Disabled persons have filed seven lawsuits against institutions

Limited persons are not being treated equal as other citizens. They face hardship and danger while walking in the street. This is related to Kosovo Preress as well as Faruk Kukaj, who shows that there have been such obstacles for life.

I've usually circulated in electric carts, where in most and all the time I've circled the road, the sidewalks have not been able to have been high and life has always been endangered on the way. The sidewalks used to start lowering me from the center where you say there was no center. In public objects, several pumps or slopes have started, but within either is narrow elevator or there is no lift at all, absolute in Kosovo does not have fully accessible objects for disabled persons.

The activist of disabled persons has also filed the first indictment against an institution. Four years ago, he indicted Pristina's municipality for failing to create easy access to disabled people.

I see that the government is not operating, the state is something more to enable us access or respect our right to free movement and participate or to be present in objects like other citizens, I have decided with Handiko's support in 2018, the institution, the Pristina Community... It's still four years of court procedure and it's come to a court opinion that's okay but you can point out where you need to go and we'll offer you the free movement. But, most of the time, I circulate apartment-state”, Kukaj said.

The ombudsman, Naim Qelaj, has responded to this, which says such a request represents restraint.

The “for us represents a kind of restriction, because the right of movement should be unlimited if it comes to public spaces where citizens can use”, he declares.

According to him, the legislation, while trying to address all aspects of such ones, has not been comprehensive.

I think there's been a crawl, considering the period we're in. However, the good news is that the court has already begun to address. But on the other hand, we have come up with an attitude and an opinion about the occasion. Despite the good work the court has done, there is no judicial practice for handling these cases because we have not had cases of this nature before. I consider it good that the courts, in light of the respect of procedures that distinguish from other common procedures, when we have cases of discrimination or examination of the substances that are discriminated against”, said Celaj.

In addition to Faruk, six more indictments have been handed over to institutions in Kosovo, but none of these have started a review by the judiciary.

Seven lawsuits have been filed since 2018. So far only one indictment has begun the review, two sessions have been held. We expect another discrimination session to be held, which discriminates against a Pristina citizen in his movement and endangers his life every day from cars, different vehicles, and not to tell him to come in freely, to have a coffee with his family or friends, to go to official meetings, to extract any documents like everyone else, to travel freely, and to every corner of the Pristina municipality”, the director of Handikos, Afrem Maliqi, has declared.

Furthermore, Maliqi points out that disabled persons are the poorest and endangered group in the country.

“are the poorest and most endangered group in the country. Because people with limited abilities other than the financial support they receive, some groups do not receive any other institutional service. And with those tools, those pensions are forced to buy all the drugs, the equipment. To pay assistants, caregivers, as well as at school, to pay for the rehabilitation of children or adults, which is impossible to cover with. We demand that our state or institutions first regulate the issue of rehabilitation that every person who is estimated to have a disability and needs rehabilitation, that rehabilitation touity is offered at the rehabilitation centers”, he says.

The Council for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms considers this social category being violated by basic rights.

Disabled persons have access to institutions. There are very few or in small numbers of institutions which enable the physical access of disabled persons to these institutions... Access to institutions is the basic right of disabled persons, who are still unfortunately not being offered enough. Therefore, we as the council have always called on institutions to reconsider and re-struct all institutions in order to provide unhindered access to these disabled people”, says Valentina Demolli from KMDLNj.

Faruk Kukay prays that one day living and treatment for all disabled persons will improve. Otherwise, in Kosovo over 27 thousand citizens are beneficiaries of financial scheme for disabled persons. Meanwhile, 2022 marks the year for disabled people. /kp/