Chui oblast, 22-23 March 2022 - In order to promote a change in understanding of disability through an introduction to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and various models of understanding of disability, a two day training was held on "Realising rights - the basis of trust in government". The event was attended by employees of relevant government agencies, departments and the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic.

During the training, participants learned about the correct use of terminologies related to disability, provision of state-guaranteed legal aid (SGLA), rights of persons with disabilities, as well as the basics of social protection system.

"Civil servants who develop various draft laws, legal documents, work directly with the population, in particular persons with disabilities, should first understand and accept the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). We organized this training to help change civil servants' attitudes towards the implementation of the rights of persons with disabilities." said Janyl Alybaeva, Deputy Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic.    

According to trainer Zhyldyz Diushenova, there is now a tendency to view disability as a unique, individual characteristic, which is a cultural approach to understanding disability. The cultural approach understands disability as:

- Difference and diversity across skin colour, religion, culture and tradition.

- All people are equal: all aspects of society should be equally accessible to members of society, regardless of their differences from one another.

- Every person is unique and important to society as an individual!

"From now on, whenever I work with documents that concern the rights of persons with disabilities, I will already look at these documents through the lens of the principles of the UN CRPD. I have now become deeply aware of how important the UN Convention is for our society. After all, not only persons with disabilities benefit, but instead, the whole society." shares Gulmira Nasyrkulova, expert of the Department of the Committee on International Affairs, Defence, Security and Migration of the Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic, shared her impressions from the training.

"Even though the country ratified the UN CRPD in 2019, the norms of the Convention are not fully implemented by public authorities, which was concerning. Also, the training changed my views. Admittedly, I used to have a moral-religious approach to people with disabilities. Because I always wanted to help, I treated them with pity. It turns out that it is necessary to create conditions for them to be able to work, study, develop, so that they do not need anyone's help." shared Chynara Okeyeva, a participant of the training.

UNDP actively supports the promotion of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Kyrgyzstan. In 2021, the Government of Kyrgyzstan approved a regulation on sign language interpretation services for people with hearing disabilities. A draft regulation on the procedure for the provision of sign language interpretation services was developed with the support of UNDP. An online training with certification was developed for media representatives on reporting on disability following the principles of the CRPD.  

The training was initiated by the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic with the support of the UNDP and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs project "Towards Sustainable Access to Justice for Legal Empowerment in the Kyrgyz Republic.”

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Photos from the event: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzGQrY