OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe conducts train-the-trainer course on disability rights

A five-day train-the-trainer course on disability rights, organized and conducted by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, concluded on 3 August 2018.

This course was attended by 15 country’s human rights experts from civil society organizations. Experts from different disability rights’ organizations also attended the course to assess and comment on the programme.

Vafo Safarzoda, the OSCE National Human Rights Officer said that the aim of the course is not just about further development of the trainers, but also about raising awareness about disability rights. “We need to look at our language, at how we transmit information and at our own facilities and to what extent are we able to include persons with disabilities in our own workshops and seminars.”

The training modules developed by the trainees are suitable for training persons with disabilities, for the broader public, as well as for government officials in order to promote the rights of persons with disabilities.

“This training is a good sign that more and more people are aware of us, people with disabilities,” said Sitora Kurbonova, representative of “Safoi Konibodom”, an organization of women with disabilities in Tajikistan. “In the past, we mainly had training courses and events within our own circles, but now we feel more part of the wider civil society.”

“Focusing on the topic of disability, we gained a large amount of new knowledge, learned of new methods as trainers and as human rights specialists,” said Jaffarbek Yuldashev, member of the NGO Coalition against torture.

This course is part of a range of activities conducted by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe to support Tajikistan’s access to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This is the third training of trainers for the group of young human rights experts conducted at the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe over the last two years.