Guardian Council Opposes '75 Percent of Minimum Wage' Payment for Individuals with Disabilities

Behrouz Marouti, an activist for the rights of individuals with disabilities, reported on Monday, January 24, that the Guardian Council opposed increasing the living allowance to 75 percent of the minimum wage for severely disabled groups. According to the government news agency ILNA, Marouti stated that it was planned to provide a living allowance equivalent to 75 percent of the minimum wage to three groups, including the dependents of deceased veterans, impoverished combatants, and individuals with severe and very severe disabilities, without the need for a 'means test.' He added that this amount was 8 million and 700 thousand tomans for the current year, 'but due to the Guardian Council's opposition, the disabled were deprived of this payment.' This disability rights activist further noted, 'The Guardian Council's objections led to amendments in the text of the resolution, resulting in the payment of this allowance being conditional on budget ceilings, means testing, and the executive regulations of the cabinet.' According to him, this resolution does not represent a new change for individuals with disabilities, and the current procedure will continue with slight increases. Marouti called on the 'Guardian Council' to announce its reasons for opposing this resolution and emphasized that 'this action is contrary to the principles of the Constitution and the articles related to eliminating discrimination.' This disability rights activist also warned about the next year due to inflation and difficult economic conditions, considering these changes detrimental to 'social justice.' In June of this year, a number of 'independent activists' emphasized the indifference of Iranian government officials towards the rights of citizens with disabilities in a letter to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, referring to the presence of the head of the Welfare Organization of the Islamic Republic at the seventeenth conference of this international body. In this letter, a copy of which was sent to Voice of America on June 21, 1403, it was stated that Ali Mohammad Ghaderi, the head of the Welfare Organization, participated in the seventeenth session of the global conference on the rights of persons with disabilities while 'the Islamic Republic of Iran, in addition to ignoring the provisions of the 2006 global convention and the considerations sent to Iran, has not even implemented the Law on the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities approved in 1396 within the country.'