Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Sunday said the government has taken a move to enact a law to protect the rights of people with disabilities, including children.
“The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2012 will be passed in parliament soon,” he said.
The minister was addressing a function marking the launching of a Unicef report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities’, at a city hotel.
Social Welfare secretary Suraiya Begum and Unicef representative in Bangladesh Pascal Villeneuve were present.
Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, Nahid said the government is committed to ensuring the rights of all children, including the physically challenged ones. “Of course, we’ve to work for the children with disabilities and they should be given special care.”
He said Bangladesh is among the first countries who signed the two most significant global documents — the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) — to protect the rights of children.
“Ensuring the rights of the children with disabilities would be a big challenge… we must ensure the rights of the children with disabilities like other children,” the Education Minister said.
Nahid said the government has already introduced preprimary education which will help identify the children with disabilities.
Urging all to change the mindset about the children with disabilities, Nahid underscored the need for launching a mass campaign to create awareness about their rights.
Unicef representative Pascal Villeneuve urged the government and other partners to ensure that children with disabilities are part of the daily life of their families, communities and society.
“They must be visible, valued and seen as active participants and contributors, rather than beneficiaries of charity. By working together to make this distinction, it’ll lead to an enormous difference for children living with disabilities,” he said.
Villeneuve stressed the need for conducting research aiming to know the number and state of the children with disabilities in Bangladesh.
Source: UNBConnect