The Association of Students with Disabilities “Gaudeamus” urges the Parliament of Moldova to ratify in a as short as possible term the UN Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. The document has been adopted in December 2006, in New York, by the UN General Assembly and was signed by Moldova on March 30. “Gaudeamus” Association, which has participated actively in working out the Convention organised a roundtable on this topic on Thursday, April 19, in partnership with the OSCE Mission to Moldova and the European Commission Delegation. According to the head of the “Gaudeamus” Association, Natalia Buga, the UN Convention is an international document, containing 50 articles which stipulate the rights of the persons with disabilities, as equal members of the society – the right to access to transportation, information, social protection services, healthcare, and participation in public and political life. The Convention obliges its signatories to adopt pieces of legislation which would prohibit the discrimination of any form of disability and eliminate the norms which already produce discrimination. Moreover, governments will have to fight the stereotypes and prejudices and promote the full participation of persons with disabilities in the social life. The situation of persons with disabilities in Moldova, as well as in other states, is precarious, said Natalia Buga, emphasising that the signing and the ratification of the document would represent a step towards Moldova’s European integration. Speaker of Parliament Marian Lupu suggested that institutions and organisations in the domain of promoting the rights of persons with disabilities should participate actively in the debates within parliamentary standing committees, explain the MPs the provisions and the effects of the Convention, so that the procedure of debates and ratification in the Parliament become a public, transparent and balanced process, which would ensure the application of all the provisions of the document. Lupu added that the document entails the necessity to re-locate financial and budgetary resources which are to be allotted for concrete actions when applying the Convention’s provisions. In this regard, the Government is to work out a concrete short-term action plan for the application of the document. There are about 150,000 persons with disabilities in Moldova.