Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, Government Administration Head Natia Mezvrishvili, and the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Human Rights and Gender Equality Lela Akiashvili.
One conference theme was technology’s potential to transform the lives of PwDs. Innovative approaches to mobility were presented by Irakli Beridze, Head of the UN Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in The Hague, who joined the event via teleconference.
UNDP used the conference to announce a new USD 2 million programme to improve social protection for PwDs in Georgia, which will be implemented jointly by six UN agencies starting in January 2020. The program’s main aims are to support legislative alignment with the UN Convention; to change public attitudes towards PwDs and fight stigma; to expand employment opportunities; to strengthen organizations that represent PwDs, and to improve the accessibility of public facilities and services.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It is marked on December 3 every year and is aimed at raising awareness and encouraging the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in all spheres.