VZCZCXRO2722
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0376/01 1590622
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 080622Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0794
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

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. 
 
---------------------------- 
It's Good That There's a Law 
---------------------------- 
 
¶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." 
 
----------------------- 
The Law Could Be Better 
----------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
 
-------------------------------------- 
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. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶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