European Year of People with Disabilities 2003

PURPOSE : to present a proposal on the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003. CONTENT : throughout the Union, people with diasabilities face barriers not only in finding and keeping a job but also in finding accessible transportation, physically accessing buildings and facilities or gaining access to the technologies that would help them to become more fully involved in work and in society at large. Therefore, this proposal for a Council Decision proposes to establish a concerted pan-European platform which has the potential to attract considerable attention to a citizenship issue, at both European and national levels, and to stimulate activity that otherwise might not have taken place. Moreover, the European Year could lay the foundations for further, sustainable progress, by informing and educating the people and paving the way for new legal and policy developments. Th objectives of the European Year of People with Disabilities shall be: - to raise awareness of the rights of people with disabilities to protection against discrimination and to full and equal enjoyment of their rights as laid down, inter alia, in the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; - to encourage reflection on and discussion of the measures needed to promote equal opportunities for people with disabilities in Europe; - to promote the exchange of experiences of good practice and effective strategies devised at local, national and European level; - to reinforce cooperation between all parties concerned, namely government at all levels, the private sector, communities, voluntary sector groups, people with disabilities and their families; - to highlight the positive contribution that people with disabilities make to society as a whole, in particular by putting a value on diversity and by creating a positive and accommodating environment in which diversity is celebrated; - to make people aware of the heterogeniety of people with disabilities and of people with disabilities facing multiple discrimination. The measures designed to meet these objectives may include: - the organisation of meetings and events, including the opening an closing of conferences; - information and promotion campaigns including the production of tools and aids and accessible to people with disabilities throughout the Community; - cooperation with the media; - surveys and reports; - events to provide information, in particular information on examples of good practice; - financial support for initiatives at transnational, national and regional and local level, to promote the objectives of the European Year of People with Disabilities. Lastly, the proposed budget for the European Year of People with Disabilities is limited. Subject to the final decision of the budgetary authority a total of EUR 12 million is being set aside at European level for 2002-2003.�