Kathmandu, December 3:

People living with disabilities today demanded that the government ensure them decent work for living and express commitment to guarantee their rights.

They also demanded ratification of the UN Convention on Rights of the Persons with Disabilities while observing the 16th International Day of Disabled Persons today. The day was marked with the theme Decent Work for Persons with Disability. More than 100 nations have already signed it. Nepal is yet to sign it.

It stresses the right of persons with disabilities to earn a living from freely chosen work, and to work in an environment that is both accessible and accepting.

In a note of congratulation issued today, PM Girija Prasad Koirala has asked the people living with disabilities to establish themselves as model citizens, utilising their capabilities for the nations betterment.

Speaker Subas Nembang, inaugurating a mass gathering organised by the National Federation of the Disabled (NFD)- Nepal, stressed on the need of rectifying the UN convention and inclusion of the differently-abled people in every level of the social and political system to construct a new Nepal. Various programmes including awareness rally, mass gathering, painting exhibition and sports activities were organised in Kathmandu to mark the day. UN states that up to 80 per cent of persons with disabilities of working age are unemployed in all countries of the world.