Phnom Penh, Mar 15 (IANS): Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday urged national and international communities to enhance the rights of physically-challenged people and protect them against any forms of discrimination.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the fifth Asia-Pacific Community-Based Inclusive Development Congress here, Hun Sen said currently, public health, economic, social and geopolitical challenges have been seriously affecting the lives of the general population around the world, especially the physically-challenged and other vulnerable people, reports Xinhua news agency.

"I would like to call on national and international communities to continue to work together to implement the Sustainable Development Goal on Persons with Disabilities, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Incheon Strategy, in order to provide real rights to persons with disabilities," he said.

For Cambodia, Hun Sen said the government is committed to promoting the rights of the physically-challenged, especially the right to life, the right to special protection, the right to work and the right to full participation in socio-economic development.

He said Cambodia has provided a 2 per cent quota for the hiring of physically-challenged workers at public ministries and institutions, while encouraging the private sector to offer jobs to qualified persons with disabilities.

Vong Sauth, minister of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, said the Southeast Asian country has 872,527 people with disabilities, equivalent to 5 per cent of the total population.

"Diseases, malnutrition, old age, heredity, and other accidents are the main risk factors for disability," he said.