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Anoushiravan Mohseni Bandpy, Vice Minister, Head of the State Welfare Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran made the remarks addressing the 11th Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which is underway in New York.
“The Organization is also engaged in building international cooperation with its counterparts such as Lebenshilfe, ASB-Germany and MISA-Sweden to improve service delivery and sharing of educational and operational experiences to better serve persons with disabilities,” the statement reads.
The Full text of Mohseni Bandpy's speech is as follows:
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Mr. Chairman,
As the representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the head of the State Welfare Organization who is in charge of coordinating activities related to the welfare and empowerment of persons with disabilities and as the national focal point for the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, I have the honor to confirm that my government is fully committed to the implementation of the Convention. We do so in collaboration with judicial and legislative authorities and in line with the report that my Government presented last year in Geneva on the implementation of the Convention.
From the outset of the Islamic Revolution, ensuring services to the persons with disabilities has been on the agenda of the Iranian Government. By merging 16 different agencies, the State Welfare Organization was established in 1980. The core mandates of the Organization are expansion of rehabilitation and protection services, prevention of disabilities and social harms as well as providing basic essential needs to persons with disabilities. These goals should be achieved in full respect for human dignity and while relying on public participation and close cooperation between relevant government organizations and the NGOs.
The Organization is structured based on the needs, limitations and the capabilities of target communities and the need for providing services to them throughout the country.
With the support of 8000 interested NGOs organized by the Bureau for Public and NGO Participation, three specialized departments of the Organization are focused on rehabilitation, prevention and social affairs and have the responsibility of ensuring protection, care, rehabilitation, empowerment and offering mental health support to disadvantaged and the people with special needs through undertaking the following measures:
1) Prevention of disability through screening, timely interventions, early diagnosis of Amblyopia, hearing disorders of
infants and pre-marriage counseling.
2) Intervention on social emergencies through an emergency line to respond to the cases of violence against persons with disability, domestic violence and child abuse.
3) Offering rehabilitation and empowerment services to over 1,400,000 persons with disabilities registered with the State Welfare Organization. [Statistically, they are composed of 65% men to 35% women, 42% physical disabilities, 13% hearing disabilities,10% visual disabilities, 25% mental and cognitive disabilities and around 8% chronic psychiatric disorder.
4) Job creation for the peoples with disabilities through occupational assessing, vocational training in supported workshops, covering their insurance charges and paying part of their monthly salary and allocation of a 3% quota for the employment of people with disability in the public sector.
5) Improving social participation and strengthening NGOs as social partners of the Organization.
6) Administering accessibility measures in the public and private places for persons with disabilities and persons with special needs through the Secretariat for Accessibility functioning within the Organization.
7) Leading the welfare and social activities concerning older persons through the Secretariat of National Council for the Elderly. In collaboration with UNFPA and the organization Help Age, a regional conference on aging will be held in Iran on October 2018.
8) Establishing a follow up mechanism for the implementation of the CRPD, based on the law passed by Iran’s Parliament in 2008.
9) Amending the law on the rights of persons with disabilities in order to remove its operational barriers and to bring it closer to the provisions of the CRPD with a human rights approach. The Parliament passed the legislation on March 2018. A committee composed of organizations that belong to peoples with disability and other relevant agencies will monitor its implementation.
To conclude, the Organization is also engaged in building international cooperation with its counterparts such as Lebenshilfe, ASB-Germany and MISA-Sweden to improve service delivery and sharing of educational and operational experiences to better serve persons with disabilities.
I thank you for your attention.
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