This time we would like to tell you about about what has been going on over the past few months in connection with our Independent Living programme. At the end of last year after a long battle lobbying politicians and raising public awareness, we finally succeeded in changing the Law on Ownership Transformation of the Slovenian Lottery, which changes the composition of the Council of the Foundation. The Foundation funds disability and humanitarian organisations in Slovenia from concession funds from the Slovenian Lottery. With this change we have succeeded in breaking the monopoly held by the traditional disability organisations which are united in the National Council of Disability Organisations, and who previously had an absolute majority in the Council of FIHO.
This monopoly allowed non-transparent and discriminatory distribution of public funds that were supposed to be earmarked. In strong support of our arguments concerning the admissibility of such behavior there were also several judgments of corruption found by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and the Court of Audit. Despite the powerful propaganda by the NSIOS that the proposed changes will decrease the amount of money available for disabled people and their attempts to hold a referendum on the issue, they have been unsuccessfuland MPs overwhelmingly supported the changes. This means that a battle was won, but the war is not over yet.
Marina Vujačić, was born on 1986 in Nikšić, Montenegro. She has a graduate degree in sociology.
My name is Suvad Zahirović. I was born in Brcko,Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31st May 1962. I am blind since birth. I graduated at Faculty for political sciences, at Belgrade University in 1989. I am living in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with my wife and daughter.
