Bahrain misrepresentation corrected

The Arab Organization of Persons with Disabilities (AOPD) has lifted the Kingdom of Bahrain from the list of Arab countries suffered from armed conflicts that led to an increase in the percentage of the disabled, according to a letter from Arab Labor Organization (ALO) sent to Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).

The ALO's letter affirmed throwing out the work paper presented by the AOPD's Director General entitled (Persons with disabilities in the social policies of the sustainable development plan 2030) presented at the National Symposium held on July 9-11 in Beirut, Lebanon, from the official documents and the final statement of the National Seminar.

The letter welcomed Bahrain's efforts to empower persons with disabilities, integrating them into the labor market and providing them with a decent living, as they are a productive group of the society. It also praised Bahrain's legislation supportive of training and rehabilitating the disabled before engaging them in the labor market as other community groups.

The letter was in response to BCCI's Chairman Sameer Nass letter to ALO's Director General Fayez Al Mutairi on July 12 requesting to communicate with the AOPD to correct the misrepresentation of the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of caring for persons with disabilities and their integration into the labor market. The BCCI letter also requested lift Bahrain from the list of Arab countries suffered from armed conflicts that resulted in increasing the number of the disabled.

BCCI member Sonia Janahi, during the presentation of the work paper of the AOPD's Director General, addressed the session requesting lifting Bahrain from the work paper, pointing out Bahrain's efforts to empower the disabled and bolstering their status in the community.

Janahi presented multiple reasons defying the allegation of the AOPD's Director General, chiefly Bahrain keenness to become a friendly country for people with disabilities by 2030; the percentage of persons with disabilities in Bahrain is 2% of the total population; the royal interest in rehabilitating and training the disabled before engaging them labour market; Bahrain's ratification of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; legislation that serve the disabled, including rehabilitating and training them; the formation of a high number of committees which deal with the affairs of the disabled; according to official statistics, the number of registered persons with disabilities in Bahrain reached 20125 in 2016, and the number of persons with disabilities registered in public schools reached 1223 students of both genders.

Source: Bahrain News Agency