Riyadh– The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has stressed that it pays much attention to the rights of persons with disabilities, out of its principles and constitutional values stipulated in the Basic Law of Governance, where the National Transformation Program – one of the Kingdom Vision 2030 programs – called for enabling persons with disabilities to receive decent jobs, an education that guarantees their integration in the society, and provide them with all facilities that can help them lead decent lives.
These remarks were made in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s statement delivered during the 15th Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP15), which was delivered by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Vice President Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Khayyal, where he said: “My country has implemented several procedures aiming at supporting persons with disabilities and their empowerment at the health, social, educational and economic levels, where the total support offered to them in 2021 exceeded USD1.3 billion that benefited more than 400,000 persons with disabilities who also received more than 100,000 devices with a total cost of USD60 million, and received alternatives to accommodation services that benefited over 17,000 people in 2021 with a cost of more than USD130 million, in addition to providing them with training programs and home social care programs.”
In addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, he disclosed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia implemented several procedures to guarantee that these people are not affected by the pandemic and its repercussions, out of its belief in equality and non-discrimination, in implementation of the principle of integration and connection among human rights and their indivisibility as stipulated in the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action 1993. In this regard, he said that the number of anti-COVID-19 vaccines administered to persons with disabilities reached 1.5 million shots by the end of 2021, in addition to implementing several procedures in the labor market to provide decent options for persons with disabilities. Despite the negative impacts of the pandemic on the world, the percentage of persons with disabilities of the total workforce increased in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 11% to over 12% by the end of 2021, in addition to supporting associations concerned with the affairs of persons with disabilities with over USD17 million.
Source: Saudi Press Agency