Belgrade - On December 22, 2015, Ambassador, Michael D. Kirby; the Speaker of the Parliament, Maja Gojković; the Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran, Disability and Social Issues, Aleksandar Vulin; and the Director of the Center for Independent Living, Gordana Rajkov; launched the Strengthening the Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Serbia project.  The 18-month project will be implemented in cooperation with the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

Despite a favorable legal framework for persons with disabilities, there remains a lack of adequate measures for its implementation.  There is an absence of a facilitated dialogue between key stakeholders on disability rights and policy.  The limited dialogue on political rights has resulted in poor social inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The Project seeks to address this by increasing persons with disabilities’ influence in the legislative, electoral, and policy processes.  It will also support the re-establishment of the Parliamentary Disability Caucus Group that will contribute to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Strengthening Political Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Serbia project will be implemented by the Center for Independent Living, in partnership with the National Organization of Persons with Disabilities of Serbia, and the Center for Society Orientation, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).