Humanitarian crises: people with disabilities invisible
People with disabilities are often excluded from humanitarian programs and actions during crises such as conflicts or natural disasters, according to Handicap International’s report, Disability in Humanitarian Contexts[1]¸ published last October. Three quarters of people with disabilities who responded to the survey report that they did not have adequate access to basic assistance such as water, shelter, food or health.
“People with disabilities face many problems accessing humanitarian aid,” explains Camille Gosselin, Handicap International’s humanitarian advocacy manager. “There are lots of reasons for this, including a lack of information on available services, difficulty in accessing them because they live too far away, and infrastructures not adapted to disabilities. Sometimes all it takes is common sense to make a difference. The international community must take action at COP and the next Global Humanitarian Summit to end this discrimination.”
Handicap International’s actions to promote inclusive humanitarian response
Handicap International’s programs take vulnerable people into account[2]. Disability and vulnerability focal points (DVFP) are a good example: temporary, flexible structures (a tent, shelter or prefab), DVFPs are set up in affected communities, often accompanied by mobile teams, to ensure vulnerable people can access aid.
The organization also provides assistance to the programs of numerous humanitarian organizations to ensure they are accessible to all. In addition, it runs training and awareness programs to help humanitarian staff identify and include the most vulnerable people.
At the next Global Humanitarian Summit, which will be held in Istanbul in May 2016, the organization will stress the need for tougher standards to ensure humanitarian response is truly inclusive.
[1] http://www.handicap-international.org/fileadmin/2015Disabilityinhumanitariancontext.pdf. The Disability in Humanitarian Contexts report is based on the results of an online consultation carried out between April and June 2015 targeting people with disabilities, people's organizations (DPOs) and humanitarian organizations. A total of 769 responses were collected worldwide. The report was carried out as a contribution to the World Humanitarian Summit that aims at reforming the global humanitarian system. The final meeting will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in May 2016.
[2] Depending on the situation in the country where we work, “vulnerable people” include injured, and older people, and people suffering chronic disease.
