Strengthening disability inclusion in humanitarian action

ODI live events

The past five years have been pivotal for advancing disability inclusion in the humanitarian sector. The World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in 2016 was a key moment at which it was recognised that while persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by conflicts, disasters and other emergencies, they also face barriers to accessing life-saving humanitarian assistance. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action, is the latest in a range of commitments, standards and guidance developed in the wake of the Summit to address these barriers. Despite this progress challenges to effective inclusion remain. Chief among these is acknowledging that persons with disabilities and their organisations are not passive beneficiaries but agents of change, rights holders and key actors in humanitarian response. The lack of data about people with disabilities that any efforts to strengthen inclusion depend on is another important gap. Drawing on the upcoming Humanitarian Exchange on Disability Inclusion and Network Paper on addressing the disability data gap, we discuss disability-inclusive practices and approaches being used; and what more needs to be done to ensure the rhetoric around disability-inclusive humanitarian preparedness and response is being translated into action. A video introduction is provided by Christian Modino Hok, Humanitarian Director at CBM Disability Inclusion and Co-Chair of the Global Reference Group on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.