Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - ‘Cambodia’s 10,000 disabled benefiting from national plan’

‘Cambodia’s 10,000 disabled benefiting from national plan’

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
About 10,000 disabled people are currently benefiting from the implementation of the National Disability Strategic Plan, said a Disability Action Council representative. Khouth Sophak Chakrya

‘Cambodia’s 10,000 disabled benefiting from national plan’

The Secretary General of the Disability Action Council announced on Monday that about 10,000 disabled people are currently benefiting from the implementation of Cambodia’s National Disability Strategic Plan.

Em Chan Makara was speaking at a workshop addressing the implementation of the National Disability Strategic Plan 2019-2023.

“The situation of people with disabilities in Cambodia is improving due to the implementation of the disability strategic plan, along with the creation of many new welfare programmes,” he said.

Makara said the government set out the 2014-2018 national strategic plan to ensure inclusiveness and equality of people with disabilities, while the 2019-2023 strategic plan, now being discussed, aims to eliminate all forms of disability exploitation and discrimination, guarantee access to support, and improve quality of life.

A progress report on the implementation of the 2014-2018 national plan said that 2,839 disabled people (including 756 women) are employed across 40 ministries and state institutions.

Another 3,475 disabled people (including 1,947 women) are working in 77 private companies. A further 22,133 people with disabilities (including 8,878 women) are also enrolled in some form of education, from kindergarten to university.

But Mey Samith, the executive director of the Phnom Penh Center for Independent Living – a Cambodian charity working to empower people with disabilities – told The Post that the disabled still face obstacles in Cambodian society.

“Some state and private institutions have built slopes and lifts to improve building access for disabled people. But the slopes are often impractical, restricting us from moving around by ourselves, while most of the lifts do not have any sound to alert the blind,” he said.

Cheat Sokha, a resident of Battambang province who suffered a serious spinal injury following an artillery explosion in 1985, also attended the workshop. He told The Post that disabled people in Cambodia continue to receive fewer opportunities in education and at the workplace.

“People with disabilities receive less attention and encouragement from family and society. As a consequence, they lose the chance to receive an education or skills to improve their quality of life.

“Also, schools and educational institutions do not currently make proper allowances to accommodate disabled people either,” Cheat Sokha said.

Upon hearing the concerns of participants, Makara urged the workshop to discuss the introduction of a strategy to improve public transportation, knowledge, information and communications for the disabled.

He also urged discussion of a strategy to improve the disabled people’s legal rights, including in cases of physical abuse, human rights violations and labour exploitation, to generate points for inclusion in the National Strategic Plan 2019-2023.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Siem Reap airport to close after new one opens

    After the new Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport (SAI) opens in October, the existing complex serving the northwestern province will be “completely closed”, according to State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) spokesman Sin Chansereyvutha. SAI developer Angkor International Airport Investment (Cambodia) Co Ltd (AIAI) last month

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on