November 2008
Romania last in Europe in terms of social services for persons with intellectual disabilities. Political parties engage to support persons with intellectual disabilities confronted to the disability issue from the human rights perspective, the major political parties in Romania promise to take attitude and to vote for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Romania signed but not ratified yet the UN Convention, a document which historically marks the transition to a new understanding of disability as part of human diversity. At the present time, in Romania there are 608.129 individuals with disabilities out of which 111.338 with mental disabilities. Only 1% benefit from social services and less than 1% are employed.
The former Romanian Parliament had only ten initiatives on rectification and regulation of the disability legislation. Only one initiative (Law 448/2006) regarded the protection and promotion of the rights or individuals with disabilities. In these circumstances, “Pentru Voi” Foundation and the Institute for Public Policies, two organizations which militates for responsibility and respect for the rights of persons with disabilities, launched the campaign “Political parties and disability face to face!” The campaign aimed to get concrete answers from the political parties in the current mandate regarding the matter of persons with disabilities in Romania.
The organizations hardly managed to get a feedback from the parties approached in the campaign. The answer included various positions, from the impossibility to close the residential centers because the individuals with intellectual disabilities have a permanent need of support and so, their social inclusion is unattainable (UDMR), to subventions for the assistive equipments (PNL).
There were sent 42 letters in Timis County but we only got 12 replies which reflect merely general positions. As promoters of the rights of persons with disabilities in Romania, “Pentru Voi” Foundation and the Institute for Public Policies engage to monitorize the concretion of the promises made in the electoral campaign into legislative initiatives, normative
measures and public policies, to increase the quality of life for persons with disabilities and to enhance their social inclusion.
To view the answers of the political parties please visit www.pentruvoi.ro or www.ipp.ro. For further info please contact Laila Onu, Executive Director of “Pentru Voi” Foundation, tel: 0256 228 062, fax 0356 421 215 or e-mail: laila.onu@pentruvoi.ro and Violeta Alexandru, Director of IPP, tel: 021 212 3126, fax: 021 212 3108 or e-mail: violeta@ipp.ro.