Article VIII of the law states that it is inadmissible to plan constructions and residential areas without considering the needs and requirements of disabled persons. Despite the provisions this law is obligated to implement, there are still issues regarding the state’s compliance with this law.
According to unofficial statistics, 240, 000 disabled people live in Georgia today, and the majority of them are unemployed, lacking of personal realization and the possibility of enjoying the rights bestowed upon them. In 2009, the Georgian government approved the ”Government Action Plan on Social Integration of People with Disabilities for 2010-2012”. This plan was aimed at improving the legal environment of disabled people. The same year, parliament created the “Government Coordinating Council” which focused on related issues. However, this council is not operational yet. In fact, problems described in the annual reports by the Georgian Public Defender are being repeated from year after year, showing, that no concrete steps have been taken to improve the situation.
Full rehabilitation and social integration of people with disabilities isn’t possible without accommodating their physical environment needs. For example, the construction of ramps, the building of elevators, entrances inside the building, sound libraries in the passages, and Braille fonts for the deaf and so on. The City Improvement Service deconstructed specially arranged ramps in the streets; only a few light signals are equipped with voice prompts for the blind and new buses and mini-buses do not accommodate the needs of those with disabilities. And these are only few of the many problems occurring in this field.
Mamuka Katsarava (head of the disabled council at the City Hall): “Any project which is being implemented or will be implemented within the program for the improvement of the infrastructure should take into account how they will accommodate the needs of those persons with disabilities. Otherwise, it won’t be approved by the Architectural Service. The owners of the facilities that have not made the necessary changes to the physical environment, can apply to City Hall, architectural services will discuss the project and approve it in one day without posing extra taxes.”
In 2009, the DEA association conducted the monitoring of public buildings in Tbilisi and Zugdidi within the framework of the project “We are Born Equal and Different”. The purpose of the monitoring was to study and analyze how the state-declared principles are realized. 57 facilities were selected for the monitoring – 31 in Tbilisi and 26 in Zugdidi. According to the monitoring results, only 8 out of 57 public facilities satisfy the needs and requirements of disabled persons entirely (6 in Tbilisi, 2 in Zugdidi); 17 buildings partially meet the set requirements (11 in Tbilisi, 6 in Zugdidi); the remaining 30 buildings are absolutely inaccessible for the persons with disabilities.
Madona Kharebava: According to construction standards, the situation is slightly better in medical facilities, as long as they more or less satisfy the necessities of people with disabilities. Two out of five such facilities fully meet the established standards; the other three partially meet the standards. State institutions have built ramps. But in most cases standards aren’t met, for example, the angle of the incline makes these ramps practically useless for disabled people.
The situation is much worse in educational institutions (kindergartens, schools and universities). Many of them are not suited for people with disabilities, and many have no ramps at all. Even the Ministry of Education is not penetrable for disabled people.
Madona Kharebava (Association “Dea”): In Georgia there is a law regulating the process of giving license to educational institutions.The law states that licensed educational institutions should create the conditions for free movement and orientation of children and students. Monitoring has revealed that the majority of educational institutions aren’t authorized to carry out educational activities according to the law. It is unclear, how the institutions, not complying with state law, get their license.
On May 20, 2009 Georgia signed and joined the UN Convention on Disability Rights. After signing the document Georgia has officially announced that its aim is to promote equal rights by protecting those with disabilities. About two years have passed since signing this Convention, but the Georgian government has still not ratified it.
The United Nations Convention on Disability Rights was the first United Nations Convention on Human Rights in the 21th century. Its evolvement took a very short period of time – 3 years, and was adopted on the 13th of December in 2007 on the first ballot of the General Assembly. After adoption, it came into force within 4 months. Nowadays, 147 of 192 UN member countries have signed the UN Convention on Disability Rights, and 99 countries have already ratified.
Don MacKey, Chairman of the Committee, says: “The convention is a detailed statement of the rights of people with disabilities and determines the order of their implementation.” Countries acceding to the Convention undertake to formulate and implement policies, laws and administrative measures to protect the rights recognized in the convention.
Vakhushti Menabde (Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association): “It’s said, that the government is not ratifying the UN Convention on Disability Rights because the government doesn’t want to take on obligations that cost too much to be implemented. This is a stigma-based excuse. The Convention does not impose new obligations on government. It gives us new effective mechanisms to protect these rights.”
Physical hurdles in the environment that affect the needs and requirements of disabled people is not the only problem occurring in this field. There are also problems such as the existence of discriminatory memorials in Georgian legislation, the attitude of Georgian society towards disabled persons, as well as the high rate of unemployment of persons with disabilities and so on.
It should be noted that in 2010, the Tbilisi City Court passed the judgment on Natalie Sadradze’s case for a wrong parking. The thing is that Natalie has physical disability and has to use carriage to move. In the city parking system there are not considered quoted parking places for those who use carriage.
“Despite the fact that the right for free movement are guaranteed by the Georgian Constitution and by the law on “Social Security of persons with disabilities”, I was fined because of the wrong parking that I appealed to the Court. The case is currently in the Supreme Court and in the case of losing it, I am going to appeal to the ECHR on the assistance of Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association. This is just one small case among many other facts of discrimination with which I have to deal in my daily life,” – says Natalie Sadradze.
The City Hall representative Mamuka Katsarava say that 350 parking places for persons with disabilities have been already allocated for City Park. According to the agreement with the CP, in every parking place, there will be one place dedicated to the cars of persons with disabilities, and if any other car stops there, it will be fined.
Mamuka Katsarava (Head of the Disabled Council at City Hall): “Enhancing the physical environment to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities requires a big budget that our country doesn’t have. One is the interest, and the other is the economic opportunities of the country. In the nearest future, there are projects planned to improve this situation, such as the installation of elevators in underground passes, bringing up to standard the buses and mini-buses to meet the needs of people with disabilities and so on. Everything needs time. And yet Georgia can’t reach equal level with European countries in the sphere of protecting disability rights.
Although the law requires various agencies to cater to the needs of persons with disabilities, it doesn’t determine which state agencies are responsible for monitoring the implementation of these obligations. The fact remains that the rights of people with disabilities are violated in this area.”
Madona Kharebava (Association “Dea”):”The Dea association has sent the results of the monitoring held in 2009 to the Ministry of Health, which was responsible for these issues at that time. Years have passed, but with no reaction so far. Nowadays, it’s hard to understand who is responsible for realizing the obligations imposed by law.”
Inga Darbaidze
