OSCE participating States need to increase efforts to promote political and social participation of persons with disabilities

The challenges in promoting and securing the rights of persons with disabilities, ensuring their inclusion in the political and public life and in decision-making processes, as well as in promoting their unhindered participation in sport events, were discussed at a side event that took place on 20 September 2016 during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw.

Representatives of state bodies and disability rights organizations took part in the side event, organized by the Permanent Missions to the OSCE of Finland, the Russian Federation and the United States, in co-operation with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Rebecca Bond, Chief of the Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, of the United States Department of Justice, said that “while some may see our efforts to advance the rights of people with disabilities as distinct challenges from other civil rights concerns, we see them as part of the larger struggle for civil and political rights, for economic rights, for human rights."

The side event marks the 25th anniversary of the Moscow Document, in which participating States committed to take steps to ensure the equal opportunity of persons with disabilities to participate fully in the life of their society, including in fields concerning them.

While speaking at the event Valery Rukhledev, President of the All-Russian Public Society of the Deaf, underscored the principle of non-discrimination by empasizing the importance of equal opportunities for all persons with disabilities in all spheres of life, especially within the Paralympic movement, allowing for full realization of their rights in sports.

“We need to increase awareness, understanding and knowledge among citizens in our societies about persons with disabilities,” said Kalle Könkkölä from the Finnish Threshold Association. “It is very positive that ODIHR is increasingly focusing on challenges to their political participation. I am confident this will help promote these issues in OSCE participating States and within the OSCE as an organization.”

The side event also marked the launch of the OSCE/ODIHR project “Our right to participate – Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities in political and public life”.