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OSCE Centre in Astana raises awareness of disabilities as human rights issue

25 November 2010
L-r: Vyacheslav Kalyuzhnyy, Head of the National Centre for Human Rights, Jeannette Kloetzer, Deputy Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana and John Heilbrunn, Head of the Danish Association of the Blind, Astana, 25 November 2010. (OSCE/Saltanat Mustafina) Photo details

ASTANA, 25 November 2010 - The rights of persons with disabilities were in focus during a workshop conducted today by the OSCE Centre in Astana in co-operation with Kazakhstan's Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR).

More than 30 participants from the parliament, government, non-governmental and international expert organizations discussed instruments for the protection of the rights of disabled persons with experts from the DIHR, the Danish Association of the Blind, UNHCR and UNICEF.

Kazakhstan has signed but not yet ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. A working group is developing a long-term National Action Plan to eliminate discrimination against persons with disabilities particularly in the fields of education, employment, social services and physical access to infrastructure.

Jeannette Kloetzer, Deputy Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana, said the Centre welcomed the working group's establishment a year ago. The group comprises representatives from the central and local authorities, public associations of disabled persons, non-governmental and international organizations. "The OSCE Centre supports efforts to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities. This is an important human rights issue."

Vyacheslav Kalyuzhnyy, Head of the National Center for Human Rights, added: "Over the past few years a number of economic, political and other reforms have been conducted designed to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. However, a lot remains to be done to ensure their full integration into society. In this respect, international experience is of great value to Kazakhstan."

The workshop was organized as part of an OSCE project to support Kazakhstan's National Human Rights Commissioner developed in co-operation with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and Kazakhstan's Ombudsman Office.