The forthcoming East African Conference on People With Disabilities (PWDs) which is slated later this month in Kampala, will focus on putting in place mechanisms for engagement in improving the status of PWDs in the region.

According to the EAC Secretariat, the two-day regional conference will determine how best the region can develop a comprehensive policy for addressing the challenges facing the disabled people.

The forum will bring together PWDs, policymakers, members of East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) and officials from the EAC secretariat.

In an interview with The New Times, the Minister for EAC Affairs, Monique Mukaruliza, said that a delegation of nine Rwandan EALA members and other representatives from the ministry in charge of Social Affairs will attend the conference.

"The conference will develop a comprehensive regional policy governing persons with disabilities as well as proposing the adoption of a legally binding protocol,” she said.

"The EAC Treaty has not been extensive enough in defining the broad character of what is fundamentally a human rights issue.”

She noted that some efforts however, have been made at the level of the partner states to enact laws to govern the needs of people with disabilities.

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