By Gladys Kole
Person with disabilities are calling on the state actors including the parliamentarians to enact frameworks that would cater for inclusion of person with disabilities in every aspect of service delivery and learning opportunities.
On Thursday a civil activist and the executive director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) Mr. Edmund Yakani urged President Salva kiir Mayardit to assent the UN Convention of Person with Disabilities (PWD) by December 3rd 2022.
“We want to take this opportunity to urge our president that it’s really urgent that he should sign this convention of the persons with disabilities before the 3rd of December which marks the international day of the rights of the people with disabilities” he appealed.
Meanwhile, Agustino Wudu Elario the chairperson of South Sudan persons with disabilities said that it is not just a matter of ratifying the UN Convention of PWD but they have to make sure that it is implemented.
He stated that the UN Convention should be incorporated into national constitution to become a functional tool that can protect the right of the persons with disabilities for budget allocation and service delivery.
He was spoke to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper during a one day sensitization workshop that was advocating for the government of South Sudan to enact and sign the convention of the persons with disabilities.
The workshop which brought together advocacy bodies and members of Parliament came up with several resolutions top on the chart was the popular public call for President Salva Kiir to sign the convention of the persons with disabilities which was already ratified by the national assembly.
The second resolution advocated for the inclusion of sign language interpreter in the State owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) Television program viewing.
“The second resolution is that we are urging our national parliamentarian’s to raise some motions, one of these motions have to focus on introduction of sign language in the national broadcaster SSBC so that when the news is going on we also have a reporter who is reporting for the persons with disabilities specifically the sign language” he said
“But we are also asking the MPs to make sure they raise a motion for an affirmative action for intake of persons with disabilities into the institutions of high learning like the universities we need to see that the government commit themselves for an affirmative action for intake of persons with disabilities in those institutions so that also the population with disabilities can have access to higher education” he continued.
Mr. Wudu also underscored that they need some learning aids that can provide enabling learning environment for the PWD.
“The last motion we also picked up is the introduction of brain and sign language for university students specifically in their first year as their extra curriculum so that when you’re disabled or not you have the sign language so that you can communicate with the population of South Sudanese who speak the sign language” he suggested.
He further stressed that awareness needs to be done in the grassroots for persons with disabilities because most of them are not informed that they can still go to school and do greater things.
“A few of them (persons with disabilities) with physical disabilities are the ones going to school majority are not I personally visited 3 different States the situation is very challenging” Wudu cited.
The chairperson of the persons with disabilities in the Country said that they are looking at how they can come up with a commission for PWD.
“We will advise the government to set up a commission of disability to look after the issues of disabilities like (for example) anti-corruption commission and other commissions” he noted.