Including people with disabilities in crisis response

Launched in May 2016, the Charter on the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action calls on all organizations involved in humanitarian response to improve their practices in order to better include people with disabilities. Its primary aim is to ensure that people with disabilities have access to humanitarian response and are consulted or actively involved in decision-making processes concerning their lives.

The Humanitarian Disability Charter is a response to the fact that, in emergencies such as earthquakes and armed conflicts, people with disabilities often find it very hard to access humanitarian aid: if someone uses a wheelchair they may not be able to reach a food distribution point; someone who is hard of hearing might miss information about a humanitarian service; an NGO may not know of the existence of a Down Syndrome child if their family has hidden them away because, for cultural reasons, their condition is seen as shameful. These are just some of the obstacles people with disabilities face in accessing humanitarian aid.

The Charter has made people much more aware of these regularly occurring situations. More than 200 organizations, institutions, States, etc., involved in emergency response have agreed to end this injustice. The next step is to apply the principles set out in the Charter.

“The inclusion of people with disabilities must be one of the main criteria funding bodies use when allocating money to emergency response. NGOs need to adapt their actions and take into account people with disabilities in their programs. Many organizations and institutions in the humanitarian sector have signed the Charter. Now we need to see concrete changes in the field,” explains Camille Gosselin, HI’s humanitarian advocacy officer.

Find out more about the Humanitarian Disability Charter