A/HRC/42/60/Add.1 positive:56 Cambodia also has relevant laws, strategies and action plans. The current strategic plan includes objectives on reducing poverty, providing equal health services, ensuring full access to justice and preventing discrimination. An interministerial approach has been taken through the coordinating work of the Disability Action Council, which has established offices in all the provinces in order to be more accessible to persons with disabilities. This supports work promoting the rights of persons with disabilities within ASEAN and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations. More work needs to be done to better assess the situation of persons with disabilities and implement supportive, inclusive policies and practices. 37. Many public services remain inaccessible, including some health services. Physical accessibility remains an issue as does access to persons able to communicate with deaf and deafblind persons at the subregional level and in healthcare environments. A consequence of the recent low water levels has been the increase in the number of persons injured by unexploded mines and explosive remnants of war.57 It is notable that Cambodia has added an eighteenth goal to its sustainable development goals on ending the negative impact of Mine/ERW and promoting victim assistance. Many of those victims are persons who now have disabilities. 38. In education, issues preventing children with disability attending school include social discrimination, lack of transport, lack of assistive devices, physical barriers, teachers’ lack of skills in appropriate teaching methodologies and the need for children to help with housework.58 The Global Partnership for Education study found that 10.1 per cent of Cambodian children had a disability, with cognitive and speech impairments the most common.59 In Cambodia, children with intellectual disabilities and their families face significant stigma and discrimination, with very few organisations providing services and support. With respect to blind and deafblind children, it is noted that the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports has secured a braille printer but logistical issues remain with translating education books into braille and ensuring blind children are trained in reading braille.60 There also remains a lack of appropriately trained teachers. Children with intellectual disabilities are frequently not diagnosed and offered appropriate support to enable them to enter and remain in school. This is true also for children with autism spectrum disorders. The Special Rapporteur receives reports of families fearing stigmatisation and unable to find appropriate specialists to identify any disability and advise on appropriate support. Learning needs are rarely identified. Children risk leaving education early. 39. There is a lack of professional support available especially for persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.61 Persons with mental disabilities and psychosocial disabilities remain stigmatised. Intellectual disabilities in particular are not widely understood in Cambodia and there is a lack of inclusory practices to ensure that all persons with disabilities can participate in decision making at all levels.62 40. As the Special Rapporteur found in May 2019, the Social Affairs Transit Centre of Prey Speu now primarily houses persons with disabilities. As this has already been established as a place of detention, given that residents cannot leave of their own free will, this is problematic. Many of the residents appear to have intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. The Special Rapporteur reminds the government that segregation is not appropriate and all persons with disabilities should be fully supported to live independently or with appropriate support in their communities. If people are living in government centres, 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 12 A/HRC/36/61, para 43. http://www.anroev.org/2019/05/18/the-cambodian-mine-action-and-victim-assistance-authoritycmaa-records-73-increase-in-mine-casualties/, also reported in the Khmer Times https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50605170/cmaa-records-increase-in-accidents-and-casualties. Chean Samnang et al, MRTC, Review and Gaps Analysis of Statistics on Persons with Disabilities in Cambodia, March 2009, pp. 39-45. Adam Huebner, Handicap International’s Disability Prevalence Project: Final Report, 2012, p.45. A/HRC/39/73, para 18. Joint UNCT Cambodia Report in the context of Cambodia’s third UPR cycle, available https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRKHUNContributionsS32.aspx. Joint UNCT Cambodia Report in the context of Cambodia’s third UPR cycle, available https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRKHUNContributionsS32.aspx , para 72.