PRIME Minister Hun Sen on Thursday promoted the rights of disabled persons and said that they should have equal access to education and other vital services.

“The discrimination against disabled people should be eradicated. People may be disabled physically, but they are not disabled mentally,” said Hun Sen during the celebration of the 11th Cambodian Handicap Day held at the National Institute of Education. The celebrations coincided with the UN’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

He added that in July the government issued a directive providing land concessions as a social safety net for retirees, disabled persons and veterans of war. Hun Sen said land was provided to more than 300 families that consisted of disabled persons in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Srouch district. A further US$1 million was given to Siem Reap’s Kulen district for construction of houses.

“We have many people who became disabled because of land mines, and we should never ignore them,” Hun Sen said.

Prak Chanthoeun, director general at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said that 1.9 percent of Cambodia’s citizens are disabled.