ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a meeting on December 3 dedicated to the problems of people with disabilities.
According to the press service of the Government of Armenia, in his speech, the Prime Minister noted that December 3 is the International Day of People with Disabilities, which was established by the UN and has been celebrated since 1992. "This year's motto is to promote the participation of people with disabilities in the implementation of the development agenda for the period until 2030. There are 189,485 disabled people in Armenia, of which more than 8,000 are children. It is important that the public opinion and perception of people with disabilities in Armenia is changed in general, because in many cases a key component of attitudes towards people with disabilities is a sense of compassion, which, like in many other cases, is the wrong formula. The matter concerns not only advantages and opportunities, we have to treat people with disabilities, not as a burden in the life of state and society, but as a great potential and great opportunities ", stressed the head of government. He noted that today among people with disabilities there are talented scientists, writers, artists, businessmen. Therefore, the political task is to create the conditions for these people to discover, develop and realize their talent. Then, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Zaruhi Batoyan said that the process of introducing a new system for assessing disability and providing services is currently underway. A new model and a package of legislative initiatives are presented for interagency discussions to clarify the area of responsibility. According to the minister, the work undertaken and the government's steps were aimed at ensuring that the state policy regarding the rights of people with disabilities, instead of relying on the medical model, becomes socio-legal and reduces local corruption risks. The new document sets out the basic principles and directions of state policy, which are fully consistent with international treaties ratified by Armenia. The bill will eliminate discrimination based on disability. If the document is adopted, state and local self-government bodies, organizations, regardless of their legal form, will be required to provide people with disabilities with access to information, communications, including access to residential, public, industrial and other buildings and structures, transport, recreation and leisure. The bill will prohibit the construction of residential buildings without creating infrastructure for people with disabilities. Then an exchange of views took place, which showed that in Armenia there are now many buildings that are not adjusted for people with disabilities and not accessible to them. The Minister noted that according to a government decision of 2007, every building in Armenia should have the necessary conditions for people with disabilities, but in many cases this requirement has not been met.
The Prime Minister instructed the responsible persons to investigate such cases and determine the circle of officials who made the appropriate decision for further legal assessment. At the same time, Nikol Pashinyan gave an order to exclude such cases, so that all newly constructed buildings and structures had accessible conditions for the disabled. Summing up the consultation, the Prime Minister noted that the country can achieve a serious level of development if its full potential is used. That is why special attention is paid to the involvement of women and people with disabilities in various programs. The head of government recalled the jewelry factory that opened in Abovyan the day before, which has a special section for people with disabilities, which is very important because poverty can be overcome only through work. For people with disabilities, only through work can disability be overcome. "It's another matter that in the first and second cases, the state and the government must create real conditions for these people to be able to get jobs, create jobs, and this is our understanding," the Prime Minister concluded.