Renzo Daviddi, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to BiH attended today the Special goallball game between children with and without disabilities and BiH football stars, Edin Dzeko, UNICEF Ambassador, Miralem Pjanic, Ambassador of the Youth Sports Games and Asmir Begovic, Ambassador of the BiH Special Olympics, played at the Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Youth in Sarajevo.
The game was organised within the Campaign “It’s About Ability” launched jointly by the EU Delegation to BiH, UNICEF and USAID in July 2013, with aim to raise the awareness and change the attitudes and practices in BiH society about the needs and inclusion of children with disabilities. This is one of the activities that will take place in August in partnership with the Youth Sport Games and BiH Special Olympics in their contribution to the goals of the Campaign.
The estimated number of disabled children in BiH is 30,000, and according to some estimates, around 6.5 percent of children ages 2-9 has some form of disability — be it physical, sensory, development, mental or emotional.
Prior to the Campaign, UNICEF conducted the Survey on Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Children with Disabilities in BiH, which has shown, amongst the other, that one third of the respondents find unacceptable that a child with intellectual disabilities attends the same class as their own child, and that 45% of them would not accept a child with intellectual disabilities as their child’s best friend.
Children with disabilities have the same rights and needs as all children.
The EU will continue with its support to integrated social protection and inclusion of children and families in order to improve the quality of life of the children with disabilities in this country and enhance their access to equal opportunities.
“It’s About Ability” is a nationwide awareness and social mobilization campaign to reduce prejudice and change attitudes and behaviours of the general public towards children and other people with disabilities in BiH. It will complement the EU funded programme “Enhancing the Social Protection and Inclusion System in Bosnia and Herzegovina” implemented by UNICEF and Government partners.
European Union has provided 4.6 million Euro in assistance to social inclusion and protection of children in BiH.
