Public organizations of Armenia should be more active in solving problems of disabled people

YEREVAN, December 3. /ARKA/. Public organizations of Armenia should be more active in fulfilling their obligations toward disabled persons, Armenia’s Prime-Minister Serge Sargsian said at his meeting with NGO representatives dealing with the problems of the disabled in the country.

“Dozens of public organizations apply to the prime-minister with a request to provide financial means for charity needs. I am not against the state appropriating funds for these needs, and this process is under way, but a move should be recorded also from the other side so that we can achieve more efficiency in solving the problems,” the Prime-Minister said adding that the state “knows its responsibilities, but NGOs should also undertake certain part of responsibility”.

He expressed conviction that Armenia has not reached the modern level of perception of problems of the disabled in the society yet, despite the legislative framework formed in the last 10-12 years and the consistent increase in the government appropriations to solve the problems of the disabled.

Sargsian pointed out the necessity to change “pitiful” regard of the disabled and stressed the role of public organizations in this.
He also pointed out certain obligations that public organizations and state structures have under the law and government decrees in improving the life conditions of the disabled.

“Some of 300 public organizations dealing with the problems of the disabled in the country are, no doubt, quite serious ones that often deal with these problems even more efficiently than some state officials,” Sargsian said.

In 1992 the UN General Assembly declared December 3 as International Day of Disabled People.
According to the information of Armenia’s Healthcare Ministry, 148,000 disabled persons are recorded in the country with 88,000 of them being life-long disabled persons. N.V. –0--