Government representatives, civil society organizations, international institutions and partners yesterday, August 29, 2013 drew up Cameroon's contribution to the United Nations General Assembly of September 23, 2013 in New York, USA to set up a roadmap toward the effective inclusion of the specific needs of persons with disabilities in development programmes. The theme of the general assembly session will be "The way forward: a Disability inclusive Development Agenda Towards 2015 and Beyond."

The participants in the national forum held at the Cardinal Paul Emile Leger National Centre for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities at Etoug-Ebe in Yaounde also served as the occasion to draw up the country's proposals for the putting in place of the African Disabled Persons Forum, ADF. Talking during the occasion, Dr Simo Tumde Martha, representative of the Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms, Dr Divine Chemuta Banda said the participants were equally to use the forum to assess the inclusion of persons with disabilities in development policies in Cameroon, identify setbacks and adopt actions and other measures to bring about the inclusion of all types of disabilities in the development process. Stating that the inclusion of persons with disabilities was the concern of the Commission, she said, "various solutions if effectively put in place, will curb discrimination and exclusion, as well as contribute to the respect of the rights of every citizen in Cameroon, especially persons with disabilities."

The Executive Director of the National Union of Associations and Institutions for the Disabled in Cameroon, UNAPHAC, Gabriel Ondoua Abah reiterated the fact that persons with disabilities make up an estimated 15 per cent of the world's population, meaning more than a billion human beings. He stressed on the development of policies and programmes in which this category of people are effective agents of development both as actors and beneficiaries. Persons with disabilities will want to be part of Cameroon's official delegation to the UN September 23 General Assembly session in order to witness the taking of concrete decisions to enable them effectively become agents of development.