May 10 is the beginning of a week, which makes problems and struggle of disabled people visible. In this connection; Human Rights Association (IHD), which has a policy for defending rights of disabled people, expresses its appreciation and solidarity with all disabled citizens and organizations on disabled people that conduct struggle to get rights for them. Disabled people have important rate, which is 10-12 %, in total population. They cannot use their rights and freedoms though they get these rights when they born.
IHD believes that problems of disabled people have close relationship with protecting their rights in other words; stopping discrimination against disabled people. In this context, IHD underlines that the ultimate aim considering disabled people is;
a) participating to all public life as complete and independent person,
b) providing complete access to health, training/education services to benefit from equal opportunities in working life and personal improving facilities,
c) providing all necessary conditions for accessing these rights and making them permanent
If we examine the problem through human rights perspective, it is realized that problems of disabled people are resulted from discriminatory regulations and implementations. The mentioned discrimination is the one, which resulted from ignorance of specific conditions of disabled people.
Abolishing discrimination, which is one of the oldest and most common problems in Turkey, should be one of the most important items on agenda of Turkish politics.
Currently we are in the period of early election. Therefore; political parties, in Turkey, should draw up programmes that consider all disabled people as equal with others and defines the State’s responsibilities through this perspective.
Turkey is one of the states, which signed UN Convention on Rights of Disabled People. Signing such a convention is an important step. However, signing such international human rights mechanisms create an important obligation, which is implementing political agreement about struggling for preventing discrimination and protecting rights, freedoms of disabled people. So, Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) should ratify this convention and draw up an action programme in the level of lawful, administrative and implementation to fulfil articles of the Convention immediately.
IHD hopes this week will be able to create an atmosphere, under which disabled people use their human rights and basic freedoms or complete participation to public life and feel that they are part of the society. IHD expresses, once again, its solidarity with disabled people.
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION