His Highness Prince Mired bin Ra’ad, President of the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD), met on Wednesday with Najat Maala, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children (SRSG-VAC).
The meeting aimed at reviewing Jordan’s progress in combating violence against children in the last two years, its commitment to the agendas on ending violence against children. Additionally, the meeting tackled rallying the support of stakeholders to draw a map of joint procedures to back Jordan in this area, in close cooperation with the UN office in Jordan and all partners.
During the meeting, Prince Mired reviewed the key aspects of the council’s work and cooperation with partners, in addition to challenges in implementing the 10-Year National Strategy for Inclusive Education and shifting from an accommodating system to an integration system for persons with disabilities.
His Highness the Prince noted that the vast majority of children with disabilities are not receiving education, stressing the need for donors to consider the disability aspect in funding, as well as violence and violations that disabled persons experience in private care homes.
Secretary General of the HCD, Muhannad Azzeh, spoke about the drafting of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Law No. 20 of 2017 and the consultation process with stakeholders, including persons wiht disabilities and their families, stressing that the law’s definition of “violence” includes depriving the disabled from their right to education.
For her part, Maala highlighted the inclusion of disabled children in plans of the United Nations Children’s Fund, pointing out that depriving disabled children from education is a “violent act” against them, which must be addressed, calling for putting an end to the bullying of those children and benefiting from global experience in shifting toward an integration system.
Source: Jordan News Agency