New Convention on disabled came into force - UN

Almaty. May 4. Kazakhstan Today - The new Convention on rights of disabled came into force on May 3. It was approved in December, 2006. As of today, the document was ratified by already 25 states, the agency reports referring to the UN press service.

According to the news service, "the Convention is called to protect the interests of 650 million people with the limited opportunities. It contains 50 clauses directed at protection and encouragement of the rights of disabled, liquidation of discrimination in relation to them, protection of their right to work, public health services, education and full participation in the life of society, access to justice, personal immunity, freedom from exploitation and abuse, freedoms of movement, individual mobility and so on. The Convention does not stipulate new rights of disabled. It specifies the ways of realization of already existing conventional human rights."

"On May 12, the official ceremony will take place in the hall of the UN General Assembly devoted to coming into force of this important international legal agreement. The ways of protection and realization of the rights of eight percent of all world's population were not stipulated in the uniform international legal document before acceptance of the Convention," the message states.

In 1982 the General Assembly approved the worldwide program of actions concerning disabled. The UN General Assembly proclaimed 1981 the International year of disabled and the period of 1983 - 1992 - Decade of Disabled of the United Nations. Reviews of 10-year Program of actions in 1987 and in 1992 demonstrated that despite of all reasonable efforts disabled in many countries have not received equal possibilities and remain isolated from societies. The Convention became the first compulsory international agreement directed at protection of this vulnerable category of the population.

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