UN Program to Help Disabled

Khmer Times
Tin Sokhavuth

The ninth session of the Conference of the State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Supplied

The ninth session of the Conference of the State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) took place at UN headquarters in New York last week.

Neth Un, a high-ranking official at the Disability Action Council (DAC), told Khmer Times there were 130 prominent government officials from around the world who participated in the conference. Em Chan Makara, general secretary of the DAC, and Sem Sokha, president of the Cambodian delegation, were in attendance.

According to Mr. Un, the theme of the conference was “Implementing the 2030 development agenda for all persons with disabilities: Leaving no one behind”, and the sub-themes were eliminating poverty and inequality for all persons with disabilities, promoting the rights of persons with mental and intellectual disabilities, enhancing accessibility to information and technology and inclusive development, and celebrating the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the CRPD.

He added that Cambodia had ratified the CRPD on December 20, 2012. The ratification was put into effect on January 19, 2013.

In a document about the elimination of poverty and inequality, the UN stated that according to the available evidence, persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than people without disabilities.

“Available evidence indicates that, in many contexts, persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty than persons without disabilities,” read the UN document.

The UN added that the World Report on Disability 2011 showed that the percentage of employed people with disabilities was 10 percent lower than those without disabilities. Primary school completion rates for people with disabilities were more than 10 percent lower. In addition, only 20 percent of people with disabilities could afford to pay for healthcare when necessary.

The document also mentioned that the cause of poverty and inequality experienced by persons with disabilities was due to the structural, social, political and cultural environment – lack of accessibility of physical and virtual environments, discrimination, exclusion and unequal opportunities.

“Poverty and inequality are intrinsically linked. Reducing the negative social economic and cultural inequalities faced by persons with disabilities will empower them with the opportunities that they need to escape existing cycles of poverty,” read the document.

The UN added that many developing countries were facing challenges creating necessary conditions to provide equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in a range of sectors, including access to healthcare, education, public services, information and communications technologies, vocational training, employment and decent work.

Ngin Saorath, executive director of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization, said that in his eyes, the only way to eliminate poverty was to acknowledge the skills and knowledge of persons with disabilities as well as their ability to run a business by providing them with loans at low interest rates and giving them the opportunity to get a job in the private sector or in governmental institutions.