Ref:
51/2012

On
Tuesday, 22 May 2012, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights’ (PCHR) Economic
and Social Rights Unit organized, in cooperation with the National Center for
Community Rehabilitation (NCCR), a workshop on “The Rights of Disabled Persons
in the Gaza Strip … Reality and Challenges” in al-Mathaf Hotel in Gaza
City. A large number of disabled persons from the Gaza Strip and their
families, representatives of governmental institutions, representatives of
civil society organizations and media professionals participated in the event.  Azzam Shaath, a researcher at PCHR’s Economic
and Social Rights Unit, welcomed the participants and noted that this workshop
was organized as part of cooperation and coordination between PCHR and NCCR and
as part of efforts exerted to enhance the rights of disabled persons in the
Gaza Strip.

Mr.
Khalil Shahin, Director of PCHR’s Economic and Social Rights Unit, made a
presentation on “The Rights of Disabled Persons from a Human Rights
Perspective.” In his presentation, Shahin pointed out that this workshop
is part of efforts exerted by PCHR to follow up various issues affecting the
life of disabled persons in the Gaza Strip, especially the non-application of
the Palestinian Disabled Law No. 4 of 1999 although it was enacted more than 13
years ago.  Shahin added that the
Palestinian Authority is responsible for the lack of necessary mechanisms and procedures
to enforce the rights of disabled persons.  He called upon the Ministry of Social Affairs,
in its capacity as the competent ministry, to make all possible efforts to
issue the disabled card which specifies basic services that disabled persons are
entitled to receive, including health, educational, rehabilitation, employment
and social insurance services.

Fatima
al-Ghussein, Director of NCCR’s “Combating Discrimination and Human Rights
Abuse against Women and Children with Disabilities” Program, made a
presentation on “The Situation of the Rights of Disabled Persons in the
Gaza Strip.” She presented information about the numbers of disabled persons
in the occupied Palestinian territory.  She
also talked about the impact of the ongoing closure imposed by the Israeli
forces on the Gaza Strip and the ongoing electricity outages on the level of
services provided to disabled persons in the Gaza Strip.  Al-Ghussein noted that the ongoing political split
has resulted in the reduction of service programs implemented by the
Palestinian Authority targeting disabled persons.

Rami
al-Natil, Director of the Disabled Persons Department at the Ministry of Social
Affairs in Gaza, made a presentation on “Evaluation of the Role of the Executive
Authority in the Enforcement of the Rights of Disabled Persons.”  He talked about the services provided by the
Ministry to persons with disabilities, including a program to provide training
to a team, in cooperation with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, to
implement a comprehensive survey of persons with disabilities in the Gaza
Strip.  He also noted that the Ministry
provides financial aid to 26,000 persons with disabilities in addition to many
other social services aimed at providing protection to these persons and to
their families.  Al-Natil noted that the
Ministry coordinates with other ministries to provide medical services to
disabled persons at reduced costs and grant disabled persons exemption of
customs.

Ayman
al-Halabi, Director of the Physiotherapy Department of the Ministry of Health
in Gaza, made a presentation on “The Role of the Ministry of Health in the
Provision of Health Services to Persons with Disabilities.”  He noted that health services provided by the
Ministry of Health to the Disabled include free medical treatment services,
provision of medicines to the disabled and health insurance services. Al-Halabi
pointed out that his Ministry is seeking to apply the article in the
Palestinian Disabled Law which requires that 5% of employees in the Ministry
must be from disabled persons.

Persons
with disabilities and their families participating in the workshop expressed
extreme resentment because they have been marginalized although the Palestinian
Disabled Law and its Executive Bill were issued 13 years ago.  They talked about the disastrous deterioration
at the level of their enjoyment of their rights which are ensured under the
Palestinian Disabled Law, especially in the areas of health services,
rehabilitation and employment, educational services and social allocations
which are aimed at protecting these persons against poverty.  At the end of the workshop, participants
presented a number of recommendations as follows:

· They
called for the expansion of the disability definition in accordance with the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, when conducting any
comprehensive surveys of disabilities in the Palestinian society to provide
accurate statistics and establish a database on the situation and
characteristics of disabilities in the Palestinian society.

· They
called upon the Palestinian Authority to immediately enforce the Palestinian
Disabled Law No. 4 of 1999.

· They
called upon the Ministry of Social Affairs to immediately issue the disabled
card which is prescribed under the Palestinian Disabled Law.

· They
called upon the Ministry of Social Affairs, in its capacity as the competent
ministry, to pay the allocations for disabled persons and their families
regularly and with no delay that violates the right of the disabled to a descent
life.

· They
called for the development of an enforcement mechanism that ensures the
immediate enforcement of the disabled persons’ right to employment. The law
requires that at least 5% of employees in government, private ad civil society
institutions must be from disabled persons.

· They
called upon the Ministry of Health to stop requiring the disabled and their
families to pay for health services they receive, including medicines and
medical reports fees.  The law requires
the provision of free health services to disabled persons and their families.  The participants further called upon the
Ministry of Health to install signs in government health service facilities
noting that healthcare services are provided free of charge to persons with
disabilities and to their families.

· They
called upon the Ministry of Social Affairs to employ persons who can use the
sign language in government facilities.

· They
called for increasing the level of coordination between the Ministry of Social
Affairs and the Ministry of Local Government in order to exert more efforts in
order to adjust public locations to the needs of the disabled.