Sports competitions for persons with disabilities took place in the northern city of Buston, Sughd province on July 5-8. One hundred disabled athletes from the cities of Khujand and Buston as well as Bobojon-Ghafourov, Mastchoh and Spitamen district participated in the competitions that were dedicated to Day of Peoples with Disabilities and Elderly of Tajikistan, which is marked on July 8.
They competed in the following sports disciplines: arm wrestling; table tennis, drafts, wheelchair soccer, and wheelchair racing.
The head of the Association of People with Disabilities of Bobojon-Ghafourov District, Ramziddin Jourayev, says a total number of people with disabilities living in Tajikistan is more than 150,000 people, including some 25,000 children.
In 2016, Tajikistan adopted the national program for rehabilitation of people with disabilities designed for 2017-2020. The program mainly aims to improve social protection of people with disabilities.
In March this year, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York on the sidelines of the High-level event to launch the International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development” (2018–2028).
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights treaty of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. The Convention has served as the major catalyst in the global movement from viewing persons with disabilities as objects of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing them as full and equal members of society, with human rights. It is also the only UN human rights instrument with an explicit sustainable development dimension. The Convention was the first human rights treaty of the twenty-first century.
The text was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 13, 2006, and opened for signature on March 30, 2007. Following ratification by the 20th party, it came into force on May 3, 2008. As of April 2018, it has 161 signatories and 177 parties, which includes 172 states and the European Union (which ratified it on December 23, 2010 to the extent responsibilities of the member states were transferred to the European Union).
