The Inter-Agency Standing Committee today released guidelines for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action. Persons with disabilities are estimated to represent 15 percent of the world’s population. In humanitarian contexts, people living with disabilities may form a much higher percentage. People living with disabilities are often among the most marginalized people in crisis-affected communities and can be disproportionately affected by conflict and emergency situations. In disasters, their mortality rate is two to four times higher than that of persons without disabilities. Persons with disabilities are diverse in experience, in the ways that attitudinal, physical and communication barriers impede their participation and inclusion in humanitarian action.
The guidelines set out essential actions that humanitarian actors must take in order to effectively identify and respond to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities who are most at risk of being left behind in humanitarian settings.
These are the first humanitarian guidelines to be developed with and by persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in association with traditional humanitarian stakeholders.
More than 600 experts contributed to the guidelines meant to ensure humanitarian efforts in crises reach persons with disabilities and meaningfully engage them. The guidelines include data, partnership, accountability and also sector specific guidelines.
View the guidelines here: