People of determination extremely vulnerable to pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the heightened vulnerability and risks to people of determination and it is heartening that the UAE has been taking every possible step to stand by them.

The People of Determination Advisory Council in the UAE has correctly recommended to include disability issues in the UAE’s 50-year Development Plan, considering that the People of Determination represent an important segment of the community and have long received the attention of the UAE wise leadership and the government, therefore the services and programmes provided to them and their parents must be included in the public policies of the government authorities to ensure their full inclusion in the society.

The latest crucial meeting was held under the coordination of the Ministry of Community Development, after it announced the new formation of the members of the Council, including new People of Determination board members representing various types of disabilities including audiovisual and motor, as well as representatives of service providers such as the Ministry of Health and Prevention, Ministry of Education, as well as specialists working in the field.

As pointed out by Nasser Ismail, Assistant Under-Secretary of Social Welfare at the Ministry of Community Development, “The new formation of the Council aims to add new youth members in the Council who are capable of looking ahead and understanding the challenges faced by the People of Determination during the next phase being an important stage in the history of the UAE with the vision of the next 50 years.”

Important points were taken into consideration.

As per Wafa Hamad Bin Sulaiman, Director of Welfare & Rehabilitation Department for People of Determination, the Council discussed a range of related issues, including a review of the most important achievements of the previous council to give new members a full picture of the efforts made earlier to start where others ended up, as well as a presentation of the most important amendments proposed in the draft law on persons with disabilities in the UAE, to fit the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and to cover more life aspects that affect the needs of People of Determination in various fields, while creating the opportunity to include them more in the community in line with the forthcoming stage.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently told the annual conference on the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities that disability inclusion is not only a fundamental human right, it is “central to the promise” of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

“When we fight to secure those rights, we move our world closer to upholding the core values and principles of the United Nations Charter”, he explained. “When we remove policies or biases or obstacles to opportunity for persons with disabilities, the whole world benefits”.

Globally, there is a need to do much more to address discrimination and exclusion, particularly against girls and women with disabilities.

There is also much more to do on transportation, infrastructure and information and communications technology to make cities, rural areas, and societies inclusive.

As per Catalina Devandas, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, despite multiple agendas and competing priorities, the rights of people with disabilities cannot be marginalized.

The new UN Disability Inclusion Strategy to ensure that people with disabilities are included in all development, human rights and humanitarian aid efforts is laudable.

The UAE’s vision and government’s unlimited support to the People of Determination certainly deserves a salute.