First workshop on preparing national policy for digital accessibility for people with disabilities in Syria

Damascus, SANA- Ministry of Communications and Technology, in cooperation with the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), will hold a workshop on Thursday about preparing a national policy for digital accessibility for people with disabilities, in the meeting room of the Syrian Telecom Company.

Assistant Minister of Communications and Technology, Eng. Fadia Suleiman, stated in a statement to SANA reporter that the workshop is the first of its kind and aims to identify the basic concepts of this policy and benefit from the best practices for it through interactive tools for its development, guidelines and main technical standards, in addition to discussing the national plans for disability and the National Digital Access Policy project.

Suleiman noted that the work of the ministry in framework of the national policy for digital accessibility comes in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 9 which stipulates for the need for the states parties to take appropriate measures to ensure the access of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.

The ministry began working on preparing the national policy for digital accessibility, in cooperation with ESCWA, since last September to create the appropriate environment to facilitate access for people with disabilities to websites, platforms, public services and electronic applications, and to find diverse and appropriate content and enable them to use it to improve the quality of their life, Suleiman stated.

Suleiman pointed out that a number of ministries and the governmental, private and academic bodies concerned are participating in the workshop.

In 2007, Syria signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with the Disabilities, which was approved by the United Nations in 2006.

Nisreen Othman/ Ruaa al-Jazaeri