Supporting local communities in drafting plans for the protection against discrimination against persons with disabilities

The fact that the equality of all citizens is important in every society with clear guidelines in the field of respecting  human rights and freedoms was discussed in Bar during the past two days at a workshop organized by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and the Council of Europe Program Office, with the focus on protecting persons with disabilities.

The workshop gathered representatives of all Montenegrin municipalities and non-governmental organizations from the local communities with the intention to acquire new, but also to improve existing knowledge in the field of development of local action plans for protection against discrimination of persons with disabilities in all local self/governments in Montenegro.

The basic idea of ​​the workshop was to strengthen the protection against discrimination against persons with disabilities at the local level by supporting the development of a model of local action plans. In addition, the topics covered were related to the definition of local problems, basic objectives and structures of local action plans, as well as the analysis of actors involved and the development and implementation of them. The group had the opportunity to discuss basic policies for persons with disabilities, get an overview of the proposed structures of action plans and expected results, then the method of evaluation and the form of responsibility.

Professor Žiljak, university professor from Zagreb and a member of several national and international associations, councils and organizations focusing on people with disabilities, presented to the participants the importance of changing policies towards people with disabilities and the role of local authorities in implementation of the new Strategy for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities from Discrimination and Promotion of Equality for the period 2017-2021. in the final part of the workshop.

The drafting and implementation of local action plans is an obligation stipulated by the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities, and the mentioned Strategy. Expectations are that the acquired knowledge will result in effective plans and enable a higher level of equality of persons with disabilities and achieving equality with their fellow citizens.

Ministry for Human and Minority Rights