NO DISABLED PERSONS ALLOWED!

Azerbaijan joined the UN Convention "On the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" in November 2008, but with a special statement, which says that the country is unable to fully meet the requirements of the convention as long as part of the territory of Azerbaijan is occupied by Armenia. The country accepted other requirements of the Convention and began to enforce them. A lot of work was done in three years, but a lot still remains to be done.

The UN website states that the Convention "On the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" is designed to protect the interests of 650 million persons with disabilities. It contains 50 articles aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, eliminating discrimination against them, ensuring their right to employment, health, education and full participation in society's life, justice, personal immunity, freedom from exploitation and abuse, freedom of movement and so on.

Discrimination against disabled people is not necessarily expressed in any active actions against their interests. On the contrary, most people with disabilities often suffer from the inaction and indifference of others who do not always think that the abilities of all people are different. For example, it is difficult to find anywhere a concert hall with an inscription "No Disabled Allowed", but it is not easier to find a hall equipped with ramps for wheelchairs.

They are still nowhere to be seen...

It is still too early to talk about the full equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities and their full integration into our society. This is also evidenced by one simple example - on the streets of our cities you can hardly see people with disabilities for trivial reasons. Just like many years ago, cities are still not adapted to their movement, and they cannot go out without help. R+ wrote about this issue a few years ago, but it seems that it is still necessary to draw attention to it.

Yes, in the recent period, ramps have started to be installed in Baku during the construction of various objects in order to ensure the movement of people with disabilities, but often they do not meet safety standards, not to mention the fact that there is a lack of such devices. Some ramps are so steep and high that people with disabilities may receive a second injury in addition to their disability. Some ramps are not even equipped with handrails, as recently discovered a correspondent of R+ near the Qara Qarayev metro station. Seeing this picture in other circumstances would cause laughter if it were not so sad. There is a steep ramp near the steps, which used to be framed with balusters, and handrails. Apparently, someone broke them - the halved balusters are lying near the ramp. The handrail is also here. It is a good place for thrill-seekers, isn't it? But not for people with disabilities.

Of course, all these devices must be suitable for use. What is a "barrier-free" living environment for people with disabilities? It is to ensure their free movement by adapting the entire urban infrastructure to the needs of these people, which implies a relatively simple postulate: the city must be seen through the eyes of people with disabilities - connecting the roadway to pavements and equipping public transport and stops at the appropriate level. The latter is the most pressing unresolved social issue for such people. By the way, under current legislation, state commissions that make decisions on the compliance of new buildings with codes and standards and put them into operation should do so only if there is a special infrastructure for persons with disabilities. This problem should be approached thoroughly prepared, using international experience and taking into account all categories of disabilities, including blind and deaf people. How many local television channels provide their popular TV shows with subtitles? The question is rather rhetorical.

Access to employment

In 1992, Azerbaijan adopted a law governing the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. Under this law, the country should operate a simple but ingenious mechanism: for every private and public enterprise employing more than 1,000 people, there is a quota for compulsory recruitment of a certain number of persons with disabilities. The presence of the quota is stipulated by the law "On Employment Service", which, inter alia, states that persons with disabilities should be given a priority in the process of recruitment. Moreover, people who receive minor injuries may get a second speciality and do other work. Moreover, in recent years, the country has adopted new definitions of the disability degree, according to which 70-80 per cent of disability groups 1 and 2, who were previously considered to be disabled, are now regarded as able-bodied, not to mention the fact that an organization, which recruits disabled people, pays less taxes depending on their number.

But are these much needed regulations being enforced? In fact, the solution to the problem of labour rehabilitation for people with disabilities is exacerbated by the fact that employers do not want to hire them because it is simply not profitable. The fact is that a healthy person receives 21 days of leave, while persons with disabilities, regardless of their disability, are entitled to 42 days of paid leave. In addition, the employer is simply obliged to create the appropriate infrastructure at his enterprise - ramps, special lifts, special water closets, etc. Also, the employer must periodically implement special retraining programmes for the disabled. Of course, many employers do not need such expensive "problems".

It turns out that the state must also create appropriate infrastructure facilities, including at private and new enterprises. But even if this happens, the creation of the special infrastructure should begin from the streets - the access of the disabled to employment starts from the city, otherwise they cannot get to work. The career rehabilitation of people with disabilities in Azerbaijan has no real basis, because wheelchair users cannot independently move beyond their homes and reach the roadway. They cannot get to work, school or institution, if they live in a society of unequal opportunities.

Responding to R+, the Ministry of Labour admitted that there are problems with providing a "barrier-free" environment for persons with disabilities. However, in the near future, the government, coupled with the implementation of various social programmes for the disabled, is going to solve this problem, since this question requires a large-scale solution that involves all agencies and organizations responsible for these issues. There is no doubt that this aspect will be taken into account in the new General Plan of Baku, and this will be a real solution, the ministry said. Today, however, there is no point in doing so spontaneously and at random, without considering the required norms and standards. It takes time for Azerbaijan to be able to comply with the UN Convention "On the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" and for people with disabilities to have the opportunity to enjoy the same rights as healthy citizens.

The Labour Ministry noted that there are no difficulties in securing jobs for persons with disabilities, given that each enterprise has a quota system. If we receive information about a violation of the rights of disabled persons, in particular in the process of recruitment, relevant officials will check it and take the necessary measures to punish the employer. In addition, Azerbaijan has a state programme on the medical and social rehabilitation of the disabled, under which approximately 100 people with disabilities go to Ukraine each year for medical treatment at rehabilitation centres for people with disabilities. In Azerbaijan itself, there is a regional centre for retraining persons with disabilities, and it works on the basis of its individual programme.

To improve medical aid to people with disabilities, new medical facilities have been opened across the country. There are 14 rehabilitation medical centres, and the government plans to increase them. Today's equipment allows us to cure diseases that could not be treated ten years ago - disability is falling, and persons with disabilities, who were in the second group of disability, received treatment and moved to the third group, the ministry said. As the social and medical examination service has strengthened control, the rate of disability has fallen and the total rehabilitation of the disabled has increased to 5.9 per cent. In addition, Azerbaijan has created mobile examination teams in order to examine persons with disabilities at home. In order to investigate citizens' complaints on the ground, employees of the national social-medical expert centre and the Baku centre for prosthetic-orthopaedic rehabilitation and officials of the ministry are seconded to regions. Tough measures are taken against those taking bribes for illegal assignment of disability. Work is under way to strengthen the material-technical base of rehabilitation services by improving them in accordance with current tendencies and reviewing factors that determine their level of disability. From 2011, all disability facilities will begin repair work, and new social facilities will also be established to ensure the integration of disabled people into society.

Another important aspect is that the Ministry of Labour has created a Public Council to strengthen public oversight and transparency in the social welfare sphere. With a view to securing effective rehabilitation for disabled people, the ministry has developed regulations for implementing individual programmes of rehabilitation to determine the degree to which the life of persons with disabilities is limited, define the structure and provide an accurate assessment. The new rules will be discussed with specialized governmental and nongovernmental organizations in the regions of the country and handed over to the ministry board for approval. To strengthen the social protection of disabled persons and increase the efficiency of services, the Ministry of Labour is completing work on bringing the provisions "On the coefficients of determination of disability", "On social medical examination" and "On the activity of rehabilitation facilities" in line with the current requirements. The ministry also continues to work towards a unified information base on people with disabilities, which has collected data on 14 thousand people so far.

OUR REFERENCE

The number of disabled people in Azerbaijan accounts for 5 per cent of the population, i.e. 462,672 people. According to the Ministry of Labour, this is quite a good figure, which is lower than in Europe and the CIS.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are from 750 million to 1 billion persons with disabilities in the world today, and a significant number of them are children.

One out of ten people suffers from physical, mental or sensory impairment, while at least 25 per cent of the population suffer from health problems.