The Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability (MFOPD) is the national umbrella organisation for the disability sector.

It represents Malta on various EU fora among which the European Disability Forum (EDF).

Marthese Mugliette, President of the MFOPD, said that the EDF has selected 13 countries, including Malta, where their findings on poverty, social exclusion and employment of persons with disability were especially compelling, and where EDF thinks there is a real chance to have them included in the Country Reports and Country-Specific Recommendations issued to Member States.

Ms Mugliette looked at why the EDF urgently needed to see persons with disability reflected in Malta’s Country Specific Recommendations 2020.

She went on to say that according to their findings, Malta stands out compared to other EU Member States by its low national expenditure on persons with disability. “It is also one of the worst performers when it comes to fostering employment for persons with disabilities.”

Marthese Mugliette explained that these points were highlighted in the report:

“Malta is the EU Member State spending the lowest percentage of its GDP on support for persons with disability. It spends a mere 0.6% of its GDP on disability, compared to an EU average of 2% of GDP.

Malta has one of the lowest employment rates for persons with disability in the EU. Only 37.25% of persons with disability in Malta have a job, and these figures do not account for the quality of employment or indeed whether or not it is a full-time job. (employment data from 2017 is the latest comparable data the European Commission has at the EU level)

Malta also has a huge disparity between employment rates for persons with and without disability. It is the EU country the second biggest difference in percentage points between the average employment rate and the employment rate for person with disability specifically. In Malta persons with disability are an astounding 36 percentage points less likely to be employed than persons without disabilities.

Malta is one of the countries in the EU where the risk of poverty and social exclusion has increased in the past ten years. The latest Eurostat figures show an increase of 1 percentage point in poverty rates for persons with disability since 2010. For the non-disabled population, the risk of poverty decreased by 2 percentage points in the same period (comparisons made for years between 2010 – 2018).”

“The MFOPD hopes that such findings known to us and sent to us by the European Disability Forum will be dealt with immediately and with great responsibility by the authorities concerned. We are talking about lives,” said Marthese Mugliette.

She concluded by saying that “persons with disability cannot, and must not, wait any longer to enjoy the same human rights as everyone else and to participate fully in society by receiving the same opportunities as others.”

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