NANGARHAR - The people with disability complained that the Government hadn’t ensured their rights. Speaking at a ceremony organized to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities yesterday, the head of a group of persons with disabilities, Masood Safi criticized the local authorities of Nangarhar for not providing “necessary assistance” to them.

“According to the law, five per cent of the governmental posts should be given to the disabled people,” said Mr. Safi.

Highlighting the need to guarantee disabled people equal access to services and opportunities worldwide, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a new global push aimed at “creating societies that value diversity and inclusion” yesterday.

More than one billion people – about 15 per cent of the world’s population – live with some form of disability. The UN has promoted an International Day on behalf of the disabled since 1992, when the General Assembly recognized the International Day of Disabled Persons, changing its name to the present one in 2007.

In the Nangarhar ceremony held in its capital, Jalalabad, the Director of the Provincial Department of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled People, Abdul Hakim Sherzad, admitted the problems. “There are more than 14,000 people with disability in the province but we don’t have enough possibilities to serve all of them,” said Mr. Sherzad.

He also added that his department had been providing vocational training facilities for the disabled people so that they could find jobs. He said his department trained more than 3,000 disabled people in different fields.

Source: Sharq TV and UN News Centre