Justice Ministry claims its services are available for the disabled

Georgia’s Ministry of Justice claims that they have made all public services maximally available for people with disabilities.

The Ministry stresses that the blind, or those with other eyesight problems, hearing difficulties or people with wheelchairs can use a majority of services offered by different agencies of the Ministry of Justice without others’ help, whether they are on-site or at computers.

The Ministry states that disabled people wheelchairs can easily get into the Tbilisi Justice House and move freely inside the building.

The Justice House also has a navigation map at the entrance in Braille. Each room on each floor also has descriptions in Braille.

The Justice House webpage and online services are also available for the people with disabilities.

The webpage has an adapted version for the blind and people with other eyesight complications, and offers voice programs and a zoom function.

The Justice Ministry announced that deaf people and the hearing impaired will soon be able to receive all Justice House services independently, as the body has already trained consultants for this.

Meanwhile, they can already receive 31 different electronic and distant services via the Service Development Agency of the Ministry of Justice.

Georgia’s Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili says there are significant problems in the country in terms of legislative regulations, as well as enforcement of the current regulations.

“Three years after the enactment of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the creation of an effective mechanism for the implementation of the Convention continues to be a challenge, which hinders the coordinated and effective performance of the agencies responsible for the implementation of the Convention. The issue of ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention is still on the agenda,” the Ombudsman said.

Nanuashvili stated that people with disabilities are still subjected to unjust treatment in almost all areas of life, which, in most cases, violates their dignity.

It will be welcomed that various steps have been taken to support the people with disabilities.

However, there are very simple and very important issues that must be settled.

It is still impossible for a category of the disabled to move around the city, as there are no ramps in many areas and many of the ramps that are in place cannot be used, as they are badly constructed.

Disabled people also have no access to public transport, which is a significant violation of their human rights.

In addition, people still continue to park in areas that should be reserved for people with disabilities.

If the country will not provide relevant services for such people, Georgia will have no right to say it is a European and democratic state.