Access Bangladesh Foundation, on behalf of 171 Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs) and 224 persons with disabilities, urged the government to make the 8th FiveYear Plan Inclusive for persons with disabilities especially to protect the persons with disabilities from the risks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recommendations were made in a virtual consultation held recently, organized by Access Bangladesh Foundation in association with DCF, NCDW, Sitakund Federation, TurningPoint, WDDF and Disability Rights Fund.
The organization submitted a set of recommendations to the Government previously on 22 June 2020 regarding this issue.
The rights activists urged that the 8th Five Year Plan should be aligned with the Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act 2013, National Action Plan on Disability, National Social Security Strategy and Neuro-developmental Disability Protection Trust Act 2013.
They also demanded that the plan should be focused on inclusive health services, education and trainings, employment, disaster management, information and communication technology, transport and infrastructures and social safety net.
The major specific recommendations include having programmes on self and wage employment generation for persons with disabilities as many of them will lose their livelihoods in COVID-19 pandemic, new skill development programmes, protecting the persons with disabilities from the risks caused by the natural disasters like, cyclones, floods, earthquakes and virus caused pandemic and epidemic, ensuring accessible e-services of the government for persons with disabilities, providing assistive devices at affordable costs for persons with disabilities, making accessible transport system, adopting measures to prevent violence against women and children with disabilities, identifying accurate number of persons with disabilities and making disability-inclusive indicators in the Development Results Framework of the 8th Five Year Plan.
The recommendations have already been sent to the Prime Minister, Planning Minister, Social Welfare Minister, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Senior Secretary of General Economic Division, Planning Commission, Secretary to the Social Welfare Ministry and Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission for their active consideration.
