Workshop talks ways to promote participation of disabled persons in political life
A workshop on opportunities, challenges and solutions to promote the participation of people with disabilities in politics was held in Hanoi on April 15.
Hanoi (VNA) – A workshop on opportunities, challenges and solutions to promote the participation of people with disabilities in politics was held in Hanoi on April 15.
Co-organised by the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) in Vietnam and the Centre for Education Promotion and Empowerment ofWomen (CEPEW), the event aimed at enhancing the right to political engagement of people with disabilities in Vietnam where is home to more than 6 million disabled persons.
Speaking at the workshop, Diana Torres, UNDP AssistantResident Representative in Vietnam, said there will be a political gap between non-disabledand disabled people unless the community joins hands to promote equality and empowerpeople with disabilities on political platforms.
Without their voices in agencies under the National Assembly andPeople’s Councils, the people with disabilities will find it difficult to really integrate into society,she added.
Le Ngoc Hoan, a member of the Blind Association of Lang Son province, whois a self-nominated candidate for the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly, said people with disabilities need representative voices inthelaw-making body so that their legitimate aspirations and needs will beheard.
According to a quick assessment of the group’s readiness forpolitical involvement as candidates in the elections of deputies to the NationalAssembly and all-level People’s Councils, 92 percent of people surveyed hopedto have disabled deputies and 63 percent said they are ready for self-nominationto the elections in the next five years.
The assessment, jointly conducted by the UNDP Vietnam andthe Norwegian Embassy in Vietnam, was released as part of the workshop.
It showed three challenges facing the group in elections – feelingunconfident in the possibility of success, lacking knowledge on self-nominationand campaigning, and distrusting that the community will vote for people withdisabilities.
Jan Wilhelm Grythe, Chargé d'affaires at the NorwegianEmbassy, said the Norwegian Government is willing to share information on the politicalparticipation process of Tove Linnea Brandvik, a physically disabled Norwegian whoserved as deputy to the parliament for two terms from 2005 to 2013.
Norway is also willing to organise conversations to inspireVietnamese people with disabilities, said the diplomat./.
Nguyen Duc Lan, 54, a person with a physical disability, is running the Hanvico Humanitarian JSC Company, which produces blankets, pillows, bed sheets and mats for military forces.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed to providing assistance to improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities in seven priority provinces in Vietnam.
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Illustrative photo (Source: VNA) 
