30 billion of Kyrgyz soms are required to implement Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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Expert group drafted the “model” for implementing the Convention. About 1.6 billion of Kyrgyz soms are required for creation of equal living conditions for people with disabilities including education, healthcare, etc. A little more than 5 billion are required for creation of appropriate infrastructure. In addition, special attention was paid for providing most needy disabled persons with social housing. It requires 23.5 billion soms.

In recent years, civil society organizations representing interests of persons with disabilities, activists and citizens often raise the issue of necessity of ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the Kyrgyz Republic.

For promoting this issue, 8 June 2015 the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Kyrgyz Republic established an interagency working group of representatives from 16 ministries and agencies, civil society and international organizations on developing work plan on UN Convention implementation as well as the calculation of financial costs required for its implementation.

“The disability rate will grow and the situation may worsen if we do not ratify the Convention in near future and take actions for improving the living conditions of disabled persons. Subsequently, costs may increase, which is unfavorable and not bearable for our country,” – stressed Seinep Dyikanbaeva, head of public foundation “Parents of children with disabilities ARDI”.

Implementation plan consists comprises 200 activities to be accomplished in 10 years. They were grouped based on priority: short term – 1-3 years, medium-term – 4-6 years, long-term – 7-10 years, and permanent.

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“In the Kyrgyz Republic people with disabilities are treated as persons who need medical treatment and other aid. They learn, live and are treated in specialized institutions. This outdated approach. The Convention offers social attitude where there are created conditions for persons with disabilities to work, study and live together with all others,”– underlined  Gulmira Kazakunova, the chairman of public foundation “Equality”.

tolkun

“I would like to propose a simple arithmetic. In total we need 30 billion soms for implementation of the Convention. And this is for 10 years. The total average budget of the country for 10 years is about $ 1 trillion 200 billion soms. 30.6 billion soms will be only 2.5% of this amount. This amount is quite bearable for the budget of our country,” – Tolkun Isakov, President of public foundation “Legal assistance for people with disabilities” also noted.

The project of UNDP and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland “Widening access to justice in the Kyrgyz Republic” supported the development of action plan as well as assessment of financial costs of the Convention implementation.

The Convention on the Rights of people with disabilities was adopted by the UN General Assembly 13 December 2006 and entered into force 3 May 2008. As of today 164 countries ratified this agreement.
The Kyrgyz Republic signed the Convention in 2011, 5 years after the adoption of the UN General Assembly. However the Convention needs to be ratified for its norms could be implemented.

What is the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities about?

The main objective of the Convention is to ensure people with disabilities exercise the same rights as everyone else so that they can live a full life and not only enjoy the same opportunities, but could also contribute to the development of the country. It is aimed at ensuring full participation of persons with disabilities in civil, political, economic, social and cultural life of society, as well as the establishment of effective mechanisms to protect their rights.

Text of the Convention:
http: //www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/disability.shtml

Meri Bekeshova, UNDP project “Widening access to justice in the KR” Communication specialist

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