National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Brac has signed an agreement to ensure welfare, protection, and accessibility for cross sections of people, including for persons with disabilities.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at the NHRC office in Karwan Bazar in the capital on Sunday.
NHRC Secretary Narayan Chandra Sarkar and Asif Saleh, executive director of Brac signed the agreement on behalf of the respective parties.
The MoU aims to strengthen the partnership and collaboratively work towards ensuring accessibility of persons with disabilities in public transport, infrastructure, and information.
Under this agreement, the two organizations will jointly work with the aim to ensure increased access of the persons with disability in both the physical and digital space, to the benefit of cross sections of people. It will contribute to ensuring that people with disabilities face one less problem as soon as they step out of their comfort zone.
This collaboration is focused on the generation of evidence, accumulation of best practices from the world, establishing knowledge repositories and platforms of cooperation, standards and guidelines for accessibility, and creating nationwide awareness for an inclusive society.
According to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016, the percentage of persons with disabilities is 13.09% in Bangladesh. Since disability is a continuous occurrence and far from a homogeneous phenomenon, a holistic approach is essential to continue the inclusion of persons with disability and building a tomorrow that is accessible and sustainable.
The government is committed to work towards building a disability inclusive Bangladesh as noted in its Constitution along with ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), enactment of the Disability Rights and Protection Act (2013) and development of the National Strategy for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Skills Development (2013).
NHRC is the national advocacy institution for human rights promotion and protection of the people. It is committed to the accomplishment of human rights in a broader sense, including dignity, worth and freedom of every human being.
Since inclusiveness is also a core value of Brac, and it has been supporting marginalized people to empower them, the joint-collaboration will further expedite the process of building Bangladesh without leaving anyone behind, especially persons with disabilities.
