In January 2013 Ukraine has decided to adopt amendments to licensing requirements for pharmacies, as well as medical establishments, so as to ensure access for people with disabilities.This time the licensing requirements with regard to the technical conditions for medical establishments must be unequivocal, well-thought-out and mandatory. The reason for this instruction was the ruling of the Dnipropetrovsk Court of Appeal on 11 December 2012 regarding the suit brought by Dmytro Zharyi who uses a wheelchair to move around. Dmytro was unable to get to the local chemist in order to buy the medication he needs. As it often happens in such cases, the ramp, which leads to the entrance to the pharmacy, was built just for appearances sake, with violations of the technical standards.

“This problem does not only concern me, it affects all people with disabilities in Ukraine and is not confined to pharmacies alone.I therefore decided to create a precedent which could demonstrate that a disabled person can uphold his or her rights in court. Since I’m a defence lawyer, I know not only my own rights.  I do all the work myself and make all the payments myself.”- Dmytro Zharyi said. 

The court’s ruling obliged the State Administration of Ukraine on medical products to consider cancelling the licence for the medical products retail trade of this pharmacy, according to the Law of Ukraine “On Licensing of Certain Types of Economic Activity”.

“The urgency of this problem can be seen in the official UN statistics, according to which about 10 percent of the world’s population are disabled, and this number is about 650 million people. They represent the largest group of minorities. Besides, 80 percent of people with disabilities live in developing countries. In addition, in most cases, the disability is lifelong, which means that a person will encounter difficulties up to his or her death. And the more serious the disability is, the more difficulties it causes and it is harder to overcome them, if possible at all. This question is particularly urgent for the developing countries and countries of the former Soviet Union, where for various reasons little attention to the problems of minorities has been paid, “- said Dmytro.

The lawyer admitted, that his participation in the project “International Law in Advocacy. Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers” and the obtained knowledge influenced his work on this question very much: “The project contributed significantly to broadening of my theoretical knowledge, and also helped to cross the Rubicon, that means to step forward from theory to successful practice. “

Darya Sviridova, national coordinator of the project “International Law in Advocacy. Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers” noted the relevance of this problem for the region and the importance of Dmytro’s work:” This case has got wide publicity in Ukraine, because the problem is urgent and important for the country, and it really needs to be solved. It is also important that Dmytro was able to present and defend his interests all by himself. There are not so many experts in the legal profession and law that can professionally identify human rights violations, cover them and use effective mechanisms to protect them in the Ukraine.”

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The Electronic Human Rights Education for Lawyers (EHREL) is a project under the Human Rights House Network program “International Law in Advocacy” prepared and implemented in cooperation with Human Rights House Foundation’s partner organizations.

The project is designed to bring lawyers from CIS countries together via online human rights training material prepared by international and national experts. The project facilitates efforts to fulfill commitments made within the framework of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and other international organizations to support implementation of human rights (HR) obligations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights under the rule of law by building the capacity of lawyers through training, networking and awareness-raising on direct application of human rights standards at the national level.

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