UNMIK/PR/434
PRESS RELEASE - 4 December 2000

Inaugural meeting of the Disability Task Force

PRISTINA - An important step has been made to ensure that the needs and views of people with disabilities are taken into account by policy makers in the JIAS Departments. A Disability Task Force, set up under the auspices of the Social Welfare section of the Department of Health, met for the first time Monday. It includes representatives from JIAS departments and local groups representing people with disabilities.

Its aim is to raise the profile of disability with government departments and ensure that in thinking through any new policy measures, the needs of disabled people are considered.

The Task Force will stress the need for policies and plans to be developed as soon as possible in order to combat the social exclusion of the disabled and to improve disability awareness. This in turn should provide wider opportunities for disabled people in education, employment and other public services.

The establishment of the Task Force is a first step in the direction of allowing the disability sector in Kosovo and their representatives to participate in the decision-making process, and thus play a role in the development of strategies and projects.

The Task force aims to formulate a Comprehensive Disability Strategy for Kosovo for discussion throughout the territory and hopes to produce a White Paper on a Disability Strategy for Kosovo by the summer of 2001.