The Foreign Ministry hosted a meeting between Acting Foreign Minister of the PMR Vitaly Ignatiev and Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Catalina Devandas Aguilar. Taking part in the meeting was also Minister of Health of the PMR Tatyana Skrypnik, Head of the Department of Education of the Ministry of Education of the PMR Natalya Soldatova and Director of the State Educational Institution “Special boarding school for children having impaired hearing” Valentina Vasilyeva.
Welcoming the guests Vitaly Ignatiev emphasized that the Pridnestrovian side is traditionally open to interaction with structural organizations and programmes of the United Nations and expressed the hope that no less constructive cooperation with the United Nations will also be established in the area of protecting the rights of people with disabilities.
“We pay great attention and appreciate the possibility of interaction with the UN special rapporteurs, as their visits to Pridnestrovie allows to obtain objective information and to submit specific proposals and recommendations,” - he said.
During the meeting the Pridnestrovian side presented information on the current situation in the sphere of protection of the rights of people with disabilities in the PMR, including in the framework of the implementation of the recommendations of UN international rapporteurs having visited Pridnestrovie. In this context, Vitaly Ignatiev said that UN rapporteurs on violence against women, torture and on freedom of religion or belief, and human rights issues had visited the republic earlier. As the diplomat stressed, such visits and on the whole attention of the UN to the republic allow to the international community to better know Pridnestrovie and understand the situation in the country.
“The recommendations of UN Senior Expert for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg are being implemented in Pridnestrovie, a special interdepartmental committee has been created, serious resources have been used and there are concrete results,” - he said.
The meeting emphasized that Pridnestrovie, as a social state, strives to implement at the highest level the interests of socially vulnerable layers of the population. At the same time, Vitaly Ignatiev said, discriminatory measures against Pridnestrovie permanently established by Moldova are a substantial and main obstacle in this process, affecting the fundamental rights and freedoms of all citizens of the PMR and having a negative impact on the socio-economic situation in the country.
Catalina Devandas Aguilar, in her turn, expressed readiness to present a series of recommendations following the results of her work in Pridnestrovie on the efficient use of state resources in the sphere of social protection of people with disabilities, which, according to her, will allow to avoid the negative impact of the unfavourable socio-economic situation in the country.
“My role as a Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities is to provide support and technical assistance, to exchange of best practices, as well as to find out information not only about the progress, but also about the existing difficulties and problems, and about finding solutions to these problems,”- she said.
During the visit to Pridnetrovie the UN delegation is going to visit a number of social protection facilities including a recently established Day Centre for Children with Disabilities.
