The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection organized a meeting to share successful practices of providing jobs to people living with disabilities on Sunday, in observation of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The annual observance was proclaimed in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. This year’s theme for International Day of Persons with Disabilities was “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all”. The theme reiterated the 2030 agenda of leaving no one behind and encouraged the development of a society that is sustainable and resilient. At the meeting, representatives from the ministry, the Mongolian Employers' Federation, and other organizations thanked and gave certificates of appreciation to Nomin Holdings, Thermal Power Plant No.4, Gem International, Max Group, and Gobi Cashmere for providing permanent employment to disabled people. Head of the Department of Population Department at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection S.Tungalagtamir introduced state policies and ongoing projects aimed to support employment and protect the rights of people living with disabilities. She stated that the government approved the National Program on Human Rights, Involvement and Support for the Development of Persons with Disabilities last week and underlined it as a major achievement. “The program strives to make real changes to the quality of life of people living with disabilities by raising public awareness and knowledge about them at all social platforms, include their challenges in state and local policies and decisions, improve services dedicated to them, and boost sectoral cooperation in this area. First of all, we want to provide inclusive health, education and employment services as these are the most urgent challenges for people with disabilities. We also want to make public transportation, roads, homes, public offices and venues more accessible to them, as well as upgrade related statistics,” S.Tungalagtamir said. According to 2016 studies by the National Statistics Office, there were 100,993 people living with disabilities in Mongolia, out of which 43,083 had been born disabled and 10,740 were children under the age of 17. Reportedly, 19,563 people with disabilities were employed and 2,727 of them had reached the retirement age. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection reported that it has been taking progressive measures to secure the rights of people with disabilities. For example, over the past two years, it established an unofficial council to protect their rights, approved a document related to their employment, developed a regulation for the Disabled Children’s Health, Education and Social Protection Committee, and received government approval to form a sub-council for the protection of the right of the disabled. The ministry stated that its newly-launched My Help 104, the very first local special hotline for residents with disabilities, has been showing good results. Officials plan to carry out projects to increase the population of disabled persons with jobs, change employers’ attitude towards people with disabilities, and improve related legal environment in the near future. Looking at details of disabled people with jobs, 41.7 percent of them run their own business, 35.7 percent have jobs with stable salary, 20.1 percent work without a salary at small industries and service companies, 1.6 percent are employers, and 0.3 percent are a member of a fellowship or cooperative. Through the Program to Support Employment of Persons with Disabilities, 1,980 out of 4,626 people with disabilities who applied found jobs in 2016 and a total of 2.3 billion MNT was spent by the program. A total of 4.2 billion MNT was budgeted for the project this year. As of July, 951 people had applied and 827 new workplaces were created with 1.6 billion MNT, according to the ministry.