Bridging Barriers and Unlocking Potential Project

Access to education, skills development, and decent work for persons with disabilities is routinely denied, often due to systemic barriers, including societal biases, discrimination, and inaccessible transportation, environments, and technology. Disabilities can also result from exploitation and unsafe working environments. These barriers and biases as well as discrimination prevent the economic empowerment of persons with disabilities and increase their vulnerability to labor exploitation. When a family member has a disability—whether due to injury, illness, or other factors—the resulting financial strain can push families into exploitative labor. The loss of income, coupled with increased expenses such as medical care, can force both children and adults to take on hazardous or precarious work to make ends meet. Existing evidence suggests that children with disabilities are disproportionately involved in street work, including forced begging, often exploited by parents, family members, or others who believe the child will elicit sympathy. Research is needed to understand the scope of exploitation and rights violations affecting persons with disabilities.

Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) are managed by and for persons with disabilities. As representative bodies they play a critical role within civil society by defending and advocating for disability rights and providing essential technical expertise to support the full inclusion of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others in society. In Cambodia, however, OPDs face significant resource and capacity constraints, limiting their ability to effectively advocate for disability rights, prevent labor exploitation, and promote access to decent work. Additionally, many Cambodian OPDs have limited knowledge of child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking and have done little work on employment, training, decent work access and labor exploitation issues affecting persons with disabilities.