As of March 2023, more than 1.3 billion people live with a disability which is approximately 16% of the world’s population (WHO, 2023). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UNCRPD affirm that persons with disabilities have the same rights and freedoms as everyone else, including the right to access information. Information is vital for people with disabilities to engage in public life or exercise their civil rights, and to make informedchoices. However, persons with disabilities often encounter many persisting barriers in various aspects of their lives, such as education, economic, health, justice, and social protection that prevent them from fully participating in society. They are more likely to live in poverty and have lower educational attainment and employment opportunities.

UNESCO in collaboration with the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), has conducted a research study on information needs assessment to better understand the information needs of persons with disabilities and provide evidence-based recommendations to strengthen existing systems and capacities of the involved stakeholders improve access to information for persons with disabilities.

The main objectives of the study are (1) to provide an overview of existing practices, legislations, and policies related to access to information to assess their strength and adequacy in response to the information needs of persons with disabilities, (2) to examine the current state of information accessibility among persons with disabilities with consideration of domains and levels of disabilities and barriers preventing them from accessing necessary information, and (3) to conduct a needs assessment on access to information for persons with disabilities in Cambodia.

As we reached the conclusion of this study, CDRI and UNESCO are pleased to host the validation workshop to present and validate the research findings on the access to information for persons with disabilities. And it is also our great pleasure to convene the stakeholders to provide feedback on the findings and work together to discuss recommendations on how to make information more accessible to persons with disabilities.

This workshop will take place on 11 December 2023 at Raffles Hotel Le Royal, Phnom Penh from 8AM - 1:30PM (Cambodia Time)

This initiative is part of the UN Joint initiative “Accelerating Disability Rights in Cambodia”, which is funded by the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities