France, Strasburg, Jan. 26 / Trend , A.Maharramli/ As a result of Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy,
thousands of people in Azerbaijan have become disabled, said a member of the
Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) Ganira Pashayeva.
"As a result of the ethnic cleansing policy held by Armenia 20 years ago, 300,000
Azerbaijanis were expelled from their homes, thousands of people suffered
various injuries, they were subjected to torture and torment. Thousands of
people lost their health and became disabled," Pashayeva said when discussing
the "Report on ensuring the rights of disabled persons and persons with
disabilities and their full participation in the public life at the winter
session" of PACE.
Azerbaijan is home to 420,000 disabled persons, with 15
percent of children.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries
began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in
December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, killing
20,000 people and making disabled over 60,000, said Pashayeva.
"We, the members of the Council of Europe, should increase efforts to implement
the issue set forth in the UN and the CoE Conventions on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities and the Council of Europe Disability Action Plan. Azerbaijan joined the UN and CoE Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
including the issue in a number of government priorities," she said.
To ensure the full and active participation of disabled persons in the public
life, their social protection and the protection of their rights are the main
priorities for Azerbaijan. The official Baku has always endorsed the documents
of the Council of Europe, she said.
"Under the laws, institutions have quotas to employ persons with disabilities.
In the past few years, thousands of disabled persons were provided with
apartments, built by the State. Hundreds of families of disabled persons were
provided with free cars. At the initiative of the First Lady of Azerbaijan,
President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva, serious work was
conducted to train persons with sight disability to enable their better
integration into society, their social security," Pashayeva said.
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