In October 2024, UNICEF released the report on fostering inclusion of children with disabilities across Europe and Central Asia, In Focus: Leveling the playing field for children with disabilities, providing key facts, policy frameworks, challenges, and call for action.
Among the key policy frameworks, the report highlights: SDG 10 on reducing inequality, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the European Child Guarantee and the 2021-2030 EU Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The main challenges identified in the report are persisting stigma around disability, poverty, child institutionalization, health issues, limited access to education, assistive technology, and justice, violence and abuse, and particular vulnerability during emergencies.
- Turkmenistan has the highest number of children with disabilities in residential care in Central Asia: 87% of the children aged 0-17 years in formal residential care are children with disabilities.
- Turkmenistan estimated only 2% of children with disabilities aged 2-17, while it is 16% in neighboring Uzbekistan. Yet, in Turkmenistan, 60% of those with severe disabilities do not receive a disability cash benefit, while around 7% of children with disabilities have never been to school.
The report refers to the 2018 Global Disability Summit as the call for action to dismantle the silos between the sectors impacting children with disabilities, such as health, education, child protection and humanitarian assistance, emphasizing the growing recognition that no single government ministry, sector or UN agency, can create a more inclusive region for children with disabilities in isolation.
UNICEF provided its five key and cross-cutting priorities, working with a wide range of partners, particularly organizations for people with disabilities, to:
- prevent stigma and discrimination;
- enhance disability-inclusive services, programs and workplaces;
- ensure access to comprehensive community care and support services;
- facilitate access to assistive technology;
- promote disability-inclusive actions in humanitarian, emergency, and fragile contexts;
- ensure the full and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities.
