Since 2009, more than 40 million euros have been spent from the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, it was announced at the Forum on the Position and Rights of that Population, which was organized by the Socialist People's Party (SNP).
SNP President Srđan Milić, President of the Council for the Protection of the Right to Work, Pension and Disability, Social and Child Protection Nataša Vuković, and SNP MP Snežana Jonica spoke at the Forum on behalf of the organizers.
Representatives of the Association of Young People with Handicaps, the Association of the Blind of Montenegro, Our Initiative, the Association of Plegia, the Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Association of Paraplegics and the Network for Education and Development of Support Services for People with Disabilities, as well as members of the Protection Council, participated in the meeting. rights to work, pension and disability, social and child protection of the SNP.
Milić, as announced by the SNP, pointed to the misuse of funds from the Fund for Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, citing information from the State Audit Institution that EUR 2009 million was paid to that fund from 2014 to 36,5. of which only 1,97 million was spent for the purpose.
"34,5 million was spent in an inappropriate manner, and if we add the funds from this year, the figure exceeds EUR 40 million," Milić pointed out.
He stated that the Government continued with the old bad practice, so in the Budget Proposal for the next year, only two million EUR is provided for the Fund, even though the inflow of funds to the Fund in the year before last was 8,8 million, and in the last year it was 8,5 million euros.
"May we allow such a Budget to be adopted? "Do we have the right to allow at least another six million EUR to be stolen from people with disabilities next year in the most obvious possible way," Milić asked.
He also asked "do we have the right to allow the opportunity for employment to be taken away, to say that there is not enough money for a personal assistant, that there is not enough money to remove architectural barriers, to complicate the procedures for travel privileges".
"That there are not enough appropriate didactic resources in schools, that health institutions have neither physical access to us, nor adequate staff, and all under the pretext that there is an economic crisis and that there are not enough resources," added Milić.
He pointed out that the Council for the Protection of the Right to Work, Pension and Disability, Social and Child Protection of the SNP and the Club of Deputies are fully committed to initiating a series of legal solutions that will contribute to the improvement of the position and better integration of persons with disabilities.
Recommendations were also adopted at the Forum, among which is to initiate a consultative hearing on the topic "Effectiveness of using funds from contributions for professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities", at a joint session of the Committee for Human Rights and Freedoms and the Committee for Labour, Health and Social Affairs taking care of.
It was also recommended to launch an initiative to amend the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, as well as to initiate a control hearing of the Minister for Human and Minority Rights Suad Numanović and the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Zorica Kovačević, on the implementation of the conclusions of the Assembly, on the proposal of the SNP, passed with the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities on June 26.
The Forum also adopted a recommendation to prepare a set of new legal initiatives that would provide tax, customs and other benefits, as well as a reduction in social security contributions, in order to encourage employers to employ people with disabilities.
Bonus video:
