Soma

By Hazhar Mohammed and Ari Anwar, Suleimaniah

The Kurdish authorities are making every effort to better serve persons with disabilities, and to take measures to ensure they have equal opportunities for recreation and sports.

On 20 December 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted the standard rules on the equalization of opportunities for persons with disabilities, covering all aspects of disabled people’s lives and showing governments ways in which to make social, political and legal changes to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy full and equal rights as other citizens.

Due to mines, wars, natural disasters, genetic and inborn factors, a large number of people have become disabled in the Kurdistan region. They can be seen daily in the markets, offices and government departments. In the Kurdistan region, scores of governmental and non-governmental organizations are engaged in dealing with the problems facing disabled persons, as well as working to protect their rights. The Kurdish authorites are making every effort to better serve persons with disabilities, and to take measures to ensure that disabled persons have equal opportunities for recreation and sports.

Firsat Shali, head of the newly established the Kurdistan Paralympics Committee (KPC), discussed the procedures that have been made for the establishment of the committee in the Kurdistan region, and in particular in the province of Suleimanieh. Shali said that persons with disabilities in the Kurdistan region have the same opportunities to enjoy every kind of sport and recreation just like others. He added that the committee is planning to set up projects to develop methods of accessibility and participation, information and training programs.

"Kurdistan Paralympics has been established to represent Kurdistan and it aims to serve persons with disabilities in Kurdistan," says Shali. He went on to say that the committee of the Kurdistan Paralympics is moving forwards and is taking into account the special needs of disabled persons, in supporting the participation of disabled persons in national and international events. During the rule of the Baath regime in Iraq, a Paralympics Union was established in 1982 under the supervision of Uday, the elder son of the former Iraqi leader.

Kurds, however, were deprived of joining the union or participating in all athletic activities. Shali explained that the word “Paralympic” derives from the Greek preposition “para” (“beside” or “alongside”) and the word “Olympics” (the Paralympics being the parallel games to the Olympics).

The word Paralympics was originally a pun combining “paraplegic” and “Olympic”. But, with the inclusion of other disability groups and the close associations with the Olympic movement, it now represents “parallel” and “Olympic” to illustrate how the two movements exist side by side.

The head of the KPC acknowledged that he was elected to head the committee and the deputy to the Iraqi Paralympics Committee representing Kurdistan. Shali said that the KPC was established on 23 August 2005 and is granted permission by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to represent Kurdistan in all international sport activities. The Paralympics committee is compromised of persons with disabilities, including those who lost one of their limbs, blind persons, and the deaf and dumb.

Firsat Shali called on the President of the Kurdistan region and his deputy to speed up the unification of the two Kurdish local administrations starting with the disabled unions. Noori Barzinji, head of the Iraqi Kurdistan Rozh Society, said that there is an article adopted by the UN, which says that every nation, government and regional government can establish its own Paralympics committee to represent its nation in world sports activities.

He added that after taking several legal steps, the founding members of the Paralympics committee decided to form the committee in Kurdistan. Barzinji said that they contacted the Iraqi Paralympics committee to hold talks about the possibility of forming the Kurdistan Paralympics committee.

“At first, they refused to negotiate with the Kurdish delegation just because they were Kurds, but we insisted that there is an article issued by the UN about the establishment of the committee in every regional government and they agreed to permit the formation of the committee,” he says. “But they refused to support us financially and told us that we had to depend on our local government for funding.”

Another reason for not allowing the establishment of the committee was that the steering committee of the Iraqi Paralympics committee was loyal to the ousted Iraqi regime, claims Barzinji. The national sports organizations, which created the KPC, are convinced that the future of sport for disabled persons lies in bringing together athletes with different abilities to hold joint competitions, says Barzinji.

Rezan Yaseen, deputy head of the Kurdistan Paralympics committee and the secretary of the Kurdistan Deaf and Dumb Group, said that the KPC is the national governing body of sports for athletes with a disability, which includes other multi-disability competitions, e.g., World Championships.

The KPC also supports the recruitment and development of athletes at local, national and international levels across all performance levels, Rezan adds.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Kurdistan Regional Government.