PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (pic) on Wednesday (March 15) called on national and international communities to enhance the rights of disabled people and protect them against any forms of discrimination.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the fifth Asia-Pacific Community-Based Inclusive Development Congress here, Hun Sen said currently, public health, economic, social and geopolitical challenges have been seriously affecting the lives of the general population around the world, especially the disabled and other vulnerable people.
"I would like to call on national and international communities to continue to work together to implement the Sustainable Development Goal on Persons with Disabilities, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Incheon Strategy, in order to provide real rights to persons with disabilities," he said.
For Cambodia, Hun Sen said the government is committed to promoting the rights of the disabled, especially the right to life, the right to special protection, the right to work and the right to full participation in socio-economic development.
He said Cambodia has provided a 2 per cent quota for the hiring of disabled workers at public ministries and institutions, while encouraging the private sector to offer jobs to qualified persons with disabilities.
Vong Sauth, minister of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, said the country has 872,527 people with disabilities, equivalent to 5 per cent of the total population.
"Diseases, malnutrition, old age, heredity, and other accidents are the main risk factors for disability," he said.
