Discrimination reports

A substantial number of discrimination cases taken before the National Commission for Persons with a Disability were resolved through negotiations and persuasion, its chairman Joe Camilleri said yesterday.

Speaking yesterday at the presentation of the annual report of the commission's Equal Opportunities Compliance Unit, Mr Camilleri said that claims of discrimination had this year spanned the full spectrum of the legal process - investigation, negotiation, arbitration, judicial protest, court cases and cases which have been concluded to the satisfaction of all parties concerned.

The unit's manager, Mary-Anne Debono, said the commission had so far this year received 64 complaints. In the previous 20 months, the commission had received 92.

Over the past two years, the unit investigated complaints of discrimination due to disability according to six general categories - employment (14 per cent), education (10 per cent), access (55 per cent), goods and services (18 per cent), insurance and accommodation (one per cent each).

She said the unit was currently working on 65 cases.

A copy of the report will soon be available on the commission's website www.kndp.org, or in audio format from the commission, tel. 21448521.

The presentation was attended by Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi, parliamentary secretary for the elderly Antoine Mifsud Bonnici and Labour MP Marie Louise Coleiro.

Ms Coleiro called on the commission to work out what percentage of those living below the poverty line were disabled.

Dr Gonzi noted that in the past two years the commission had examined 1,026 building applications sent to it for approval by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. If the commission did not approve a public building, MEPA had no option but refuse it.