TUESDAY 21 JUNE
Co-Chairs of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration (Australia and Uganda)
FOCUS ON ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility is about enabling landmine and other ERW survivors to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life by ensuring equal access to the physical environment, services, communications and information, and identifying and eliminating obstacles and barriers to accessibility.
In the Cartagena Action Plan, the States Parties committed to “increase availability of and accessibility to appropriate services for female and male mine victims, by removing physical, social, cultural, economic, political and other barriers, including by expanding quality services in rural and remote areas and paying particular attention to vulnerable groups” (Action #31). In addition, in the Cartagena Action Plan, the States Parties note the importance of disseminating and applying inter alia “accessibility guidelines (…) to enhance victim assistance efforts” (Action #32). The main purpose of the June 2011 parallel programme will be focus on these commitments.