ZAFOD Calls for reasonable accommodation for Employees with Disabilities in Zambia

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01 May, 2020

Zambia Federation of Disability Organisations (ZAFOD) would like to wish all employees a happy Labour Day, in the midst of COVID-19.

Under the current national health crisis, ZAFOD would like to make a passionate appeal to employers who have persons with disabilities, among their employees, to safeguard and provide all the necessary facilities to protect them from contracting COVID-19, as most persons with disabilities have allied conditions.

We would also like to caution employers against using COVID-19 to layoff persons with disabilities from employment. Laying off such persons from work could has a serious impact on their living conditions.

ZAFOD would love to see all employers exercise reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities, in order to make them function effectively.

Participation of persons with disabilities in employment and public life is a critical element of socially inclusive development, along with the realization of human rights. In the case of persons with disabilities, inclusive employment enables one to take part and contribute towards development that benefit one’s community and country. This is an important means of overcoming exclusion and discrimination and dismantling other barriers frequently faced by persons with disabilities.

 

While the right to inclusive employment is well-established in human rights law, persons with disabilities are frequently denied their employment rights in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons, often the result of direct or indirect discrimination.

Despite the government’s efforts of leaving no one behind, Persons with disabilities continue facing a lot of barriers to employment, including: attitudes to the value of inclusion of people with disabilities in employment; lack of accessible information; and physical barriers to public buildings.

Issued by ZAFOD Secretariat