Politica
EU: Sign up for disability rights. Act today
An EDF campaign aims to collect one million signatures in favour of rights for the disabled under the slogan "sign for disability rights. Act today for a better tomorrow"
A European campaign, ?1million4disability.eu?, launched by the European Disability Forum (EDF) in Brussels in January, aims to collect one million signatures in favour of the protection of disabled people?s rights. The EDF and its member organisations from 29 European countries are campaigning under the slogan ?Sign for disability rights. Act today for a better tomorrow?.
The EDF is the European umbrella organisation representing the interests of 50 million disabled citizens in Europe. EDF membership includes national umbrella organisations of people with disabilities from all EU countries, as well as European nonprofit organizations representing people with different types of disabilities. The EDF?s mission is to ensure that disabled people have full access to fundamental and human rights through their active involvement in policy development and implementation in Europe.
On a daily basis many of the 50 million disabled people represented by EDF at the European Union level encounter barriers to the accessibility of quality education, housing or the labour market. People with disabilities are often denied the right to move around freely, to go to work, to a restaurant, to theatres, to cinemas, to libraries, shopping, meet friends, or any other daily activities, due to inaccessible public transport, pavements or buildings.
The aim of the ?1million4disability.eu? campaign is to raise awareness in European public opinion and policy-makers regarding the situation of European citizens with disabilities and the need to reinforce the current legal framework in order to effectively protect the rights of disabled people as well as the necessity to develop a coordinated approach among the Member States. EDF believes that the European Union must respond to the call of at least 1 million citizens. This is stated in the draft European Union Constitutional Treaty.
The campaign will be officially closed on the 4th of October 2007 in Brussels. On this day, EDF will hand out the collected signatures to the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Parliament. At the same time, a gathering of disabled people, their families, friends and allies will take place in Brussels, in the heart of the European Institutions area. Special events will be held to celebrate the end of the campaign, which will coincide with celebrations of 10th Anniversary of the EDF.
Everybody is welcomed to sign a petition to support the cause. The site provides signature forms in all EU official languages.
To sign the petition, go to: www.1million4disability.eu.
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