Disarmament and Disability: Advancing the International Disability Peace and Security Agenda
The International Disability Peace and Security Network (IDPSN) is a network of like-minded organizations of persons with disabilities, including Tangata Group, research institutions, and individuals working to advance the disability peace and security agenda within the UN peace architecture and beyond. This agenda is consistent with Article 11 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, three successive reports of the former UN Special Rapporteur on Persons with Disabilities and Security Council Resolution 2475. This agenda also dovetails with the work of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its initiative to draft a General Comment on Article 11 of the CRPD.
Article 11 of the CRPD, the first and only treaty of its kind, obligates a State Party to the CRPD to take “all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risks, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.” Think Ukraine. Gaza. COVID-19. More powerful hurricanes. Wildfires. Some man-made, some Acts of God. So, recognizing its role in protecting people with disabilities under Article 11 of the CRPD, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2475 in which it expressed “serious concern regarding the disproportionate impact that armed conflict has on persons with disabilities, including abandonment, violence, and lack of access to basic services ... and emphasizing the need to consider the particular needs of persons with disabilities in humanitarian response.”
To assist readers regarding Article 11 and Resolution 2475, attached is a policy paper prepared by Dr. Sean Howard and Dr. Tammy Bernasky of Cape Breton University, Canada. The paper was reviewed and revised by Tangata Group’s Janet E. Lord of the University of Baltimore School of Law and the Harvard Law School Project on Disability. The paper is titled The Missing Dimension in Disarmament Diplomacy: The Case for a United Nations First Committee Resolution on Disability, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. The paper is an argument for pushing disability rights and remedies to the forefront of the debate on disarmament policy.
Also attached is the UN Security Council Resolution 2475.
For some of the research grounding this agenda, see:
• Janet Lord, Rosemary Kayess, William Pons and Michael Ashley Stein, "The U.N. Process for a Crimes Against Humanity Treaty Has Finally Started. Will It Account for Persons with Disabilities?" Just Security (May 26, 2023)
• William I. Pons, Janet E. Lord, and Michael Ashley Stein, "Addressing the accountability void: War crimes against persons with disabilities" (2022)
• Janet E. Lord, "Accounting for disability in international humanitarian law" (2022)
• American Journal of International Law 2022 Symposium by William I. Pons, Janet E. Lord, and Michael Ashley Stein, “Disability, Human Rights Violations, and Crimes Against Humanity”
• William I. Pons, Janet E. Lord, and Michael Ashley Stein, "Disability, Human Rights Violations, and Crimes Against Humanity" (2021)
