MADRID, 23 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) and the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI) welcome “with satisfaction and optimism” the start of the parliamentary process for the new Sports Law and call on all political parties to make “an effort of consensus” to achieve good legislation that “represents a great advance in terms of sport for people with disabilities”.
The CPE has actively participated in the process of preparing the new law that will replace the 1990 law and all its suggestions have had “the agreement and support” of CERMI and the Spanish Sports Federations for People with Disabilities, according to The agency indicated in a press release this Wednesday.
The two committees, which seek “majority support for the general lines of the law”, through meetings with practically all the groups in Congress, “greatly appreciate that the text clearly marks the promotion of sport practiced by people with disabilities” It is the second main axis of promotion of the sports policies of this law, behind equal treatment between women and men.
The CPE recalls that this Sports Law Project also represents “the culmination of the work carried out in the White Paper on Sports for People with Disabilities in Spain”, which it prepared together with CERMI and the ONCE Foundation, and which “served as starting material to propose a normative agenda that to a great extent” has been included in the legislative text.
The CPE stressed that the legislative text has “constant references to inclusive sport”, which it defines as “all sports practice that favors the inclusion of people with disabilities in society, with those activities that provide for this joint practice between people playing a relevant role. with and without disabilities, and always seeking equal opportunities and conditions between people with and without disabilities in the field of sport”; and that it is also considered to be of “general interest”.
In addition, he sees as “a great contribution” that sports federations are obliged in their statutes to have a sports commission for people with disabilities to promote sports practice and to end situations of discrimination at the federal level.
The two entities also celebrate that the new law is intended to “take advantage of the federative structures of the sports federation of the respective modality to allow the growth of the practice developed by people with disabilities” and that the integration of these modalities will be mandatory when it is so has done in the corresponding international federation.
In any case, for those modalities that are already included, this process must “necessarily have the agreement ratified by the assemblies of the federations of origin and destination”, although while this is not carried out, the Spanish sports federations for people with disabilities they will have their existence guaranteed “by law and will develop the sports modalities and specialties that are contemplated in their statutes.”
With regard to Paralympic sport, the Draft Sports Law dedicates a specific chapter to the Spanish Olympic and Paralympic Committees, recognizing their importance and guaranteeing “the equality of both in the exercise of their functions, as well as in relation to their obligations and Rights”. In this sense, the future law “introduces an important novelty” in relation to the functions of the CSD, which must have “a transversal vision of the needs of these people in all areas of sport.”
On financing, the text includes “specific lines of subsidies and other financing channels” so that the federations have resources to properly attend to people with disabilities and “specifies” that the Sports Development Programs reflect their sports modalities and be allocated a specific budget.
Finally, the law also affects aspects related to accessibility in sports facilities or a call for greater visibility of the sport of people with disabilities in the media, “especially in those of public ownership.”