Text taken from www.vlada.mk/node/19671
The Government, in coordination with the National Coordinative Body for Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, precedes and promotes and protects the rights of persons with disabilities in areas such as: equality and non-discrimination, freedom of movement, independent living, education, access to goods and services, employment, legal capacity, access to justice, health, political participation, including the right to vote and be voted in elections, the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, said in his address today on the occasion of 3 December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and the closing conference of the EU project “Disability: A Matter of Perception”.
“Unlike previous, almost minimal activities to implement the provisions of the UN Convention, with the launch of the work of the National Coordinative Body for Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2018, a framework has been established that includes independent mechanisms for promoting, protecting and monitoring the implementation of the Convention in line with the UN recommendations. Additionally, the Action Plan of the National Coordinative Body on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provided clear package of priorities and guidelines for implementing the UN Convention” emphasized the Prime Minister Zaev. He called on all existing and new laws, policies and programmes adopted by the Government to be in line with the UN Convention, and added that commitment to inclusive and constructive dialogue with representative organizations of persons with disabilities remains for the full realization of the slogan “Nothing about us – without us”.
The Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Mila Carovska said that with the social reforms, the rights are being improved and services for persons with disabilities are developed, and the Ministry has increased the financial transfers to persons with disabilities.
“We introduced a right to allowance for persons with disabilities. We increased the allowance for part-time job to 50% of the average salary. Almost all children, we only have to children left, are deinstitutionalized and fostered in group homes. We guarantee personal assistance and respite care with the new law. These services will be developed by the municipalities. I am happy that out of 65 municipalities that have applied for grants in our Ministry, 56 have applied for developing services in the homes of persons with disabilities, and I encourage the organizations to get involved in this process”, said Carovska.
The Minister Venko Filipce presented the numerous measures and activities that are being implemented by the Ministry of Health in order to provide persons with disabilities full inclusion in society as internationally recognized universal right.
“We are actively involved in the intersectoral project for preparing the new model of functional assessment for additional educational, health and social support to children and youth, based on the International Classification on Functionalities as an important reform based on world trends for providing full support to the youngest population in society, prepared by the World Health Organization an UNICEF. We gave full support of the process and through reforms and opening new health centres for early intervention, which will monitor the children’s development that have even the smallest indication for existence of illnesses related to their disability. We have opened a Pilot Centre for Functional Disabilities and Support for Children and Youth in Skopje and sensory room, which treats such children, and we have completed the process of including children within the speech therapy department, as well as children from the rehabilitation of hearing department who need additional treatment”, said Minister Filipce, stressing that the Ministry of Health will continue its activities for raising awareness of health professionals and to strengthen the capacities of public health institutions in responding to the needs of persons with disabilities.
Arber Ademi, Minister of Education and Science, spoke about the Ministry’s priorities including the strengthening of the professional services in schools that work with pupils with disabilities, in terms of providing sufficient number of teachers, special educators and rehabilitators, pedagogues and psychologists, and in terms of upgrading their expertise through continuous training, but also increasing their motivation to work by improving their material status and the conditions in which they perform their jobs.
“We have engaged in total 295 educational and personal assistants for this school year, who will assist the pupils, together with the other members of the inclusive team and the parents, to easily learn the material and to raise awareness among other pupils regarding the needs of pupils with disabilities”, informed Minister Ademi.
The Coordinator of the National Coordinative Body for Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Spase Dodevski, stressed that the ratification of this UN Convention is a responsibility for all Governments, and for immediate implementation of its recommendations.
“I am proud to say that we are catching up with the pace of European advanced practices and we change the awareness through the motive one society and equal rights for all. At the same time, I assure you that we are the best in the region in terms of the quality and sustainability of the basic support system and inclusion of persons with disabilities in health, education and social care. It is due to the close intersectoral cooperation that I am proud of, and the commitment of everyone involved, to support the process” said Dodevski.
The Head of the Delegation of the European Union in our country, the Ambassador Samuel Zbogar, emphasised that the implementation of the UN Convention, and the EU policies to support persons with disabilities for unity in diversity, coincide with the principles of the Government’s strategy of one society for all. He stressed that this was also the main motivation for supporting the project “Disability: A Matter of Perception”, implemented in partnership between the National Council of Disability Organizations, the Macedonian Institute for Media and the Media Diversity Institute in London, which, today, presented the Manual for civil society organizations working to improve the situation of persons with disabilities “Disability: Out in the Open”.
