Republic of Moldova

The Republic of Moldova will have a new methodology to determine disability

July 21, 2011, Chisinau – The Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family presented today a roadmap for the formulation of a new methodology to determine disability in the Republic of Moldova.

Developed with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the roadmap will facilitate the launch of reforms to ensure social inclusion of people with disabilities in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its implementation by various central and local state institutions.
This document pays particular attention to de-institutionalization, specialized assistance for the training of adults with disabilities and access to quality education for children with disabilities. The roadmap estimates as well the costs of the reforms to be implemented during the first stage (including staff training costs, acquisition costs, adaptation and publication of the assessment instruments, administrative costs, costs related to the insurance of a material and technical base of the reformed entities).

The Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Family, Valentina Buliga, said: "The Republic of Moldova aims at promoting a coherent and consistent social policy adjusted both to the current conditions and to the European and international standards. The ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which promotes the system of the social inclusion of people with disabilities and the establishment of new services for this category of beneficiaries is an example in this regard. These international objectives are also reflected in the national strategic documents, the work of the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family being oriented towards implementing new mechanisms of social protection of persons with disabilities and improving the legal-regulatory framework. "

At present, there are over 170,000 people with disabilities in the Republic of Moldova who often face discrimination, social exclusion, poverty, unemployment and low access to public services, being therefore deprived of the opportunity to exercise their fundamental rights.

International expert, Zdislav Skvarciany, presented the experience of Lithuania and Armenia in implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: "Like Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova has inherited an old medical system to determine disability. It is necessary to reform the current medical system to determine disability and pass from the medical system to determine disability to the medical-social system in order to ensure an actual social inclusion of persons with disabilities", Zdislav Skvarciany said. "Moldova has the advantage to learn from Lithuania and other countries in successfully implementing this reform," Mr. Skvarciany has also noted.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had a leading role in promoting the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the Republic of Moldova. In 2009, UNDP conducted a study on the ratification of the Convention which served as the impetus for ratifying the Convention and drafting a strategy and an action plan on the social inclusion of persons with disabilities.
"By ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Republic of Moldova committed itself to respect their rights," Matilda Dimovska, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to Moldova, stated. "This roadmap is a new vision upon determining disability and represents an important step in ensuring equal rights for all the citizens of the Republic of Moldova."

The Republic of Moldova ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in July 2010. Following the ratification of the Convention, a Strategy on the Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities and an Action Plan were adopted, providing a range of measures to be taken by the state to guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities.