Conflict and Peace

International News

Wading into the Mainstream Building Disability Rights Bridges across Institutional Silos to Strengthen the Global Sustaining Peace Agenda. (Feb, HPOD)

How NATO can advance the Disability, Peace and Security agenda:

“NATO does not, at this juncture, have a policy for the protection of persons with disabilities in conflict. Nonetheless, advancing the United Nations Disability, Peace and Security agenda is an important extension of NATO’s efforts to strengthen its human security approach related to the protection of civilians in armed conflict, and with Allied efforts to advance the human rights of persons with disabilities in peace and in conflict.” (2024, Nato Review)

Review of Bodies of Work: The First World War and the Transnational Making of Rehabilitation, “a study of the development of rehabilitation systems in Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States during the Great War and of the transnational discourses and exchanges that shaped these systems.” (2024, H-Disability)

Guidance Note on Persons with Disabilities and Prevention of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. (2024, UN office on Genocide Prevention)

Resolution on Disability Rights, Peace and Conflict, 2024 “The European Disability Forum wishes to bring attention again to humanitarian crises around the world and their continued disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities.” (2024, EDF)

Towards Greater Inclusion The devastating impact of armed conflict on children with disabilities. A discussion paper based on literature review and interviews with experts. (2024, 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)

Back to contents.

Africa

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

Back to contents.

Congo-Kinshasa

"My disability was caused by a bomb": The life of an 18 year-old in North Kivu. (2024, Humanity & Inclusion)

Back to contents.

Ethiopia

Disabled ex-combatants in Tigray protest early discharge from medical care in the ongoing Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program. (2024, Addis Standard)

Healing the scars of Tigray's war Two years on, survivors of 2020-2022 conflict hope fragile peace prevails. (2024, Aljazeera)

Photo Essay: The scars we bear “The Tigray Disabled Veterans Association in Mekele, survived the war in Tigray and is rehabilitating disabled people regardless of their role in the carnage.” (No alternate text, 2024, The Continent)

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)

Back to contents.

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.” (2024, KBC)

Back to contents.

Sudan

How the war in Sudan has cast its shadow on people with disabilities. (In Arabic, 2024, AlJazeera)

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. (2024)

Disabled children forced to flee fighting in Sudan video feature on how Insaf fled the fighting in Khartoum. (2024, 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)

Back to contents.

Uganda

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

Back to contents.

Cameroon

Disability, War & the Peace Process in Cameroon an interview with Kesah Princely Nfortoh. (2024, The Pulse)

Back to contents.

Indonesia

TNI commander reveals plan to recruit disabled people. “The commander general noted that the concept was influenced by the National Police (Polri), which has already opened positions for people with disabilities.” (Jan, Antara News)

Back to contents.

Iran

Fetishization of the Disabled War Veterans

“I indicate how the state has managed to use the disabled bodies of the injured survivors as a way to guarantee its survival by portraying them as an ideological construct called “living martyrs,” as opposed to disabled humans in need of physical and affective care.” (2024, Review of Disability Studies)

Back to contents.

Israel

Israeli non-profit intensifies emergency efforts to support people with disabilities amid war. A profile of SHEKEL. (2024, Allisrael News)

“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)

Back to contents.

Lebanon

ILO and partners take shock-response measures to support persons with disabilities in Lebanon. “The ILO estimates that at least 30,000 persons with disabilities have been affected by the crisis so far and are in need of urgent support.” (2024, ILO)

Back to contents.

Myanmar

Disability rights activist Brian Zaw fighting for those under the rule of Myanmar's military junta. (2024, ABC News)

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)

Back to contents.

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)

Back to contents.

Syria

Disabilities in northwest Syria: Stories of resilience amid hardship. (2024, The New Arab)

Back to contents.

Yemen

Yemen was already a hard place to raise an autistic daughter. Then war started. Featuring Emtenan's pencil drawings. (2024, CNN)

Back to contents.

Russia

For Many Returning Russian Veterans, a Long Road of Recovery Awaits:

“A large number of soldiers return as amputees, and many suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Once home, they face stigma and a grueling course of rehabilitation.” (Jan)

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.” (2024, New York Times)

Back to contents.

Ukraine

People with disabilities face some of the most brutal conditions during war. We need urgent change. (2024, The Independent)

Back to contents.

Haiti

Standing in Solidarity with Haitian Disability Rights Advocates (2024, Disability Rights Fund)

Back to contents.

United States

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

Back to contents.