Need to provide right conditions for participation and representation of people with disabilities in local councils (OTDDPH)

Tunis: Participants in the final national seminar of the "I have the right to participate" project to involve people with disabilities in political life on Tuesday called on the local councils members to provide the right conditions to ensure the participation and representation of people with disabilities in the internal structure of local councils and in parliamentary work. Secretary General of the Tunisian Organisation for the Defence of the Rights of People with Disabilities (OTDDPH) Bouraouia Agrebi urged the various local councils members to form a block or co-ordination composed of MPs with disabilities within the local councils. She pointed out the need to ensure ongoing communication with voters at local, regional and national levels in order to give the issue of the rights of people with disabilities the necessary attention with a view to creating a dynamic between members of local councils on the one hand and with members of regional councils and the National Council of Regions and Regions, on th e other. He pointed out the need to ensure ongoing communication with voters at local, regional and national levels in order to give the issue of the rights of people with disabilities the necessary attention with a view to creating a dynamic between members of local councils on the one hand and with members of regional councils and the National Council of Regions and Regions, on the other. Agrebi called on MPs taking part in the seminar to speed up the enactment of a law regulating the prerogatives of local councils and enshrining the rights of people with disabilities, and also to adopt a participatory approach when discussing legislative initiatives, urging the executive authority to honour the commitments entrusted to it regarding the measures taken to ensure the effective exercise of local parliamentary work by people with disabilities. Organisation President Yousri Mazeti underlined for his part, the importance of the local election results, in particular after the representation of people with disab ilities in 279 local councils and 4 deputies with disabilities in the National Council of Regions. "The organisation aspires to increase this representation and reinforce the presence of people with disabilities in all parliamentary councils, including the Assembly of People's Representatives and the government, and help them hold ministerial positions," he said. Mazeti pointed out the need to set up the logistical conditions regarding the appropriate infrastructure to ensure the effective exercise of local parliamentary work by people with disabilities, and to provide Braille writing boards in all polling stations and centres, as well as sign language interpreters where possible. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse