ASIA - Maimed because of the war, many disabled forgotten in Nepal and Sri Lanka

Mannar (Agenzia Fides) - Decades of war have seen a proliferation of problems of all sorts in Nepal and Sri Lanka. Among these, people with disabilities are the most vulnerable and neglected in both Countries. The Ministry for Peace and Reconstruction of Nepal registers 4,305 people with disabilities, even though experts claim that there are about 6000. Most live in the provinces of the north and east, where fighting continued for over 30 years. There are many disabled in the poorest areas of Nepal. The same can be said about Sri Lanka where, in 2014, about 16% of these people were unemployed, although activists say there are many more. The president of the organization in the northern district of Vavuniya, in Sri Lanka, said that in the Country one lives with a culture that does not consider the disabled as individuals with different capacities but are seen as a burden. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 25/02/2015)