People with Disabilities Hold Protest Rallies in Several Cities in Iran

A number of people with disabilities held protest rallies on Sunday morning, June 11, in response to the neglect of their demands. These protests took place not only in Tehran but also in cities such as Mashhad, Kerman, Ardabil, Borujerd, Qom, Arak, and Kermanshah. According to the campaign channel for the rights of people with disabilities, some cities also saw individual and duo protests. The report stated that welfare organizations in several cities had been active prior to the protests, attempting to prevent the gatherings under the pretext of meetings and site visits to the homes of active disabled individuals. This was the second protest by people with disabilities in Iran this year, the first having occurred on April 29 in 18 cities. A group of deaf individuals in Mashhad signed a petition demanding the implementation of Article 27 of the Disability Law. According to ILNA news agency, people with disabilities are protesting the non-implementation of Article 27 of the Disability Support Law. This article mandates that the government must provide a livelihood allowance for severely disabled individuals who are unemployed and without income, equivalent to the annual minimum wage, and allocate necessary budgets in the annual budget laws. ILNA pointed out that the Disability Support Law, passed in 2017, lacks necessary enforcement guarantees, and the government removed the budget line specific to this law in the 2023 budget law. This government action has led to widespread protests from disabled individuals and several professional associations. They have called for the implementation of Article 27 and improvements in the living conditions of people with disabilities, especially in light of rising prices for essential hygiene products. In this context, Pouya Jameh Kouhi, a young disability rights activist, has repeatedly highlighted the problems faced by disabled individuals on Twitter. Meanwhile, Ali Hemat Mahmoudnejad, spokesperson for the National Network of People with Disabilities, criticized the Seventh Development Plan in an interview with ILNA on Saturday, June 10, stating that the government, instead of strengthening compensation costs for inefficiency for disabled individuals and creating sustainable employment with multiple incentives for employers hiring disabled individuals, will promote the exploitation of disabled people. Mahmoudnejad pointed out that Article 16 of the first chapter of the Seventh Development Plan states that employers can hire disabled individuals with their consent at wages lower than the labor law, with no penalties for employers. He emphasized that this provision allows employers to pay disabled individuals less than the approved labor wages, forcing them to accept jobs with lower wages than those set by the Ministry of Labor to avoid unemployment. The government of Ebrahim Raisi has remained silent regarding the criticisms of this article, which has also drawn severe criticism from labor activists and professional associations. The protests of disabled individuals in front of the Organization for Planning and Budget included slogans such as 'No charity, no favor, give us our rights with dignity.' People with disabilities are protesting the Seventh Development Plan, claiming that '20% of beneficiaries are eliminated annually.' When the law for 'supporting the rights of people with disabilities' gathers dust, it amounts to 655,000 tomans for 'living.'