Exchange of best practices – Union parliamentarians discuss measures of social support for certain categories of citizens

A meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly Commission on Labour and Social Policy is being held in Minsk and Moscow via video link. Representatives of the Standing Committee of the Union State, various ministries and departments discussed the implementation of the Union State projects that help citizens improve their health, create, play sports, share their experience and help others.

Chairman of the Standing Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus on Labor and Social Affairs, Deputy Chairman of the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly on Labor and Social Policy Irina Kostevich noted in communication with journalists that the meeting of the commission is a continuation of the great dialogue that unfolded in October this year at the site of the Kaliningrad region:

- The seminar discussed the implementation of the rights of people with disabilities. The event really turned out to be very large. There were about 30 reports in different areas. We talked about the basic principles of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Belarus ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2016. At the meeting, we compared the clocks, watched how the protection and full enjoyment of all rights by persons with disabilities on an equal basis are carried out: to work, employment, health care and, of course, to participate in the political and cultural life of our countries. We have interesting proposals to promote various areas, and we also have specific agreements. Our Belarusian company signed a memorandum of intent with a similar enterprise in the Kaliningrad region for the production of modern means of technical rehabilitation. First of all, these are wheelchairs.

According to the parliamentarian, each country has its own experience, level of production, we have something to learn from each other

- There is an intention to sign an agreement at the regional level of the Gomel region and the Kaliningrad region. The topic will be much broader – not only the rights of persons with disabilities. These are Belarusian and Baltic longevity, issues of social and labor relations, a number of areas that concern all life cycles. At the seminar, we will also discuss the harmonization of labor laws for families raising children with disabilities. Both Russia and Belarus have a unique norm that entitles working families raising disabled children to receive one day off work a week, and this day is paid. In Belarus, there is an alternative option – you can take a shortened working day for an hour instead of an additional day off, which is also very popular for flexible schedules and solving family and household issues.

Irina Kostevich noted that in Russia, parents of disabled children can save unused days off for care and issue them once a year in a single block lasting up to 24 working days. This approach allows you to qualitatively and comprehensively carry out rehabilitation of children at a time convenient for parents. This practice, according to the parliamentarian, is also interesting for Belarus. The Government has drafted amendments to the Labour Code.

Member of the Parliamentary Assembly Commission on Labor and Social Policy, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government Ilya Drozdov emphasized:

- The meeting of the commission is for me the entry point into the work of the Parliamentary Assembly. The social sphere is not alien, at one time in the Parliament of its region, the Stavropol Territory, supervised this direction. The main goal of the work of our commission and the entire Parliamentary Assembly is to unify our legislation in order to improve the lives of the people of Belarus and Russia. My constituency is Caucasian Mineral Waters, Stavropol Territory. I hope that our region will become one of the basic for the work of the commission. We have many beautiful sanatoriums with various rehabilitation programs.

The parliamentarians studied the information on the proposals for the development of the Union State project on joint training of students of Belarus and Russia in the Polotsk Cadet School, as well as on the events of the Union State "The Festival of Creativity of the Disabled "Together we can do more", "The Union Meeting of Senior Citizens "We are for active longevity" and "Organization of sanatorium-resort treatment of veterans and disabled people of the Great Patriotic War and hostilities".

In addition, the participants of the event will sum up the results of the meeting of the permanent seminar at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia “Implementation of the rights of people with disabilities: achievements and unresolved problems” and discuss approaches to providing guarantees to parents of children with disabilities of the two countries.

Issues of ensuring the rights of people with disabilities will also be discussed at the Medivais enterprise, which specializes in the production of modern technical means of medical rehabilitation for people with disabilities.