Barriers Everywhere: lack of accessibility for people with disabilities in Russia

Author's summary

[Part of the summary]

“There are at least 13 million people with disabilities in Russia today. People who use wheelchairs or crutches; people with cerebral palsy; people who are blind or have low vision; people who are deaf or hard of hearing; people with intellectual or developmental disabilities like Down’s syndrome or autism, people with mental health problems, and those with multiple disabilities live in every major city, town, and rural area. While Russia has taken some important steps in recent years to advance protections of the rights of people with disabilities, this report finds that the government has much more to do to ensure the right to an accessible environment for people with disabilities. Among the steps that Russia’s government has taken in recent years to show its commitment to ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities was the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2012.”

Resource Center comment

This report, published by the NGO Human Rights Watch, focuses on the living conditions of people with disabilities in Russia. It was based on interviews of people with disabilities in certain parts of Russia chosen for their diversity of local nongovernmental organizations and representatives of disabled people’s organizations (DPO). This report highlights the gap between the current situation in Russia and Russia’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on the eve of the hosting of the Winter Paraolympic games in 2014. Several recommendations are addressed (p. 75) to the Russian government, to the Olympic and Paraolympic committees, and to the Committee on the Right of Persons with Disabilities, but may interest other countries. An easy-to-read version of this report is available.


Ce rapport, publié par l’organisation de défense des droits Human Rights Watch, porte sur les conditions de vie des personnes handicapées en Russie. Il a été réalisé à partir d’interviews de personnes handicapées dans différentes villes russes choisies pour leur diversité, d’organisations non-gouvernementales locales et de représentants d’organisations de personnes handicapées. Le rapport met en évidence l’écart entre la situation actuelle en Russie et les obligations du pays au regard de la signature de la Convention des Nations Unies pour les Droits des Personnes Handicapées, à la veille de l’accueil par la Russie des Jeux Paralympiques d’Hiver en 2014. A partir de la page 75, les nombreuses recommandations adressées au gouvernement, aux comités olympiques et paralympiques ainsi qu’au comité pour les Droits des Personnes handicapées peuvent intéresser d’autres pays dans un souci d’application des dispositions de la Convention. Une version facile à lire de ce rapport est disponible.