Conflict and Peace

International News

Towards Greater Inclusion The devastating impact of armed conflict on children with disabilities. A discussion paper based on literature review and interviews with experts. (Jan, UN)

In war zones, disabled people must fend for themselves “Despite facing neglect and discrimination, disabled Palestinians and others in Sudan, Lebanon, and the Congo are advocating for themselves and their communities to demand solutions and systemic change.” (2023, Reckon)

War is devastating – but for the disabled and their families, it is a unique horror “My family’s experience in the Iran-Iraq conflict gave me an insight into what many disabled Palestinians experience today:”

“I remember clearly when the sirens sounded my mother would gather us all in one room, away from the windows. Electricity would be cut and then we would huddle together and wait for the planes or rockets to be shot or driven away. My siblings and I did not fully understand the gravity of the situation – another beautiful aspect of being a child – we enjoyed the adventure and excitement without the fear that adults carried.” (2023, National News)

The transformative role of persons with disabilities in peacebuilding processes.

“In this report, the Special Rapporteur highlights the agency of persons with disabilities in rebuilding broken societies in post-conflict contexts. Using concepts such as moral repair and transitional justice, he points to the need to include the voices of persons with disabilities in peacebuilding processes.” (2023, Gerard Quinn)

Persons with disabilities in armed conflict interview to “take stock of the legal protections (and lack thereof) for persons with disabilities in armed conflicts and reflect on how to move the legal and policy debates forward in the next few years.” (2023, Humanitarian Law & Policy)

Alexander Breitegger on the Red Cross and civilians with disabilities in armed conflicts. Interview. (2023, Gerard Quinn)

Protection measures needed to support children with disabilities in armed conflict. (2022, OHCHR)

Mr. Giles Duley appointed as the first United Nations Global Advocate for persons with disabilities in conflict and peacebuilding situations. (2022, UNDP)

Addressing the accountability void: War crimes against persons with disabilities. How obligations in international humanitarian law can help monitor, protect and address disability-based violations of the law. (2022, International Review of the Red Cross)

Including civilians with disabilities in the aftermath of war. (2022, ICRC)

Persons with disabilities in armed conflict. An edition of the International Review: “thirty thought-provoking contributions, including many authored by persons with disabilities, jointly take stock of the legal protections (and lack thereof) for persons with disabilities in armed conflicts, and reflect critically how to move the legal and policy debates forward in the next few years.” (2022, International Review of the Red Cross)

Protection of the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of military operations. A report “widening the lens of international humanitarian law to become more consciously self-aware of the realities faced by persons with disabilities in conflicts”. (2022, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) See a summary of the report on Gerard Quinn's website.

The Role of Accessibility and Funding in Disability-Inclusive Peacebuilding. “Persons with disabilities can be — and have been — the source of solutions in peacebuilding initiatives. Participants in the roundtable emphasized that persons with disabilities are some of the strongest advocates in building peace, especially after experiencing violence themselves.” (2022, United States Institute of Peace)

Peace, Disability, and the Violence of the Built Environment Reflections on how disability relates to studies of peace. (2022, Peace Review)

Lifting the cloak of invisibility: civilians with disabilities in armed conflict. Discussion of how humanitarian law would relate to disability issues and bringing together conversations between people with disabilities and military representatives. “Steps must be taken to ensure that people living with disabilities and their representative organizations can and do shape the interpretation and implementation of International Humanitarian Law norms relevant to them.” (2022, ICRC)

Give people with disabilities better protection in conflict and crises (2022, The New Humanitarian)

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Africa

Ensuring the Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities in Communities Experiencing Armed Conflict (2022, Women Enabled International)

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Ethiopia

Challenges persist in rehabilitation of Tigray's ex-fighters Experiences of fighters who acquired disabilities. “Ex-fighters at Awash camp suffer from severe injuries such as limb loss, facial injuries, and concussions. They require significant amounts of medicine and medical treatments; otherwise, their health conditions become critical.” (2023, Addis Standard)

Tigray establishes war veterans council “in a bid to help disabled fighters and families of martyrs of the two years war with the federal government and its allies.” (2023, Addis Standard)

Incoming Tigray interim leader pledges to address grievances of disabled Tigrayan soldiers following protest rally in Mekelle. (2023, Addis Standard)

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Kenya

Kenyan disability champion to receive global peace award Zaja “helped build a resource centre in Majengo that annually churns out more than 1,500 youth, women and persons living with disability with empowerment.” (Feb, KBC)

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Sudan

Children with special needs transform their lives interventions from Sudan Humanitarian Fund to support internally displaced people, including those with disabilities, in Blue Nile State. (Feb)

Disabled children forced to flee fighting in Sudan video feature on how Insaf fled the fighting in Khartoum. (Feb, Sky)

Disabled and Displaced The additional challenges faced by disabled people in the Sudan crisis. “even to escape to another state other than the one in which the clashes are taking place, and it is difficult for us to reach food and health needs.” (2023, ADD)

Dozens of babies die in orphanage as Sudan war takes grim toll on Khartoum. (2023, Reuters)

“We are not alone”. A Debrief feature on disabled people in Sudan's conflict. A call for solidarity: “desperate circumstances, the institutions that let them down, and the systems of love that hold things together.” Also available in Arabic. (2023, Disability Debrief)

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Uganda

A Peace Fellow and polio survivor focuses on accessibility: feature on Ronald Kasule. (2023, Rotary)

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Israel

“The IDF is the world's largest employer of autistic people” A claim by Captain Udi Heller, who explains: “At the end of the first year there were 300 and at the end of the second year there were 500 full-fledged soldiers, in all positions, in all units” (2023, CTech)

Special in Uniform “This program gives people with developmental disabilities the opportunity to strengthen their self-confidence, enlist in the army, and contribute to Israel in a real and meaningful way.” (2020, IDF)

Enabling Militarism The inclusion of soldiers with disabilities in the Israeli military, exploring implications for our imaginations of soldiers and geopolitics of disability. (Link to pdf, 2019, Eastwood, QMUL)

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Myanmar

Junta Soldiers Murder Disabled Man. “The Burma Army (BA) has reportedly killed a mentally ill disabled man in northern Chin State”. (2022, BNI Online)

Myanmar junta troops murder disabled villagers “A deaf woman and a paralysed man were murdered by regime forces in northern Chin State’s Falam Township late last week, according to local sources.” (2022, Myanmar Now)

Myanmar Junta Troops Shoot Dead Mentally Ill Man (2021, The Irrawaddy)

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Nagorno-Karabakh territory

Protection and safety of persons with disabilities open letter to the international community. “Persons with disabilities in or fleeing from Nagorno-Karabakh are at great risk of abandonment, abuse and even death.” (2023, EDF)

Fleeing Karabakh, elderly couple fear for the future with their disabled son (2023, Reuters)

Last to flee: Older people’s experience of war crimes and displacement:

“The renewed fighting in 2020 underscored the unique risks of a particular group: older people. More than half of the ethnic Armenian civilians who were killed were over 60 years old. The oldest was 89. Many faced torture or other ill-treatment in detention. Others are still missing.” (2022, Amnesty)

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Russia

How Russia Depicts Wounded Soldiers: As Heroes, or Not at All.

“Troops with amputated limbs or serious injuries return home to find a patchwork system of treatment and, often, efforts to keep them out of the public eye.” One woman caring for her husband wrote “I feel like I’m putting my loved one together like a puzzle.” (Feb, New York Times)

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Haiti

Standing in Solidarity with Haitian Disability Rights Advocates (Mar, Disability Rights Fund)

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United States

How Civil War Veterans Transformed Disability an online exhibit. (2023, Emerging America) See a discussion on the Debrief.

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