Both Public and Private Sectors Face Penalties For Not Recruiting Person with Disabilities

Phnom Penh- The government of Cambodia is now creating a more supportive environment for disability advocacy and services to ensure their equal opportunity in society.

“The state institutions and private sectors are obligated to recruit persons with disabilities (PWDs) at least 1% or 2% respectively of the total number of employees. Any institutions, which do not comply with the law, will face penalty by the end of 2018”, according to H.E Sem Sokha, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY).

He added, “Disability Inspection Procedure will be continuously circulated to relevant state institutions and private sectors. The procedure may be resulted in fines imposed on those institutions that do not choose PWDs to work in accordance with the Disability Law”.

The law on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of persons with disabilities has determined cash penalties ranging from 100,000 to 1,000,000 riels.

His ministry’s inspection team would work with ministries, state institutions and the private sector to verify job information requirements and solve problems such as a lack of disabled applicants, according to local reports.

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, as of 2016, there were 4,700 disabled people eligible to work, which 2,576 of them worked in ministries and state institutions, representing 1.72% of the workforce. A further 2,124 disabled people worked in 19 private institutions.

People with Disabilities should be equally integrated into the society