This publication brings attention to the devastating impact conflict has on persons with disabilities and, crucially, highlights that many of the key international humanitarian law (IHL) provisions that serve to minimize the impact of armed conflict – such as the proportionality assessment and advanced effective warnings – are not being applied in a disability inclusive manner, resulting in persons with disabilities being killed, seriously injured or left behind as families flee armed attacks.
It offers eight key findings and recommendations for states, humanitarian organizations and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The findings and associated recommendations relate to: the application of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in differing conflict settings, the relationship between the CRPD and IHL, as well as analysis of a number of key IHL norms, including adverse distinction and humane treatment from a disability perspective.
The findings also challenge the miss-conceptions that continue to dominate disability discourse: including incorrect understandings of ‘disability’, the under-inclusive focus on physical and sensory impairment, and prevention of primary impairment being wrongly included within disability-rights.
