2022 Global Disability Summit: HI calls for more inclusion

Drawing on its experience in the field, in collaboration with organizations of persons with disabilities, Humanity & Inclusion (HI) will work to achieve progress on three core issues at the summit: inclusive education, inclusive health and inclusive humanitarian assistance. The organization is formally calling on States to attend and take the necessary steps towards a more inclusive future.

A call to action

The 2022 Global Disability Summit is critical to advancing the rights of people with disabilities and helping them live with dignity. In the wake of the first summit in 2018, 171 international actors committed to advancing the inclusion of people with disabilities in all areas of society.

This issue will remain central to the 2022 summit. It is vitally important for States, international agencies, funding bodies and civil society organizations to attend the debates in large numbers and make ambitious and practical commitments.

HI is launching an urgent appeal to all international actors to seize this opportunity and attend the summit. The commitments made must address core inclusion issues in collaboration with organizations of people with disabilities and be supported by funding to ensure they are implemented in full.

HI’s expertise

For more than 40 years, HI has worked to advance the rights of people with disabilities and to help them live with dignity. On the ground, the organization helps people with disabilities and their representative organizations take fully part in public debates in order for them to significantly shape strategies designed to meet their specific needs.

Drawing on its experience and expertise built up over many years, HI is committed to advancing the rights of people with disabilities at the 2022 Global Disability Summit. A delegation from HI will attend the summit, which will be held virtually.

Three core commitments

HI is committed to making progress on three key disability rights issues at the 2022 Global Disability Summit.

HI also advocates taking into account gender and age as vulnerability factors that cut across these issues. The organization now applies this approach to all its activities.

Inclusive education

More than 32 million children with disabilities worldwide are deprived of an education, a third of children out of school, according to a report published by the Education Commission in 2016. Aware of the need to provide everyone with access to education, HI leads 48 education projects in 26 countries. It collaborates with local actors to ensure the special needs of all children are taken into account. HI helped 365,000 children go to school in 2020.

HI will urge national and international actors to commit to this issue at the 2022 Global Disability Summit, including through dedicated funding for more inclusive education policies. HI’s approach will also take into account factors such as gender (especially to promote access to school for girls), to make education systems more inclusive and increase funding for them.

Inclusive health

HI advocates the implementation of Article 25 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which recognizes their right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. The organization works to implement inclusive health policies, the training of health staff, and equal access to care. To achieve this, HI works with people with disabilities and their organizations to make their voice heard and support their involvement in decision-making.

The organization is committed to working alongside people with disabilities and the organizations that represent them, with an emphasis on women and young people with disabilities. HI works to facilitate access to quality information and services in the field of sexual and reproductive health and to advance rights in these areas, including through awareness-raising sessions for the people involved, education and the training of health staff.

Inclusive humanitarian assistance

HI helps international humanitarian actors – NGOs, funding bodies and international agencies – in some twenty countries to develop a more inclusive approach. To achieve this, HI works alongside people’s organizations to implement humanitarian projects and programs (such as interventions related to natural disasters) that take into account the specific needs of people with disabilities. The organization works with the Global Protection Cluster  and its partners to facilitate inclusive action through a global approach that includes age, gender and disability in adopted strategies.

HI is committed to helping implement the guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, an inter-agency forum of UN and non-UN humanitarian partners founded to strengthen humanitarian assistance, including by giving people with disabilities and their representative organizations a voice and a role in humanitarian action. The organization plans to undertake promotion actions, gather good practices and share tools and data on inclusive action while empowering international actors on this issue.