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Advancing towards inclusive peace and security: Persons with disabilities and Security Council Resolution 2475

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2022

Bogna Ruminowicz
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Abstract

Persons with disabilities are at higher risk of injury or death during an armed conflict, either as specific targets or through inability to protect themselves. Humanitarian responses concentrate on meeting the immediate basic needs of an average population. Yet historically, the situation of persons with disabilities during armed conflict, as well as peacebuilding processes, has been largely absent in the discussion at the Security Council. On 20 June 2019, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2475. This groundbreaking text marks the first time the Council has dedicated an entire resolution to the situation of persons with disabilities in situations of armed conflict. The resolution has significantly raised the attention and understanding of the situation of persons with disabilities in the context of the armed conflict in the Security Council and beyond. This article details the process that led to Resolution 2475, as well as what has happened since.

Keywords

Persons with disabilitiesUnited Nations Security Council (UNSC)UNSC Resolution 2475inclusive peaceConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)CRPD Article 11protection of civilians
Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 105 , Issue 922: Persons with disabilities in armed conflict , April 2023 , pp. 449 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC.

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Footnotes

The advice, opinions and statements contained in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICRC. The ICRC does not necessarily represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided in this article.

References

1 World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, World Report on Disability, WHO, Geneva, 14 December 2011, p. 30, available at: www.who.int/teams/noncommunicable-diseases/sensory-functions-disability-and-rehabilitation/world-report-on-disability (all internet references were accessed in September 2022).

2 United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Global Humanitarian Overview 2021, 1 December 2020, available at: https://2021.gho.unocha.org/.

3 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019, 18 June 2020, available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-trends-forced-displacement-2019.

4 Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre, Conflict and Persons with Disabilities: Fact Sheet, 3 December 2021, available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/fact-sheet-conflict-and-persons-disabilities-3-december-2021.

5 Priddy, Alice, Disability and Armed Conflict, Academy Briefing No. 14, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Geneva, 2019Google Scholar.

6 Women's Refugee Commission, Gender-based Violence among Displaced Women and Girls with Disabilities: Findings from Field Visits 2011–2012, available at: www.womensrefugeecommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GBV_and_disability_field_visit_findings_022513.pdf.

7 A. Priddy, above note 5.

8 Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Gerard Quinn, Report on the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of armed conflict, UN Doc. A/76/146, 19 July 2021.

9 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Migrants and Refugees with Disabilities Must be a Priority in New Global Compact on Migration – UN Experts”, Press Release, 12 April 2017, available at: www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2017/04/migrants-and-refugees-disabilities-must-be-priority-new-global-compact.

10 Anita Aaron, Danielle Lane and Ariana Barth, The Involvement of Persons with Disabilities in Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Efforts: Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) as Part of the Solution in the Post Conflict Arena, World Institute on Disability, Berkeley, 2015.

11 Elizabeth Murray and Rashad Nimr, “The Role of Accessibility and Funding in Disability-Inclusive Peacebuilding”, United States Institute of Peace, 29 July 2022, available at: www.usip.org/publications/2022/07/role-accessibility-and-funding-disability-inclusive-peacebuilding.

12 CBM International, Humanity & Inclusion (HI) and the International Disability Alliance (IDA), Case Studies Collection 2019. Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, 2019, available at: www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/sites/default/files/case_studies_inclusion_of_persons_with_disabilities_in_humanitarian_action_cbm_hi_ida_0.pdf.

13 UNSC, Resolution 2475 (2019), UN Doc. S/RES/2475 (2019), 20 June 2019, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/186/60/PDF/N1918660.pdf?OpenElement.

14 UNSC, Resolution 2217 (2015), UN Doc. S/RES/2217 (2015), 28 April 2015, preambular para. 33, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N15/121/41/PDF/N1512141.pdf?OpenElement.

15 Ibid., para. 32(e)(11).

16 UNSC, Resolution 2459 (2019), UN Doc. S/RES/2459 (2019), 15 March 2019, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/075/20/PDF/N1907520.pdf?OpenElement.

17 For example, in the case of South Sudan: Human Rights Watch, “South Sudan: People with Disabilities, Older People Face Danger”, 31 May 2017, available at: www.hrw.org/news/2017/05/31/south-sudan-people-disabilities-older-people-face-danger.

18 UNSC, Resolution 2427 (2018), UN Doc. S/RES/2427 (2018), 9 July 2018, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N18/216/81/PDF/N1821681.pdf?OpenElement.

19 UNSC, Protection of civilians in armed conflict, UN Doc. S/2020/366, 6 May 2020, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N20/115/79/PDF/N2011579.pdf?OpenElement.

20 UN General Assembly, One Humanity: Shared Responsibility: Report of the Secretary-General for the World Humanitarian Summit, UN Doc. A/70/709, 2 February 2016, §79.

21 Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, available at: http://humanitariandisabilitycharter.org/.

22 Ibid., section 2.1.

23 Ibid., section 2.2.

24 Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, above note 21.

25 UNICEF, Guidance on Including Children with Disabilities – Education Kit Handbook, July 2013, available at: www.unicef.org/supply/reports/guidance-including-children-disabilities-education-kit-handbook.

26 UN, “The Situation of Persons with Disabilities in Armed Conflict – Security Council, Open Arria-Formula Meeting”, UN Web TV, 3 December 2018, available at: https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1any949pw.

27 Nujeen Mustafa, “Statement by Ms. Nujeen Mustafa during the UN Security Council Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in Syria, UN Headquarters, New York”, 24 April 2019, available at: https://www.womenpeacesecurity.org/peacebuilder-resource-un-security-council-briefing-syria-nujeen-mustafa-04-2019/.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 UNSC, Resolution S/RES/1265 (1999), UN Doc. S/RES/1265 (1999), 17 September 1999, and subsequent resolutions, available at: http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/1265.

31 UNSC, Resolution S/RES/1261 (1999), UN Doc. S/RES/1261 (1999), 30 August 1999, and subsequent resolutions, available at: http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/1261.

32 UNSC, Resolution S/RES/1325 (2000), UN Doc. S/RES/1325 (2000), 31 October 2000, and subsequent resolutions, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/720/18/PDF/N0072018.pdf?OpenElement.

33 UNSC Resolution 2475, above note 13, preambular para. 14.

34 Ibid., operational para. 5.

35 Ibid., operational para. 1.

36 Ibid., operational para. 2.

37 Ibid., operational para. 6.

38 Ibid., preambular para. 7.

39 UN, United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, available at: www.un.org/en/content/disabilitystrategy/assets/documentation/UN_Disability_Inclusion_Strategy_english.pdf.

40 UNSC, Resolution S/RES/2594 (2021), UN Doc. S/RES/2594 (2021), 9 September 2021, available at: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N21/247/56/PDF/N2124756.pdf?OpenElement.