News

A study on accessibility of services for people with intellectual and mental disabilities was presented in Minsk. The study "Assessment of the preparedness of services for people with intellectual and/or mental disabilities at the level of local communities in Belarus" was prepared by the Office for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a part of the "Deinstitutionalization" information campaign. The company works in support of the regional project of the Lithuanian organization "Prospects of Mental Health" with the financial support of the European Union.

Sweden and Norway are the only countries in the world that have closed most of the institutions for people with peculiarities of intellectual development. In many ways, this result was achieved thanks to the practice of attracting personal assistants. What is this method and is it applicable in Belarus?

The roundtable brought together representatives of state structures, NGOs and international organizations to discuss further steps aimed at implementation of the international document.

An open discussion “Inclusive tourism in Belarus: possibilities and perspectives” was held on May 16 at the faculty of international relations of BSU. The event was organized in the frames of the Accessibility week 2017 which is being held in Belarus now by the department of international tourism of FIR BSU.

The doors of psychoneurological institutions are usually closed for strangers. We managed to talk with several women (for ethical reasons, names are not called) to find out what they lack and what they dream to change in their lives.

Lida activist Alexander Avdevich wrote in a social network a post that one of the nightclubs barred entry to two young people one of which is in a wheelchair. Office for the rights of persons with disabilities wrote a letter to the administration of the club “Rich Cat” with a complaint against the reason of the bar, because the Office’s specialists see a direct discrimination in such actions.

Trainings dedicated to disability issues for specialists working with vulnerable groups, persons with disabilities in particular, were held in Minsk. For two days representatives of NGOs, educational sphere, healthcare, social protection bodies together with lawyers and experts of the legal sector had analyzed the peculiarities of this issue.

Lepel is among the regions which have joined the campaign “Agenda 50” and have started to prepare a strategy of implementation of the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities at a local level. 

Office for the rights of persons with disabilities considers that at the stage of preliminary investigation people with severe illnesses and mental disabilities should not be kept in custody but under a written undertaking not to leave a place. Letters with a request to change the legislation have been sent to the House of Representative of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health.

Representatives of Belarusian HR defence organizations, the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities is one of them, support the approval of the Interdepartmental plan on realization of recommendations adopted by the Republic of Belarus based on the results of the second cycle of periodical review in the UN Human Rights Council and recommendations for Belarus made by human rights treaty bodies for 2016-2019.