United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Disability Alliance on SDGs Bangladesh have called on the government for the disability inclusion in the 8th 5-Year Plan of Bangladesh (2021-2021).

UNDP and Disability Alliance, a network of 25 national and international organisations working for promoting disability rights in Bangladesh, said in a press release on Wednesday.

They have made the appeal in a workshop titled “Making Disability Inclusive Social Security Policies and Programmes in Bangladesh” held at the Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka.

Professor Dr Shamsul Alam, Member, Planning Commission of Bangladesh, attended the workshop as the chief guest with Monsur Ahmed Choudhury, Trustee, Impact Foundation, as the chair.

The keynote papers presented by Aminul Arifeen from UNDP and Ayon Debnath from Sightsavers respectively showed that people with disabilities are the ones worst-affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the coverage under the current social protection framework of the government for the people with disabilities is not sufficient.

Hence, both the presentations emphasised enhanced disability inclusion in the 8th Five-Year Plan of the government with an extended allocation for people with disabilities in the upcoming 5-Year Plan of the country.

Speaking as the chief guest, Dr Shamsul Alam said: “Bangladesh is highly sensitive to ensuring the rights of the people with disabilities. The Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Act 2013 has been enacted and the Action Plan on Disability has been prepared by the government in 2019.”

Dr Alam added that under the National Social Security Strategy, the initiative has been taken to widen the coverage up to 1 million poor people with disabilities.

Amrita Rejina Rozario, Convener of the Disability Alliance on SDGs Bangladesh and Country Director of Sightsavers, said: “Though the government has widened the coverage of the social safety-net schemes further to include more of the marginalised population, the percentage of total safety-net budget in disability is still very low, around 2 percent, which needs to be increased to a great extent.”

On behalf of the persons with disabilities present in the workshop, Jahangir Alam emphasised inclusion of disability disaggregated data in the upcoming national census of Bangladesh-2021.

AHM Noman Khan, Executive Director, Centre for Disability in Development, mentioned that COVID-19 has disrupted education of children with disabilities in Bangladesh as accessible education is yet to be ensured.

The participants of the workshop, including several women with disabilities, shared the difficulties they are facing in terms of health, livelihood and gender issues.

A video documentary presented at the event also showcased the sufferings of the people with disabilities in the country from COVID-19 pandemic.

The participants of the workshop also included the leaders of different organisations of people with disabilities (OPDs) from different districts.