To:
DEZA Humanitäre Hilfe
Glückskette
Main organizations responding to humanitarian crisis in the Ukraine and neighbouring countries
Bern, Thalwil, 9 May 2022
Responding to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities in the Ukraine crisis
Dear colleagues,
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are impressed by the huge empathy and solidarity of the Swiss population towards the victims of the Ukraine crisis and are relieved to see an important Swiss response by various humanitarian stakeholders starting. The response will be long-term investment and have an important influence on the future life perspectives of a huge number of persons.
At this initial point of the response, which might eventually develop into one of the most important Swiss humanitarian responses, we call on the Swiss humanitarian community to live up to their commitments and responsibility to effectively identify and respond to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in particular Article 11 on situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies. This applies equally to all crises in this world: persons with disabilities shall not be forgotten.
We ask you to ensure in your respective response that persons with disabilities
- have full access on an equal basis to all your humanitarian aid, especially to basic services including water and sanitation, shelter, social support, education, healthcare and transport;
- are meaningfully involved in the planning and delivery of your humanitarian programs, through their representative organisations;
- are empowered and supported to develop their capacities through your response;
- are protected from violence, abuse and ill-treatment;
- receive all information about your response and can provide feedback and complaints in accessible formats;
- are accounted for through the disaggregation of data for monitoring inclusion
- and are not abandoned: measures must be in place which fully include persons living in institutions or orphanages; and relocation and evacuation measures shall not force persons with disabilities to live in such institutions.
The key principles of disability inclusive humanitarian action are stated in the Humanitarian Inclusion Charter and sector-specific programmatic guidance is available in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.
The European Disability Forum (EDF) and CBM Global Disability Inclusion are actively involved in providing support and tools to the respective Age and Disability Technical Working Group under the Protection Cluster for the Ukraine response.
We stand ready to support and input into exchange and learning settings of the Swiss response to the Ukraine crisis and link you to the CBM Global Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG) through our CBM Switzerland IAG team members and our partner EDF for any advisory needs and inclusion questions arising in your response.
Thank you for all your efforts for the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities and to ensure no one is left behind.
Sincerely
Raphaël de Riedmatten, Director AGILE.CH
Hansjörg Baltensperger, Director CBM Switzerland
