By Akol Madut Ngong
The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has called on the government to consider the rights of persons with disabilities following the latest statistics where ten cases were noted in communal violence.
Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of CEPO, denounced killings and called for government intervention, asserting that people with disability are the most affected because they cannot escape nor run away from conflict.
“Persons with disability are having major challenges that are facing them and they deserve to have access to safety, security protection and to have equal rights of access to humanitarian assistance,” Yakani told No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper via Phone.
“We have picked out ten cases of persons disability which are facing hardship now due to situation of violence. When violence is happening running for security safety becomes difficult for them to escape the violence” he added.
Yakani further stated that normal people escape for their lives and leave behind handicapped people behind in a dangerous situation and you will get them struggling alone to get out of conflict-ridden areas.
He urged the community members to also help people with disability during communal violence as well as share charitable assistances, adding they are humans like them and they deserve attention.
“They don’t have equal humanitarian assistance as the communal violence is going on; we should be responsible of persons with disability because they are human beings like us,” he lamented.
“They are found in a very stressed position on how to get out of violence and some of them who managed to go for safety together with people for refuge, when humanitarian assistance comes, they are undermined, hated and during conflict they can’t even hide,” he stressed.
The activist said as CEPO they are raising their voice to government, partners and communities to take precautionary measures and vacate people living with impairments should any conflict break out.
“Our calls to the government as a CEPO; when there is communal violence, there is a need for the government to have a special attention to persons with disability and even humanitarian and development agencies whenever we are responding let them not isolate the voice and the position of the persons with disability because violence now has escalated across the country,” he said.