ID :
178866
Fri, 04/29/2011 - 13:05
Auther :

HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT


Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, /MONTSAME/
(continuation)
Anti-Semitism
The Jewish population was very small, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during the year.

Persons with Disabilities
The labor law prohibits discrimination in employment and education against persons with disabilities. At year's end the NHRC was investigating whether laws discriminate against persons with disabilities in health care or in the provision of other state services. The law defines the types of disabilities as including those concerning physical, sensory, and mental but not intellectual attributes. The Law on Social Protection of the Disabled gives provincial governors and the Ulaanbaatar governor the responsibility to implement measures to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. However, the government did little to execute such measures, and in practice most persons with disabilities faced significant barriers to employment, education, and participation in public life.
According to the Mongolian National Federation of Disabled Persons' Organizations (MNFDPO), there were an estimated 81,500 persons with disabilities over the age of 16 in the country, of whom 20 percent were employed. The government provided tax benefits to enterprises that hired persons with disabilities. The law requires workplaces to hire one person with disabilities for every 25 employees or pay a fine. However, the law requires that disabled persons may work a maximum of 36 hours a week before overtime, thus creating a disincentive for companies to employ them. Companies often chose to pay the small fine rather than fill the legal quota for disabled individuals. Furthermore, the government itself failed to employ disabled individuals in the ratio required of employers.
Persons injured in industrial accidents have the right to reemployment when ready to resume work, and the government offered free retraining at a central technical school. The reemployment right was generally enforced in practice.
In February a new law took effect mandating standards of physical access for persons with disabilities to newly constructed public buildings; however, by year's end the law had not been applied. One school newly constructed in Songinokhairkhan District failed to meet the new regulations. Government buildings remained largely inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Public transportation was also largely inaccessible to such persons. Despite a new law introducing standards for road construction under which some textured sidewalks meant to aid visually impaired pedestrians were installed, the persistence of open manholes, protruding obstacles, and unheeded crosswalks prevented many persons with disabilities from moving freely.
There were several specialized schools for youth with disabilities, but these students could also attend regular schools. However, in practice children with disabilities had limited access to education. The MNFDPO estimated that of 33,000 children with disabilities, 60 percent failed to complete secondary education. Schools for individuals with disabilities could accommodate only 2,200 children.
The law requires the government to provide benefits according to the nature and severity of the disability. Although the government generally provided benefits, the amount of financial assistance was low, and it did not reach all persons with disabilities. The MNFDPO stated that benefits were provided in an ad hoc manner, often failing to meet the actual demands of the recipients. According to the MNFDPO, of the 97,000 government-registered persons with disabilities, during the year approximately 42,000 received an allowance from the government's Social Welfare Fund, and 46,000 persons received allowances from the Social Insurance Fund. The MNFDPO alleged that the employment support fund, a program targeted at persons with disabilities through local governments, was often misappropriated at the provincial level.
Persons with disabilities could not fully participate in the political process. Little accommodation was made for such persons at polling stations, and there were no such representatives in the parliament. The MNFDPO estimated that in the 2009 presidential election, only 34 percent of the electorate with disabilities cast a ballot. Persons with sight and hearing disabilities had difficulty remaining informed about public affairs due to a lack of accessible broadcast media. The MNFDPO stated that less than 15 percent of broadcasting on the state-owned television channel had simultaneous sign language.
The MNFDPO worked with the government to encourage vocational education centers to work with children with disabilities so that they could eventually be capable of running small businesses. The Ulaanbaatar city government sponsored one factory staffed with approximately 70 blind individuals.

Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Acts of Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Homosexual conduct is not specifically proscribed by law. However, Amnesty International and the International Lesbian and Gay Association criticized a section of the penal code that refers to "immoral gratification of sexual desires," arguing that it could be used against persons engaging in homosexual conduct. Such persons reported harassment and surveillance by police. Police took little or no action to apprehend ultranationalists who threatened, abducted, and committed acts of violence against members of the LGBT community.
There were reports that individuals were assaulted in public and at home, denied service from stores and nightclubs, and discriminated against in the workplace based on their sexual orientation. There also were reports of abuse of persons held in police detention centers based on their sexual orientation.
Some media outlets described gays and lesbians with derogatory terms and associated homosexual conduct with HIV/AIDS, pedophilia, and the corruption of youth.

Other Societal Violence or Discrimination
There was no official discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS; however, some societal discrimination existed. The public continued largely to associate HIV/AIDS with homosexual conduct, burdening victims with the attendant social stigma.
(to be continued)

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