Disability and Armed Conflict in Ukraine: Training Local and Humanitarian Actors

Workshop in Kiev on disability and armed conflict Workshop in Kiev on disability and armed conflict

3 December 2018

Our Senior Researcher Alice Priddy led last week a workshop in Kiev on the protection of persons with disabilities living in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

The workshop was held as part of our project on disability and armed conflict, which is being supported by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS).

Addressing the Application of International Law Towards Persons with Disabilities Living in Donetsk and Luhansk

The workshop was held in partnership with the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Global Protection Cluster in Ukraine, an inter-agency forum that coordinates and supports humanitarian responses to the conflicts in the East.

It provided participants – local organizations of persons with disabilities, UN agencies and other international humanitarian organizations – with an overview of international law applicable to persons with disabilities living in Donetsk and Luhansk, including international humanitarian law (IHL) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The workshop also addressed the inclusion of persons with disabilities in norms related to the conduct of hostilities (such as assessments of proportionality and the meaning of 'effective advance warnings of attacks').

Disability and Armed Conflict in Ukraine workshop bis

Dissemination of Research’s Findings

Ukraine is a case study within our research project on disability and armed conflict.

Alice has previously undertaken field research in the region to consider the impact of the conflict on persons with disabilities and the implementation of IHL and international human rights law.

'Our research showed that the conflicts in Donetsk and Luhansk have had a devastating impact on persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities living in the two territories have for instance been excluded from humanitarian responses to the conflict, including evacuation procedures, leaving them vulnerable to injury or death. Internally displaced persons with disabilities have received little state support in accessing accessible accommodation, basic healthcare and rehabilitation services, as well as accessible education and employment. Persons with disabilities that have remained in the occupied territories face huge challenges in access state support, including arduous and dangerous journeys across the contact line to access their social support payments’ explains Alice Priddy.

‘This workshop provided an important opportunity to return to Ukraine to disseminate our field research findings, increase the capacity of key actors within the humanitarian community and hopefully draw attention to this incredibly important and largely overlooked issue', she adds.

The project’s final report, which will draw on field research conducted in several states, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Palestine, Vietnam and Ukraine, will be published in the spring of 2019.

Disability and Armed Conflict in Ukraine

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

Equality and Non Discrimination Book Cover News

Legal Understandings of Equality and Non-Discrimination Examined in New Publication

21 August 2025

Our new publication, Equality and Non-Discrimination, brings together cutting-edge scholarship on one of the most fundamental principles of international human rights law.

Read more

bombed building News

Expert Consultation on CESCR’s General Comment on ICESCR in Armed Conflict

8 May 2025

The Geneva Academy convened an expert consultation on the CESCR’s General Comment on the Application of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Situations of Armed Conflict.

Read more

A general view of participants during of the 33nd ordinary session of the Human Rights Council. Training

The Universal Periodic Review and the UN Human Rights System: Raising the Bar on Accountability

10-14 November 2025

This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.

Read more

Screenshot of the RULAC webpage Project

Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts (RULAC)

Started in May 2007

The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project (RULAC) is a unique online portal that identifies and classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). It is primarily a legal reference source for a broad audience, including non-specialists, interested in issues surrounding the classification of armed conflicts under IHL.

Read more

Computer screen with warning: civilian infrastucture: do not attack Project

The Digitalization of Armed Conflict

Started in September 2020

This project will explore humanitarian consequences and protection needs caused by the digitalization of armed conflicts and the extent to which these needs are addressed by international law, especially international humanitarian law.

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2024

published on July 2025

Read more