The Liberia Labour Congress (LLC) has launched a Sensitization Manual for the Inclusion and Accessibilities of People Living with Disabilities in Liberia for employment at work places in the country.
Performing the ceremony on behalf of Labour Minister Chief Moses Y. Kollie, Deputy Labour Minister for Manpower Planning, Atty. Phil Tarpeh Dixon commended the LLC for developing a manual that is intended to promote the rights of people living with disabilities at work places in the country.
“We see this as not only a policy, but one that is intended to claim the attention of all stakeholders in the labour sector of the country including the government. As such, the Ministry of Labour has put in place measures to ensure as it relocate to the new ministerial complex, labour cases will be held on the ground floor of the ministry to allow all Liberians including people living with disabilities to get easy access to services from the Ministry.”
Deputy Minister Dixon used the occasion to inform the disable community that the Ministry has created a new division that is charged with responsibilities to handle issues relating to discrimination against people living with disabilities in the work place.
He pledged Fifty Thousand Liberian Dollars (LD$50,000.00) to buttress efforts by the LLC in their advocacy for the inclusion and accessibility of people living with disabilities at work places.
Program marking the official launching of the Liberia Labour Congress (LLC), Accessibility and Inclusion Sensitization Manual for Workers and people living with disabilities was held on Monday, September 23, 2019 at the J. B. McGill Labour Center in Monrovia.
Serving as Guest Speaker, Cllr. Abraham Barlu Mitchell said that the right to life and free association are fundamental rights recognized by the Liberian Constitution which includes the right of people with disability to decent work for decent life.
“It is our understanding that Liberia has signed, since 2012, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); LCC is also part of ILO Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optioned Protocol (A/RES/61/106) that was adopted on 13 December 2006 and entered into force on 3 May 2008.”
Cllr. Mitchell noted that in order to help reinforce the LLC efforts of public sensitization on the urgent need to recognize the right of persons with disabilities to enjoy and exercise their fundamental right to decent life through decent work, there must be a statute that specifically legalizes the rights of citizens in this category of life, so as to compel compliance; such a law shall also provide legal avenue for redress in Liberia.
For her part, ILO-ACTRAV, Senior Relations Specialist from ILO Headquarters in Geneva, Madam Faustina Van Aseren praised the Government of Liberia for the development of a decent work policy that encourages the inclusion of people living with disabilities. Madam Aseren also thanked partners working with the government and the Liberia Labour congress (LLC) in supporting and promoting the right of disables. She further hopes that the Sensitization Manual is used to promote the issue of disabilities in the community as well as in employment.
In a brief overview of the program, Ms. Ophelia N. Carpenter, Deputy Secretary General of the LLC said that the program is to draw attention to those aspects of the change of life that affect workers and people living with disabilities in particular, both positive and negative to create a platform for strengthening their abilities.
Signed: J. Kortu nyandibo/Director of Communications/MOL
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