CAMBODIA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PASSES LAW PROTECTING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000376

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS, P, D, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SOCI EAID PHUM PREL CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PASSES LAW PROTECTING
DISABLED PERSONS

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On May 29, the National Assembly (NA)
passed the first law on protecting the rights of disabled
persons in Cambodia. In a country that still deals with
yearly casualties from unexploded land mines and other
ordinance, the legislation is an important step forward for
many disabled persons. Twenty-two opposition lawmakers
boycotted the final NA vote when, by voice vote, the CPP
majority blocked consideration of a list of amendments on the
floor. Sources close to the legislative drafting process
call it a good law that could have been better with more
outside consultation, and expressed disappointment that NA's
Commission on Health, Social Affairs, Labor, and Women's
Affairs (Commission Eight) chose not to hold public hearings
on the law before the vote. Others noted the opposition
interest in the draft was relatively recent. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) After more than 10 years of work, Cambodia's
National Assembly passed its Law on the Protection and
Promotion of the Rights of Persons With Disabilities on May
29, the first of its kind in Cambodia. The country now joins
the ranks of neighbors Thailand and Malaysia that have such
legislation. The new law, once implemented, will bring
Cambodia into compliance as a signatory of the United Nations
Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which
it signed October 1, 2007.

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It's Good That There's a Law
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3. (SBU) Civil society stakeholders welcomed the law's
passage. Although it must still pass a Senate review and be
approved by the King, Susan Cowley, a Senior Parliamentary
Advisor with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
Legislative Assistance Project said that the National
Assembly approval is the biggest hurdle, since the Senate and
Palace rarely send legislation back. She stated that "the
most important thing is that the law now exists." The Chief
of Party for the USAID-funded Kien Khleang National
Rehabilitation Center operated by Veterans International
(VI),Josefina McAndrew, said her organization, and the NGO
sector in general, are very happy o have the law. And Ngin
Saroath, Executive Director of the Cambodian Disabled Peoples
Organization (CDPO),called the law "a great opportunity,"
and "a tool that CDPO can use to monitor the government's
compliance going forward."

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The Law Could Be Better
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4. (SBU) UNDP's Cowley, who advises the National Assembly on
legislative processes in an effort to promote democratic
principles, expressed disappointment at the lack of a
consultative process in drafting and passing the new
legislation and said the law would have been better for it.
She said the staff of UNDP's Legislative Assistance Project
encouraged Commission Eight to seek civil society input
during the drafting process, and to hold public hearings on
the draft law before the vote. UNDP offered financial
support for public hearings, but Commission Eight declined,
citing time constraints.


5. (SBU) The two contacts from NGOs serving disabled persons
also indicated that the law is only a first step in the
process. VI's McAndrew said the law is not perfect, but that
the real challenge will emerge in the implementation process.
In Cambodia, laws are generally broad, and then refined
through both an implementing decree via the Council of
Ministers and any Sub-Decrees that may be passed. CDPO's
Ngin said the law does not cover everything they hoped, but
he expects at least 6 Sub-Decrees from the government to
support the law's goals, and he hoped those Sub-Decrees would
also make the law more comprehensive over time.


6. (SBU) A group of twenty-two opposition Parliamentarians,
including 19 members from the Sam Rainsy Party and all three
members from the Human Rights Party, boycotted the vote on
May 29. Led by Mu Sochua, the opposition members stated that
while they supported the goals of the law, the version that
passed did not do enough to prevent violence against persons
with disabilities or contain enough protections for women and
children with disabilities. According to UNDP's Cowley, the
opposition consulted with an American expert on the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities from
Georgetown University to prepare a list of approximately 40
amendments to the draft law. The amendments concentrated on

PHNOM PENH 00000376 002 OF 003


explicitly stating protections for disabled women and
children, guaranteeing a disabled person's right to own land
and access decent housing, and would have brought the new law
closer to the U.S.'s Americans with Disabilities Act. The
opposition members first tried to submit their amendments
during an early plenary session on the law, but were told
that was the inappropriate venue. They then tried to submit
the recommendations to Commission Eight through Chairwoman Ho
Naun, but Commission Eight declined to accept the amendments.
Mu has said she will send the amendments to the Senate and
the King for consideration (the next steps before final
passage of the law).


7. (SBU) CDPO's Ngin said he understood the majority of the
lawmakers not wanting to accept the amendments because
drafting the law has been more than 10 years in the making,
but the opposition did not express any interest in the
process until the last two or three months.


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Cambodia's First Disability Rights Law
--------------


8. (SBU) Cambodia's Law on the Protection and Promotion of
the Rights of Persons With Disabilities defines a disabled
person as one who "suffers the lack, loss or damage or any
organ or morale...that limits the capacity to perform
essential activities of daily life," and specifically
includes mental illness among examples of disability. It
prohibits discrimination, neglect, exploitation, or
abandonment of persons with disabilities.


9. (SBU) The new law acknowledges the link between
disability and extreme poverty in the Kingdom, and contains
provisions to improve the livelihoods of persons with
disabilities, including health care and rehabilitation
support, guaranteed access to education, and creation of
special education programs. It mandates accessibility of
public places and requires employers to consider disabled
persons for jobs for which they are otherwise qualified. It
forms committees to acknowledge and promote the contributions
of disabled persons to society, and contains provisions to
encourage businesses wholly- or partly-owned by disabled
persons.


10. (SBU) Ngin Saroath said his organization, CDPO, was the
most active participant in the more than decade-long process
of drafting the law. He said the discussion of the law began
in 1996 within the civil society community in Cambodia, and
that several NGOs participated in the initial drafting
effort. The NGOs sought international expertise in preparing
their draft, particularly from Japan, which sent an expert to
help with the process. The NGOs examined the disability laws
from the U.S., Japan, and a few other Western countries, and
drew upon the system of state support in South Korea. CDPO
presented a draft law to the Ministry Social Affairs,
Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY) in 2003, and the
initial draft contained more than 80 Articles, including
several that provided for welfare-style payments to disabled
persons. According to Ngin, MOSAVY accepted the draft, but
said that the responsibility for drafting such a law fell to
the Ministry, and not NGOs. The law passed on May 29
contains 60 Articles, and reflects most of the concerns
raised in the original draft. However, there are no
provisions for state payments to disabled people.


11. (SBU) Mr. Ngin said it's difficult to compare Cambodia's
new law with other countries' laws, because each country has
its own set of challenges in this area. He said the best
laws are probably in Japan and Singapore, but noted that
these highly-developed countries do not face the same
problems as Cambodia. In the developing world, he noted that
Thailand and Malaysia have adequate laws, but both have
problems with enforcement, and he said disabled persons in
both countries still face extreme discrimination. Vietnam
and Laos are both still drafting disability rights laws. He
pointed out that South Korea does not have an explicit law
protecting the rights of disabled people, but has an
excellent system of support for disabled individuals,
including state support payments, which most other countries
do not have.

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COMMENT
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12. (SBU) The Department's annual Report on Human Rights
addresses discrimination and societal abuses against certain

PHNOM PENH 00000376 003 OF 003


classes of people. In the case of disabled persons in
Cambodia, the primary concerns in the past have been the
absence of legislation protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities, general discrimination (particularly for
skilled workers' employment),and lack of government support
for physical accessibility for disabled persons. Direct
funding for initiatives to help disabled persons has also
been a concern, since nearly all such support has been
provided by NGOs. The new law contains provisions that
address each of these concerns. As with many laws in
Cambodia, implementation measures and enforcement will be the
true test of the government's commitment to this issue.
RODLEY