Mansour bin Mohammed chairs the meeting of the Supreme Committee for the Protection of the Rights of People of Determination

His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Supreme Committee for the Protection of the Rights of People of Determination, valued all the efforts made and fruitful cooperation between the various stakeholders in the Emirate of Dubai in order to achieve the objectives of the Dubai Disability Strategy 2020 and embody the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the State and Ruler of Dubai, and implementing the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council aimed at integrating and enhancing the participation of people of determination in economic and social aspects, and within various life and community activities. The targets are in the areas of health, education, social protection, employment and a qualified environment, which contributed to enhancing overall preparedness during the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and resulted in the enjoyment of independence and empowerment for people of determination in addition to their enjoyment of priority in care and attention.

This came during His Highness presiding over the first meeting of the Supreme Committee for the Protection of the Rights of People of Determination during the current year, in the presence of the members of the Committee, where the attendees reviewed a number of topics on the agenda, and viewed the report on the impact of the implementation of the Dubai Disability Strategy 2020, which was reflected in the goals that have been achieved in various axes and sectors. , In addition to the most prominent efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum indicated that the Supreme Committee for the Protection of the Rights of People of Determination has made important strides in achieving its goals, stressing that Dubai has begun to reap the fruits of its strategy and policies for the integration of people of determination, which is evident in the important achievements of the Dubai strategy. Disability 2020, in its five axes of education, health, employment, social protection and a qualified environment, with the success of the "My Community, a Place for All" initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council in 2013, with the aim of transforming Dubai into a city A friend of people of determination through empowerment, inclusion and enhancing societal awareness of their rights, explaining his Highness that all these achievements would not have been achieved without the great support given by the leadership and its permanent directives, in addition to the societal belief in the importance of cooperation and cohesion to accommodate everyone.

His Highness, the Chairman of the Supreme Committee, called for the necessity to continue development efforts and continuous evaluation of policies, programs and services to achieve true societal integration, and to enhance the availability of equal opportunities and effective participation for all, including people of determination with all types of disabilities without discrimination or marginalization, and in line with the national policy for empowering people of determination, and ensuring a decent life. For everyone in a cohesive and cohesive society.

During the meeting, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum praised the outstanding results achieved by: the Roads and Transport Authority and the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, with a 100 per cent match rate in developing their websites, and they also achieved a full compliance rate in their main smart applications as well as other entities such as The Dubai Police General Command, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Dubai Foundation for Women and Children and the Dubai Sports Council are the bodies that have achieved a 10/10 rate in the qualification of smart applications according to the evaluation of smart websites and smart applications for the public sector for the year 2020, which is conducted by the Smart Dubai Department annually. For the entities that achieved a compliance rate of 90% and higher on their websites, which are 22 government entities, in addition to those that achieved a high compliance rate of up to 9/10 in their applications, which are seven entities.

As for the private sector, during the current year / 2021 / the companies that were evaluated in the first phase will be re-evaluated in various sectors such as education, health, tourism, the social sector, communications and transportation, in order to measure the extent of development and the desired impact to facilitate the access of people of determination to the services provided.

Inclusive health.

Within the framework of the Dubai Disability Strategy 2020, the Inclusive Health Axis aimed at achieving parity in access to health care services commensurate with the level and degree of disability and the associated health and psychological complications, if any, while strengthening the health sector with innovative preventive initiatives.

During the meeting, the most important outcomes of the inclusive health policy were reviewed, which were represented in the early detection program for disability, through which the Smart Dubai App was launched, which is a tool for early detection of developmental delay, and the application won the Gold Stevie Award for the Middle East and the Innovation Award for Health / Innovation for Health Technology 2020 / At the state level, and the Early Diagnosis and Intervention Program, through which the first early intervention center was launched by the Dubai Health Authority in 2018 and issued a guide for early intervention services for customers and service providers, a mental health rehabilitation services program for people of determination and a rehabilitation program for people of determination, taking into account its compatibility with The strategy of physical therapy and rehabilitation in the Dubai Health Authority, and the impact of the strategy was clarified in highlighting the capabilities and promoting the integration of people of determination from accessing health services during the Corona pandemic in a manner that ensures equal opportunities.

Social protection.

The Social Protection pillar focused on ensuring that people of determination have access to social services and enjoy a decent standard of living for themselves and their families without discrimination, such as the application of the "Sanad" system, which is a system for reporting violations of the rights of people of determination in the Emirate of Dubai, and safe housing for people of determination in its various stages, beginning with the rehabilitation of adequate housing. According to their needs and in order to work on initiatives to provide alternative institutional care and temporary comfort services for caregivers of people of determination, as well as work to include provisions for inclusion in the emirate's strategy for crises and disasters.

During the Corona pandemic, social protection initiatives and projects had a great role in integrating people of determination in all ways and ensuring their safety and access to various services.

In light of these efforts, the strategy contributed to bringing about a change in the field of social protection through changing the societal perception, highlighting the capabilities of people of determination and dealing with them, and seeking to give them their rights on an equal basis with others.

Qualified environment.

The qualifying environment axis worked during the previous period to achieve accessibility to environments of all kinds, as the "Dubai Code for Qualified Environment" adopted by the committee in 2017 is one of the most important projects through which the concept of comprehensive design for all facilities was adopted to ensure access for all to Their needs differed, and the guide was adopted as a basic reference for new buildings and projects in the emirate, and an executive team was formed from the main important sectors in the emirate, such as education, health and tourism, to work on rehabilitating existing buildings and facilities and making them accessible and eligible for people of determination and by adopting several projects to enhance the implementation of the guide, such as motivating entities Towards rehabilitation and launching an “incentive system” to encourage entities to speed up the process of rehabilitating their buildings and launching a “Wusool” service from Dubai Municipality to assess the extent of building qualification and readiness and their conformity with the Dubai Code for Qualified Environment.

Inclusive employment.

In this axis, emphasis was placed on ensuring the provision of appropriate and equitable job opportunities for people of determination and the right to work without discrimination and on equality with others, by providing inclusive employment opportunities, whether in the public or private sectors or through entrepreneurship.

Inclusive employment programs and various initiatives aimed at evaluating and training people of determination and facilitating their access to suitable job opportunities were reviewed, and how some initiatives, such as the “train and hire” initiative, helped to exist in a real work environment ready for inclusion and to identify aspects that should be developed in work environments. Business sectors have a desire to attract people of determination within their work teams.

Some initiatives, such as organizing job opportunities within subsidized employment, have been keen to integrate people with severe disabilities within the scope of employment by evaluating vocational rehabilitation programs and supported employment delivery centers that provide employment opportunities for people of determination whose job capabilities limit them from entering the open labor market despite the rehabilitation of facilities Work, and develop development plans in accordance with international best practices, and as a result, work has been made to develop a guideline for organizing the supported work for people of determination in the emirate.

The results of this axis indicated the involvement of a number of people of determination job seekers in jobs that suit their abilities and help their development, and the challenges facing people of determination, their families and employers were also identified when trying to provide appropriate and fair employment opportunities - inclusive education.

In the axis of inclusive education, which aims to guarantee the right to education in all its stages, starting from early childhood, through school education, higher education, continuing education, education and vocational training, the results indicated that the Emirate of Dubai is witnessing an increase in the acceptance of students of determination, which It indicates the readiness of the supportive educational environment, as today 71% of private schools in Dubai provide good quality educational services and activities for students of determination, with a significant annual increase over previous years, and the outputs of the implementation of the inclusive education policy in the emirate provided better opportunities to obtain good or better education. .

The results also show an improvement in the parents ’satisfaction rate over the past three years, while the Knowledge and Human Development Authority has launched several initiatives, including: the necessary guidelines to enable private schools to optimally apply the foundations of inclusive education, and a parent’s guide.

Work is underway on several priority projects to complement the inclusive education efforts in 2021, such as the Early Education Guide, the Higher Education Guide and the Alternative Education Pathways Policy.

Governmental services.

On the level of government services, the impact of allocating the award for "Best Friend of People of Determination" has emerged since 2016 within the "Dubai Government Excellence Program", as it was one of the foundations for promoting integration in the government apparatus over the past years. The program also contributed to achieving several achievements, including adherence to specifications. Dubai Code for the environment eligible for the preparation of facilities and buildings, and the preparation of websites and smart applications to facilitate the access of people of determination to services and information, take into account the needs of people of determination in emergency situations, ensure readiness when required to evacuate all disabilities, and adopt best practices and be guided by the available guidelines and directives, especially in the field of employment and work.

The Smart Dubai Department has also contributed to the employment of technological capabilities in accordance with international standards to raise the level of access to services, through an annual assessment that shows the extent to which government agencies have achieved a target and a match rate of more than 90% of the standards of accessibility in websites and smart applications, which it has been implementing since 2016. In addition to assessing the readiness of various private sectors.

- private sector .

On the private sector level, Emirates NBD was one of the first private sector entities that was keen to join the efforts of the Emirate of Dubai to implement the strategy, align with its objectives, and transform into a friendly and qualified entity for people of determination. Access facilities were implemented in 61% of the bank’s various branches, as well as Dubai College of Tourism, which took the initiative to develop the content of the "Dubai Approach" training platform, provided specialized training in customer service in an inclusive manner, ensuring the improvement of how to deal with people of determination in various service sectors.

- The next phase .

The meeting of the Higher Committee for the Protection of the Rights of People of Determination included presenting the priorities for the next phase, based on the inventory of the outputs of the implementation of the Dubai Disability Strategy 2020, and periodic workshops to identify challenges and come up with solutions and proposals, and to consult with the community and take the opinions of people of determination and their families, and include data from relevant authorities As the next phase will focus on a set of initiatives, including: completing the modernization of the Persons with Disabilities Law and its implementing regulations, providing proactive health services and available care for all, comprehensive social protection that ensures decent living and preparedness in times of crisis, an inclusive policy for dealing in times of crises and disasters, and the development of services and products appropriate People of determination, safeguarding their rights, continuing to develop inclusive education services, promoting and accelerating inclusive employment, and creating an environment characterized by accessibility for all.

During the meeting, the developments of the project to update Law No. 2 of 2014 regarding the protection of persons with disabilities and its implementing regulations were also presented, which aims to harmonize with international best practices, especially the rights stipulated in the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to achieve a decent life for them and enhance the aspirations of the Emirate of Dubai. In promoting development plans, ensuring that the first step is to be achieved in developing legislation regulating social integration processes, developing a comprehensive executive list that ensures that people of determination can obtain their rights on an equal basis with others.

Work is underway to finalize them and issue them in an updated version after consultation and agreement with all concerned authorities.

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