Bishkek, September 25 - During the seminar on September 23-25 a small interdepartmental group on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities developed a project of the National Program "Accessible Country" in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2021-40. Specialists from the Ministries of Labor and Social Development, Finance, Health, Justice, Education, Transport and Roads, representatives of the State Agency for Architecture, Construction and Housing and Communal Agency, and independent experts worked on the development of the country document.

UNDP supports this field since 2014, when preparations for ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities began. After ratification in 2019, a plan of priority measures for three years was developed in collaboration with experts financial calculation was carried out on how much financial resources from the state budget will be required for implementation and realization.   

As the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Development Zhanyl Alybayeva noted: "The next step is a long-term National Program "Accessible Country" for 2021-40 years. This document is important because there is no implementing strategic document on social protection and services for people with disabilities. The main priority points are the accessibility of social infrastructure, social protection and employment. There aspects of rehabilitation of the disabled, optimization of the system of disability assessment, medical and social expertise, provision of technical means as prosthetic and orthopedic products and many others are covered".   

Zhanyl Akbayeva, director of the Republican Center for Medical and Social Expertise noted the importance of considering the interests of all those who fall into the category of vulnerable groups, not only people with disabilities. “"Accessible country" is not only ramps, call buttons and access to buildings, but also access to work and education. For example, children with disabilities should be able to attend schools, and adults should be able to work and provide themselves. Of course, I will touch on the issue of access to buildings, for example, when commissioning the group of experts should include people who use wheelchairs to assess ramps," she shared.

Further, the National Program will be submitted to the government for approval, and then implementation will begin by all stakeholders.

The seminar on development of project of the program " Accessible Country" is held with the support of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs-UNDP project "Towards sustainable access to justice in the Kyrgyz Republic".