People with Disabilities
People with Disabilities
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 2.3 and 3.3 million of the world's forcibly displaced people live with disabilities, one third of them children. Despite this, people with disabilities remain largely invisible or forgotten in their uprooted communities. Despite efforts to take better care of people at greater risk, assistance and protection measures designed for the majority very rarely meet the specific needs of those with disabilities. Due to a lack of identification and referral procedures, poorly adapted services, and poor access, hundreds of thousand of people with disabilities are effectively deprived of the humanitarian aid to which they are entitled.
People with disabilities are specifically vulnerable to physical, sexual and emotional abuse and may require additional protection. The lack of privacy in some situations, such as a lack of access to latrines and bathing areas, increases the risk of abuse. People with disabilities are very often isolated from community life; they risk being left behind when those around them flee and may face difficulties accessing family tracing programmes.
UNHCR supports the rights of the disabled, both among its own staff and among people of concern to the agency. When the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force in May 2008, UNHCR included the covenant's principles in its operations. The refugee agency is also a member of the UN working group on disabilities.
The refugee agency's Community Development, Gender Equality and Children Section has trained staff from various backgrounds to identify people with disabilities. The training emphasized Age, Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming and the meaningful participation of all people of concern in project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in all UNHCR operations.