Attachments
Background
Over a billion people around the world, including an estimated 240 million children, have a disability, more than half of whom live in areas affected by armed conflicts. It is expected that this number is even higher in conflict settings, as humanitarian emergencies often involve the formation of new barriers, the disruption in health services and the creation of new impairments, as well as the exacerbation of those already existing.
Children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of conflicts and post-conflict situations – due to an intersection of age- and disability-related factors, they are disproportionately impacted by violence, experience serious threats to life, health and safety, are faced with deepening poverty, deteriorating services and impeded access to healthcare, education, assistive technology, rehabilitation and, often face barriers to accessing life-saving humanitarian aid. At the same time, their needs and priorities are often insufficiently taken into account during the post-conflict reconstruction phase.
Although efforts to ensure the fulfillment of their rights have improved, girls and boys with disabilities continue to remain among the most marginalized and excluded groups of the population. For example, children with disabilities are more than twice as likely as their peers without disabilities to experience violence1 24% of children with more than one functional difficulty are out of primary school; children with disabilities are 26% less likely (compared to children without disabilities) to have improved sanitation facilities in their households; and children with disabilities are 47% more likely to be underweight and 34% more likely to be stunted compared to children without disabilities.2 These risks are significantly amplified during situations of armed conflict. The barriers to full participation they face on a daily basis are further intensified and compounded when infrastructure is destroyed, communities and support networks fractured, and services and systems are compromised or made inaccessible. This results in further exclusion and marginalization of children with disabilities, and prevents them from accessing shelter, food, water, schooling, medical and psychosocial support, or accessible means of escape from conflict. When systems and services break down, children are also left more susceptible to violence and abuse.
On 20 June 2019, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted the resolution 2475 (2019) on the protection of persons with disabilities in armed conflict - the first ever resolution of this body dealing specifically with this issue, at a joint initiative of Poland and the United Kingdom.
The resolution acknowledges the disproportionate impact of armed conflict on all persons with disabilities, while reinforcing the obligations of parties to the conflicts, Member States and the United Nations in line with the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
The said resolution has three main goals. It emphasizes the need to meaningfully involve persons with disabilities in humanitarian action, conflict prevention, reconstruction and post-conflict reconciliation; it highlights the need to expand knowledge on the needs and rights of persons with disabilities in peacekeeping missions; it also calls attention to the necessity of improving the system of data collection and reporting on persons with disabilities in armed conflicts.