This news was shared in a press release from the Permanent Representative of Indonesia in New York, received in Jakarta on Monday.
The attending delegation is also participating in the cultural exchange program between Indonesia and the United States.
The Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities meeting was held at the UN headquarters in New York.
On the sidelines of the conference, the Indonesian delegation was received by the Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani, at the office of the Indonesian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
The Indonesian delegates discussed some of their routine challenges, such as discrimination in employment, the lack of adequate higher education facilities in Indonesia to support students with a hearing impairment, and the stigma against people with disabilities.
In response, Ambassador Djani said he was well aware of many things that still need to be improved in relation to the fulfillment of the rights of persons with disabilities in Indonesia.
Therefore, he noted, every member of Indonesian society needs to participate in protecting the rights of the handicapped in their living environment.
"We have ensured that the Indonesian Permanent Representatives building in New York can be easily accessed by people with disabilities," Djani remarked.
"At the United Nations, the Indonesian government continues to fight for a common commitment to supporting the expansion of opportunities and access to education, healthcare and employment for persons with disabilities," Djani noted.
The program lasted two weeks, starting on June 11, 2016, and the Indonesian delegates met with the Advisor to President Barack Obama to discuss disability issues in the White House in Washington D.C.
"The Indonesian youth who were elected as members of the USA-Indonesia Deaf Youth Leaders Cultural Exchange delegation are brilliant, hardworking, motivated young people, full of desire to be independent and professional," Dr. Asiah Mason, who accompanied the delegation, stated.
"They wanted to contribute positively to the community as doctors, lawyers, politicians, athletes, actors, and CEOs. They just need the same opportunities as other Indonesians," Mason pointed out.
Indonesia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on October 18, 2011, through Act No. 19 of 2011.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
