A federal law is being drawn up to protect the rights of disabled people with harsher punishments for those who deny them, a senior official at the Ministry of Social Affairs said yesterday,
Hussein al Sheikh said the law needed to be strengthened.
"The current law talks about services as rights, not just services, any violation of rights is a crime," he said.
"There will be a new, clearer, law in the future which will include harsher punishments."
He did not give any timetable, however, and said the current law, introduced in 2006, needed more time for its effects to be felt.
He said employment was not particularly a problem, with companies keen to take advantage of incentives, such as cheaper labour cards, for employing disabled people.
But some fields of employment, he said, were likely to remain difficult.
"It depends on the job and the work environment," he added.
"In some jobs where vision is very important, it is hard to take on someone who is visually impaired."