PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS OF ARMENIA SHOULD BE MORE ACTIVE IN SOLVING PROBLEMS OF DISABLED PEOPLE
ARKA News Agency
Dec 3 2007
Armenia
YEREVAN, December 3. /ARKA/. Public organizations of Armenia should be
more active in fulfilling their obligations toward disabled persons,
Armenia’s Prime-Minister Serge Sargsian said at his meeting with
NGO representatives dealing with the problems of the disabled in
the country.
"Dozens of public organizations apply to the prime-minister with a
request to provide financial means for charity needs. I am not against
the state appropriating funds for these needs, and this process is
under way, but a move should be recorded also from the other side
so that we can achieve more efficiency in solving the problems," the
Prime-Minister said adding that the state "knows its responsibilities,
but NGOs should also undertake certain part of responsibility".
He expressed conviction that Armenia has not reached the modern
level of perception of problems of the disabled in the society yet,
despite the legislative framework formed in the last 10-12 years and
the consistent increase in the government appropriations to solve
the problems of the disabled.
Sargsian pointed out the necessity to change "pitiful" regard of the
disabled and stressed the role of public organizations in this.
He also pointed out certain obligations that public organizations
and state structures have under the law and government decrees in
improving the life conditions of the disabled.
"Some of 300 public organizations dealing with the problems of
the disabled in the country are, no doubt, quite serious ones that
often deal with these problems even more efficiently than some state
officials," Sargsian said.
In 1992 the UN General Assembly declared December 3 as International
Day of Disabled People.
According to the information of Armenia’s Healthcare Ministry,
148,000 disabled persons are recorded in the country with 88,000 of
them being life-long disabled persons.