The Council for Human Rights, Gender Equality and Diversity at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reiterates its support to the National Strategy for Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030 and stresses that this topic is extremely important for the democratic Ukrainian state and society where human life and dignity remains a highest priority.

The world must see that Ukraine is facing the consequences of the war and significant needs of citizens in the field of accessibility and inclusiveness, which have increased due to the full-scale Russian invasion. The Russian aggression has negatively affected the lives of all categories of people, especially those persons who were forced to become displaced from the affected areas, those living in areas contaminated by explosive ordnance and those who were injured by explosive ordnance and other consequences of Russian aggression, received war-related trauma as well as people with disabilities, the older persons, families with children and other social groups.

The overall goal of the inclusive policy is to provide all groups of people of Ukraine with the opportunity to enjoy the full benefits of living, working, studying and growing within society without any limitations due to personal characteristics or barriers.

We emphasize the importance of promoting barrier-free initiatives in three areas: spaces and transportation, services and access to information.

We encourage Ukraine's partners - governments, international governmental and non-governmental organizations - in the context of the creation of a barrier-free and inclusive environment in Ukraine, to prioritize the project activities in the following areas:

Workplaces: ensure the right to employment, including the employment of persons with disabilities on free labour market.

Infrastructure accessibility: ensure that the needs of people with reduced mobility is taken into account in a process of infrastructure construction and renovation projects (roads, streets, public facilities). This includes providing barrier-free access to all facilities and services.

Educational, social and medical institutions: support for projects aimed at adapting information, services and spaces of schools, universities, medical facilities and other institutions to the needs of persons with disabilities, including the construction of adaptive premises and provision of specialized equipment.

Transportation accessibility: implementation of projects on barrier-free communication with passengers and modernization of transport infrastructure to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities, including adapted buses, sidewalks and underpasses.

Housing construction: support for the projects aimed at building barrier-free housing and adapting existing housing to the needs of different social groups, including persons with disabilities and the older persons.

Information accessibility: implementation of projects for development and introduction of information technologies and communication strategies that provide accessibility of information for all social groups.