Human Rights Day is celebrated today across the world
Freedom-loving people around the world are today celebrating a landmark in human rights, among them Russians with disabilities.
On 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has become a universal standard for defending and promoting human rights. Now, every year on 10 December we celebrate Human Rights Day around the world.
In Russia the British government funds a number of projects in support of human rights within the framework of the Bilateral Projects Programme. One of our current projects is with Russian non-governmental disability organisation Perspektiva and is titled “Promoting Disability Friendly/ Barrier Free Community”. The project is aimed at improving access for people with disabilities to services, public places, recreation and education.
As part of this project, an expert group of young people with disabilities recently assessed access to various buildings and services in Moscow. Over a six-month period five recommendations on the accessibility of civil and social infrastructure have been issued by the experts.
One of the buildings assessed within the framework of this project was the Tretyakov Gallery. The expert team inspected parking, entrances, accessibility to services, toilets and other facilities. They focused their attention not only on the architectural accessibility but also on access to information and signs which are important for people with disabilities as well as for all the visitors of the Tretyakov gallery.
The next stage of their work has been monitoring of land transport, in its accessibility for people with disabilities. During the evaluation, the expert team was able to evaluate the work of four buses and two trolleybuses, focusing on ramp availability, tolerant attitude of drivers towards people with disabilities, call buttons and bus schedules.
The British Embassy in Moscow plans to advertise Bilateral Projects Programme bidding round for 2014-2015. All interested are welcome to take part in this bidding.