The exact number of people with disabilities is unknown, but they face numerous problems

The Coordination Board of Associations of Persons with Disabilities of Sarajevo Canton warned about the daily problems faced by these individuals at the last session of the Municipal Council of Centar Municipality, writes the BH News Agency Patria.

According to the research conducted by the Coordination Board, 90% of buildings and public areas are not accessible at all for unimpeded movement (poles are installed, sidewalks are unmaintained, there are no ramps, no audible traffic lights). Issues of social rehabilitation and employment remain unresolved, and the state is not responding.

Stray dogs are an additional problem for people with disabilities, as they are unable to protect themselves, whether in wheelchairs or with white canes.

Given that BiH ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2010, it committed to ensuring that persons with disabilities realize all their human rights. However, regardless of the Convention, the position of these individuals has never been worse.

With the Strategy for Equalizing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in FBiH 2011-2015, adopted by both houses of the Federal Parliament, local communities were supposed to create action plans and allocate budgets for implementation.

Exact data on the number of persons with disabilities in the Centar municipality still do not exist, partly due to the definition of a person with a disability and different categories. This Municipality enables the realization of some rights, such as financial compensation for children with disabilities, or finances projects of non-governmental organizations for children whose parents have disabilities...

The Coordination Board has made several recommendations to alleviate the situation for this population in their daily lives as much as possible.

- It is necessary to accurately determine the number of persons with disabilities in order to create strategic programs.
- Create the most favorable architectural and urban conditions for the movement of people with reduced physical abilities.
- Enable the implementation of the Strategy for Equalizing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities in FBiH 2011-2015.