HCD applauds Cabinet decision to employ, create jobs for disabled

AMMAN — The Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) on Wednesday said it valued the government’s decision to recruit 176 people with disabilities and create special jobs for the disabled for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to exempt 176 people with disabilities who had applied for employment since 2008 from regular recruitment requirements, in preparation for their appointment in a number of government departments and institutions.

The HCD highlighted the Civil Service Bureau’s ongoing efforts aimed at protecting the rights of disabled people to have a job and hold public posts, expressing its hope to be a role model emulated by others, according to a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Law stipulates that establishments — be they public or private — employing more than 50 workers are required to reserve about 4 per cent of their job opportunities for people with disabilities.

As per the law, institutions that have 25-50 workers are obliged to employ at least one person with a disability, in accordance with an agreement the Kingdom signed in 2008.

The agreement was ratified at the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

The UN convention stated that parties shall safeguard and promote the right to work for those who have a disability and prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability.