Violence and Harassment

International News

Making the Invisible Visible: Why disability matters in violence against women and bodily autonomy. “This report examines who and where women with disabilities are, and explores the relationships between disability and intimate partner violence (IPV) and the bodily autonomy of women of reproductive age (15–49 years)”. (2024, United Nations Population Fund)

Addressing Stigma and Discrimination to eliminate violence against women with disabilities, policy paper. (Link to pdf, 2024, UN Women)

Disability Hate Crime an edited collection:

“Bringing together perspectives from academics, practitioners, campaigners, and activists, this book explores the victimology of disability hate crime”. (2024, Routledge)

Measuring violence against women with disability a briefing note on data availability, methodological issues and recommendations for good practice. (2024, WHO)

Violence against women 60 years and older A briefing note on data availability, methodological issues and recommendations for good practice. (2024, WHO)

Safe and ethical data collection on disability inclusion in Gender Based Violence (GBV) programming. Disability Inclusion Helpdesk Report. (2023, Social Development Direct)

Gender-Based Violence and Disability Inclusion Fact Sheet. (2023, UNFPA)

The 1st of March is Disability Day of Mourning remembering people with disabilities who were victims of filicide (killed by their parents).

'When we say “filicide,” we are talking about a pattern of violence that starts when a parent or caregiver murders their child or adult relative with a disability and continues in how these murders are reported, discussed, justified, excused, and replicated.' (2022, Disability Memorial)

Report on Harmful practices and hate crimes targeting persons with albinism. in a statement on the report, the Special Rapporteur said:

“For many persons with albinism, this is what their day-to-day realities entail – experiences of ostracism, rejection and the debilitating fear of being abducted or attacked on their way to school, work or home.” (2022, OHCHR)

Global estimates of violence against children with disabilities: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. “This review shows that children with disabilities experience a high burden of all forms of violence, despite advances in awareness and policy in the past 10 years.” (2022, Lancet Child & Adolescent Health) See also coverage on Disability Insider: “1 in 3 children with disabilities globally have experienced violence in their lifetimes”. And on NPR.

From the Shadows to the Centre important collection of testimonies from women with disabilities on harassment within the disability community. (link to pdf, 2022, Rising Flame)

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Latin America and the Caribbean

Gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities in Latin America. (In Spanish, 2023, Capacitismes)

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Africa

Uncovering our Hidden Shame: Addressing Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks. Reports of ritual attacks against children with disabilities in eleven countries, and on children with albinism in five. Some reports from Benin suggest that midwives may kill new-born children with disabilities without informing the mothers. (2022, African Child Policy Forum) See further coverage from the Guardian.

Intersections between disability, masculinities, and violence: experiences and insights from men with physical disabilities from Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa. The article shares many fascinating quotes, and concludes, comparing with the situation of women with disabilities:

“men with disabilities report threats, verbal and physical abuse by people outside their household and emotional abuse within their households and not the same level of sexual and intimate partner violence as women with disabilities have reported in similar studies”. (2022, BMC Public Health)

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Congo-Kinshasa

After surviving sexual violence, youth leader creates change for girls with disabilities in the DRC. (2024, UNFPA)

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Kenya

Killing children with disabilities a collective stain (2022, Nation)

Forced to Beg: a video feature on disabled children trafficked from Tanzania and made to beg in Kenya. One of the alleged ringleaders is a disabled guy himself. Distressing images. (2022, BBC)

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Nigeria

‘He Knew’: People With Disabilities Are More Vulnerable To Sexual Abuse. A story of Ifeoma and how the impacts “impacts of her encounter with an abuser are still visible in her life, decades after the incident took place.” (2023, HumAngle)

Failure to Protect: Disabilities and Gender-Based Violence In Nigeria. (2022, Minority Africa)

How organisations of persons with disabilities are keeping people safe. Among disability organizations ”there is limited understanding of key concepts of safeguarding, why they are important, and what needs to be in place to operationalise these concepts to keep people safe” (2022, RSH)

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Rwanda

UNABU’s advocacy at the intersection of gender and disability (2022, DRF)

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Somalia

Pelted with stones and raw eggs experiences of people with albinism. "People tell me I am a cannibal and that I will eat their children. They are terrified of me." (2023, BBC)

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South Africa

Mother blames police and court for delayed justice after deaf daughter raped three times. (2024, Diary Series of Deaf People)

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Tanzania

Fear Grips Albino Community in Tanzania As Pressure Mounts on Authorities to Ensure Its Members’ Safety As Elections Near. “It cannot continue like this where people are killed like mice,” (2024)

Child's father, Priest among nine arrested in murder of girl with albinism. Two-year old Asimwe Novath was abducted at the end of May and her body was found a bit over two weeks later. (2024, The Citizen) See more about the search.

UN Committee condemns Tanzania's lack of action on ritual killings and mutilations of people with albinism:

“We call on the State party to urgently and unambiguously condemn any attacks against people with albinism and to investigate any such attacks promptly and effectively,” said Committee member Amalia Gamio Ríos. “Failure to do so sends a message that ritual killings and mutilations are condoned, which amounts to serious violations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” (2024, OHCHR)

Disability and intimate partner violence: A cross-sectional study from Mwanza, Tanzania. (2022, Disability and Health Journal)

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Uganda

Disability status, partner behavior, and the risk of sexual intimate partner violence: an analysis of the demographic and health survey data. (2022, BMC Public Health)

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Zimbabwe

People with albinism struggling against stigma: risks of attacks, rape, trafficking and other discrimination. (2022, News Day)

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Bangladesh

Mother kills physically challenged daughter (2023, New Age)

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China

Man ordered to pay $4,200 compensation for insulting disabled wife, calling her ‘trash’:

“The court found that Zhao harmed Qian. It ruled that his demeaning behaviour towards his wife amounted to psychological abuse, and his verbal attacks were considered domestic violence.” (2024, Wion)

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India

Mother throws 6-year-old speech-impaired son into crocodile-infested river.

“Savitri's husband, Ravi Kumar, frequently argued with her about their elder son's disability, questioning why she gave birth to such a child. Police reported that on some occasions, he allegedly urged her to "throw the child away."” (2024, WION)

Disabled Muslim student leader hospitalized “evicted from his student dorm this week and knocked unconscious by Hindu extremist activists” (2023, Middle East Monitor)

Why it is hard for disabled women, queer persons to leave abusive partners. (2022, The News Minute)

Deaf man fatally stabbed for not responding to teen’s honking say Indian Police. (2022, Limpling Chicken)

Disability, Gender, Violence, Home and the City 'Nidhi Goyal takes us beyond keywords' with interesting reflections on a range of subjects, illustrated with concrete examples, from her experience of the city, the relations between access and safety, and the home itself. (2021, Third Eye Portal)

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Iraq

Understanding Gender-Based Violence Service Barriers to Disability and Older Age Inclusion in Iraq. (2022, Heartland Alliance) See also the blog on inclusive research methodologies.

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Kyrgyzstan

Abused by Relatives, Ignored by the State Domestic Violence Against and Neglect of Women and Girls with Disabilities in Kyrgyzstan (2023, Human Rights Watch)

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Europe

Combating violence against women with disabilities A guide on monitoring the implementation of the Istanbul Convention on combating violence against women. (2024, EDF)

European Parliament’s Committees voted on law to end violence against women. (2023, EDF)

EUCAP project on violence against autistic people: a survey and personal short stories on violence faced by autistic people. (2023, EDF)

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Czechia

Czech courts are lenient towards sexual violence against people with intellectual disabilities. (In Czech, 2023, CT24)

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Hungary

Dis-connected: reported on disability-based connected facilities and programmes for prevention of violence against women and children in Hungary. (2024, Validity)

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Ireland

More harm, more barriers, more silence: intimate partner abuse leaves disabled women feeling hurt, disbelieved and isolated, new research finds:

“abusive partners, often in the position of a carer, weaponise women’s disabilities including withholding medication, denying basic care and mobility needs, using impairments to portray the woman as an unfit parent and inflicting verbal and physical abuse that targets their disability.” (2024, RTE)

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Italy

Shadow Report on combating violence against women. (Link to pdf, 2024, Italian Disability Forum)

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Spain

10% of women killed by gender-based violence had disabilities (In Spanish, 2023, Efemenista)

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United Kingdom

Improving early identification of children with SEND at risk of modern slavery:

“children and young people with SEND, who often experience social isolation and who may struggle with mainstream education when their needs are not met, are at particular risk of criminal and sexual exploitation” (2024, Modern Slavery & Human Rights)

What Are You Looking At? Ableist Abuse in Public Spaces. (2023, Disability Visibility Project)

An uphill battle from day one: “Non-disabled women are twice as likely as disabled women to have the person they accuse of rape charged or summonsed.” (2023, Now Then Magazine)

Kaylea Titford’s parents jailed for manslaughter after daughter died in ‘conditions unfit for any animal’. (2023, the Guardian)

Formal support needs of disabled adult victim survivors of sexual violence. A qualitative research report. (2023, Ministry of Justice)

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Mexico

High Toll of Violence For Women With Disabilities, according to a new survey. (2022, Human Rights Watch)

Mother of Child with Autism Killed after Seeking Protection from Authorities. “Luz reported being threatened by a neighbor because he didn’t like the noises her son made during crises. She also said the neighbor had attacked her with industrial bleach.” (2022, Human Rights Watch)

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United States

2025 Anti-Filicide Toolkit “In the past five years, over 542 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers.” (Jan, Autistic Self Advocacy Network)

Disabled People Are Five Times More Likely to Experience Domestic Violence. Based on data from the Justice Department:

“People with cognitive disabilities, such as those who are autistic, are even more likely to be abused. Disabled women are also more likely to be the target of such violence than disabled men.” (2024, Mother Jones)

Gun Violence Touches Nearly 60 Percent of Black Americans – and Predicts Disability:

“Survey data from 3,015 Black Americans linked specific disabilities ranging from trouble concentrating to difficulty dressing or bathing with exposure to various types of gun violence: being shot, being threatened with a firearm, knowing a shooting victim, and witnessing a shooting or hearing of one nearby.” (2024, Rutgers)

Maine’s deaf community reeling after deaf victims among Lewiston dead. (2023, Washington Post)

Nearly half of women with disabilities report experiencing sexual harassment or assault at work 48% of women with disabilities reported this compared to 32% of women without disabilities. (2023, the 19th)

Michigan Transphobic Attack Leaves Trans Disabled Man Injured “Andrew Blake-Newton reported a group of people in a van shot him with pellet gun bullets and hurled transphobic slurs at him.” (2023, Huffpost)

Police Brutality: A (Speech) Disability Concern. (2023, Communication First)

Paralyzed by Gun Violence, They Seek Solace From Other Survivors. “In one city, a support group that includes people who spent time in the same trauma ward offers a way to cope.” (2023, New York Times)

2022 Anti-Filicide Toolkit. Parents murdering their disabled children is reported in the media as "justifiable and inevitable" and this contributes to a cycle of violence. (2022, Autistic Self Advocacy Network)

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Australia

Deaf women are twice as likely to experience domestic violence than hearing women. How perpetrators weaponise disability: “40% of Australian women with a disability have experienced physical violence after the age of 15 (compared with 26% of women without a disability).” (2024, The Conversation)

Disability rights groups 'devastated' by government's Royal Commission response. Following an investigation into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability: “Of the 172 recommendations responded to by the government, just 13 were accepted in full.” (2024, SBS News)

Australia’s disability royal commission has faced near media silence – and left politicians unaccountable. (2022, the Guardian)

‘They yell at you’: woman with dwarfism reveals ‘deeply offensive’ abuse received in public. (2022, the Guardian)

‘Devastating’: woman with a disability met with disbelief after sexual assault, royal commission hears. (2022, the Guardian)

Changing the landscape: a national resource to prevent violence against women and girls with disabilities (2022, Our Watch)

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Pacific

Know your rights: Gender-Based Violence and Sexual and Reproductive Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. (link to pdf, 2022, Women Enabled)

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