Trojka's proposal for the Law on Support for Persons with Disabilities further disenfranchises this population!

(Patria) - Trojka's proposal to adopt the draft Law on Uniform Principles and within the framework of material support for persons with disabilities and to submit the law for adoption to the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the FBiH is nothing more than further disenfranchisement of this population, says Enes Peštek, delegate of the Party for BiH in the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the FBiH.

"The law was not supported by the Ombudsman for Human Rights of BiH, nor by the Committee for Labor and Social Protection of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH, but they want to pass it by majority at any cost," he points out.

This draft law has numerous key problems that are harmful to the most vulnerable people in the country, including:

1. Exclusion of rights for persons with a lower degree of impairment: The adopted draft law excludes the rights of persons with 60%, 70%, and 80% body impairment, who were covered by rights under the previous draft law.

2. Fixed base for calculating benefits: The change in the base for calculating benefits, which is now fixed at 495.20 KM, instead of being tied to 80% of the minimum net salary in the Federation of BiH, leads to a reduction in support for persons with disabilities in the future.

3. Lack of precision in the rights of children and persons with disabilities: The draft Law does not specify the implementation deadlines and responsibilities for enforcing the rights of persons and children with disabilities, which directly leads to insufficient protection and support for these individuals.

"Furthermore, the proposed law does not allocate sufficient funds to provide the necessary support and services to persons with disabilities, which will result in a decrease in their quality of life and difficulties in daily functioning. These legal solutions could lead to further marginalization and discrimination of persons with disabilities in society.

This includes: training for life and work (professional rehabilitation, retraining and additional training), priority in employment under equal conditions, social and other professional work services, home care and home help, early developmental support, priority housing, psychological and legal assistance, personal assistant, assistant in education," Peštek points out.

Additionally, the lack of clear mechanisms for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities creates additional uncertainty among this population.

"Overall, this law will have negative consequences for the quality of life of persons with disabilities and their social integration.

It is negative that the new law provides for fixing the base for compensation for persons with disabilities, instead of adjusting the base to GDP growth and the level of the consumer basket. This will result in stagnation or even a decrease in the real value of compensation over time.

Also, adopting the law in this form will lead to the transfer of children with developmental difficulties to another group, which will result in the loss of compensation for many persons with disabilities. Given the large number of persons with disabilities in the FBiH, this change will have a significant negative impact on their financial security and quality of life.

Ultimately, this draft law is a bad solution for persons with disabilities in the FBiH.

Therefore, I call on my fellow delegates from the House of Peoples of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH not to support the draft law in this form, but to return it for revision with the obligation of the Government of the Federation of BiH, in coordination with the associations concerned by this law, the Ombudsmen for Human Rights in BiH and all other relevant institutions, to make amendments and supplements to the said law so that we ultimately have a law adopted to the satisfaction of one of the most vulnerable populations of our society in the Federation of BiH," Peštek points out.