UN to help Cameroon ratify convention on rights of persons with disabilities.

The Regional Director of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, Paul Coustere, who co-presided the high-level meeting, praised the strides government has made so far in promoting disability inclusion, enhancing access to their rights, curbing discrimination and offering opportunities for the disabled to access different services offered by the state to its citizens.

On her part, the Minister of Social Affairs, Pauline Irene Nguene, said the number of disabled persons in Cameroon, just like in other developing countries is very high. 

This, the member of government said, is aggravated by pervasive poverty. She was quick to state that government is not resting in its effort to make sure the disabled and other vulnerable groups get what they deserve like other citizens. 

The minister stressed that government’s strong engagement is demonstrated in the fight against all forms of discrimination and stigmatisation affecting disabled persons.

Minister Irene Nguene said government recognises that persons living with disabilities have enormous potential. 

“Government’s policy on inclusion is anchored on the belief that disability inclusion promotes access to rights, services, and non-discrimination for disabled persons,” she asserted.

Where it pinches most

Taking the cue, the Executive Director of the National Platform for Organisations Promoting the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Cameroon, Tchotchom Emmanuelle Flaure Virginie, expressed dismay that the challenges that the said category of persons face in the country have been left in the hands of the Ministry of Social Affairs, alone to solve.

Whereas, the problems are multifaceted and cut across many sectors of Cameroon society. She said the disabled have problems related to their reproductive health that could have been better handled by the Ministry of Public Health.

She said they have challenges related to education that could better be handled by ministries handling the different levels of education in the country. 

Tchotchom also mentioned challenges that relate to their professional training and reinsertion in the society that could better be handled by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

“Since many persons living with disability reside mostly in the rural areas, they are faced with difficulties related to accessing services offered to other citizens by decentralized collectivities,” she said.

Therefore, the involvement of the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development in activities that relate to promotion of their rights and sensitising local and other decentralised administrations to take cognizance of inclusivity of disabled persons is imperative, she requested.

To enhance their participation in the politics of the country also, she said bodies like Elections Cameroon, ELECAM, would have been involved in activities that aim at promoting the rights of disabled persons, and improving their welfare.

She, however, thanked the government, UN agencies operating in Cameroon, as well as other stakeholders involved in promoting the rights of handicapped persons for the existence of this steering committee, without which she said the voice of the disabled in Cameroon could not have been heard.

The woman reminded actors and stakeholders that people can be disabled in different ways. The different disabilities, she said, need different kinds of intervention by well trained professionals in order for their needs to be met.

She added that training experts in translating sign language, use of brail, and offering health hygiene and reproductive health counselling to handicapped adolescent girls are some of the challenges they the promoters find very difficult to get help. 

Tchotchom proudly announced that her platform had succeeded in planting field offices in eight out of the 10 regions that make up the country; while not less than 20 civil society associations and organisations working to improve the lot of disabled persons had adhered to her platform.

She equally thanked the government, especially the Minister of Social Affairs, whom she said, had accepted to work with and include the national platform in all activities where government is seeking solutions to the problems of the disabled.

Different UN agencies and other organisations took turns in presenting reports of their activities since they held their last session.