Law on Protection of People with Disabilities and Criticism of Government “Procrastination”
Iranian people with disabilities are struggling with unemployment and livelihood problems, but the “Fund for Supporting Employment Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities” has been waiting for months for the issuance of administrative regulations. The Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires a budget of 30 trillion tomans.
One and a half years have passed since the “Fund for Supporting Employment Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities” has been waiting for implementing regulations. The fund, which aims to reduce the unemployment rate of people with disabilities, is supposed to provide facilities in the field of employment and cooperatives related to people with disabilities.
The constitution and international treaties have recognized the right to work for everyone. Iran is also a member of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which considers employment and the determination of hiring quotas for people with disabilities as the responsibility of governments. Article 10 of the Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, approved on March 9, 2018, obligated the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare to establish such a fund for people with disabilities under its coverage.
Kheyrallaah Shahbazi, a disability rights activist, criticizing the ambiguity of this fund and the government’s delay, told ILNA news agency: “The limitations of people with disabilities should be strengthened through rehabilitation and vocational training so that this section of society can also benefit from the right to employment to the best of their ability. In different countries, by allocating a share of employment and providing necessary financial assistance to production and economic units, efforts are made to reduce unemployment among people with disabilities.”
Providing credit facilities to production, service and development units where people with disabilities work, providing self-employment credit facilities, and providing low-cost efficiency improvement support to production units were among the provisions of the mentioned fund that have not been implemented. Shahbazi says that not only has a statute not been written for this fund, but in fact no fund has been established at all.
Kheyrallaah Shahbazi stated that the unemployment rate of people with disabilities is several times higher than the unemployment of other people, and unemployed people with disabilities are not even paid the minimum wage of a worker under the pretext of not approving the necessary budget.
ILNA, quoting this disability rights activist, writes: “Now we no longer have time to waste opportunities. Many people with disabilities are facing many livelihood problems these days, and the regulations related to the Law on Protection of Persons with Disabilities should be issued as soon as possible. Of course, the government has promised to issue them. The Welfare Organization and other organizations and people with disabilities should know their responsibilities.”
Kheyrallaah Shahbazi says that with the approval of the 2019 budget law, it was decided to increase the allowance for people with disabilities, and a number of people with disabilities would receive 108,000 tomans more allowance than others. However, the costs of rehabilitation and illness of people with disabilities are several times higher than ordinary people, and taking into account the poverty line, this type of support has little impact for disabled workers.
One and a half years have passed since the approval of the Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. At that time, the budget of this law was estimated at around 12 trillion tomans. Shahbazi told ILNA: “Taking into account inflation, implementing the Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities now requires nearly 28 to 30 trillion tomans budget.” The Welfare Organization, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, and the Ministry of Science share this budget.
According to Article 15 of the Comprehensive Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the government is obligated to allocate at least three percent of employment permits (permanent, contractual, labor) in state and public institutions to qualified persons with disabilities. Non-implementation of this provision and other emphases of the relevant law are justified by sanctions, economic recession, and lack of budget. Iranian people with disabilities have held several protests in front of the parliament and the Ministry of Labor in protest of the ambiguity of this law.
Source: DW
