Protecting persons with disabilities is one of the most important elements of developing, economic and social policy, while attitude toward endangered groups reflects accomplished level of respecting human rights and progress in the society, stresses Commissioner for Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Commissioner indicates that attitude toward persons with disabilities is still full of prejudices and misunderstanding, which additionally burdens their social and economic position, placing them at the margins of a society. In complaints which citizens submit to Commissioner, disability has been among the most frequent discrimination grounds for years, relating to the areas of providing services or using public surfaces and work and employment. Children and women with disabilities are in particularly difficult position and are often victims of multiplied discrimination, states Jankovic.

At the session of the Board for Labor, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Reduction of Poverty of the National Parliament of Serbia, which was initiated by Commissioner for Protection of Equality on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Commissioner Jankovic specified that the practice of full elimination of business capacity, grounded on medical approach, is still existing, leaving persons with disabilities without possibility to make decisions related to their life, which is contrary to the basic principles of equality and human rights and is not in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is therefore necessary to amend legislative which regulate the issue of elimination of business capacity, as well as putting under custody, in order to enable persons with disabilities to make decisions about their own lives, concluded Jankovic.