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This publication brings attention to the devastating impact conflict has on persons with disabilities and, crucially, highlights that many of the key international humanitarian law (IHL) provisions that serve to minimize the impact of armed conflict – such as the proportionality assessment and advanced effective warnings – are not being applied in a disability inclusive manner, resulting in persons with disabilities being killed, seriously injured or left behind as families flee armed attacks.

Research methods included a combination of: desk research; structured interviews with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations, NGOs and humanitarian personnel; and field workshops through which feedback was sought on discrete issues. 

The project focused on the situation of persons with disabilities in five states experiencing different levels of armed conflict or its aftermath (the DRC, Colombia, Palestine, Ukraine and Vietnam). These states were selected because they are all States Parties to the CRPD, and they represent a diverse range of regions and cultures, differing types of conflicts (including the involvement of ANSAs), different stages of conflict or post-conflict situations, differing levels of economic development and varying levels of international assistance

Cette publication est le produit d’un processus de capitalisation de l'expérience en insertion socioéconomique de personnes handicapées acquise par Handicap International et ses partenaires de mise en œuvre dans le cadre du projet TEAM CONGO à Kananga en RDC. L’objectif de cette capitalisation est d’une part, d’exposer la méthodologie en matière d’insertion socio-économique appliquée à Kananga, en détaillant les 2 principales bonnes pratiques - l’Accompagnement Social Personnalisé avec une approche holistique, et l’accès au capital économique via des micro-crédits- et les leçons apprises afin que les équipes d’Handicap International, les agences gouvernementales, et les organisations travaillant dans le domaine de l’Insertion socio-économique des personnes handicapées et personnes très vulnérables, puissent les utiliser dans le cadre de futures interventions. D’autre part, cette capitalisation vise à ébaucher des recommandations pour les futures interventions qui pourraient avoir lieu dans ce domaine en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) ou dans des contextes similaires, dans lesquels les initiatives publiques ou privées en faveur de l'insertion économique des populations vulnérables comme l’offre de formation professionnelle, les opportunités d'emploi formel et l’accès au capital sont rares, voire même inexistantes. Une méthodologie d'action détaillée et adaptée à des contextes pauvres en ressources, sera ainsi proposée, à la lumière de l’expérience du volet d’insertion socio-économique du projet TEAM CONGO.

This booklet is the gateway for a training kit on personalised social support (PSS). The aim of this training course is to train social facilitators either in the personalised approach only, or in how to carry out a complete PSS process. The aim of this booklet is therefore to impart the methodological and educational components required to use the content of this training course to Handicap International’s (now Humanity and Inclusion) future PSS trainers. It therefore takes another look at the entire content of the PSS training course, explains the educational choices, presents the modules and other teaching tools created, and above all, provides advice/recommendations for future designers and trainers/facilitators on this theme. Throughout this booklet, internet links provide the reader with quick access to the content of training courses and other relevant resources

Background: The rehabilitation of physically disabled people has been explored from the perspectives of patients, health professionals, rehabilitation agencies, etc. However, no study has linked disability types, training programmes and career prospects. In this study, we therefore evaluated the professional integration of trained disabled people.

Methods: This retrospective survey included all physically disabled people admitted to two rehabilitation centres in Congo between 1996 and 2005. Data collection used registers from two units, the medical unit and the rehabilitation unit, to obtain information on age, sex, disability type, follow-up training, present living activity and field of training. We defined ‘professional integration’ as being when the current profession matched the training received at the rehabilitation centre.

Results: The percentage of participants with integrated training was 96.8% (95% CI; 92.1–98.7%). In the urban setting, 6.7% (95% CI; 2.6–16.1%) of the trainees were not integrated, while all were integrated in the rural setting. Trainees aged between 16 and 25 years and those 51+ years represented 12.5% (95% CI; 4.9–28%) and 50% (95% CI; 25.3–74.6%) of the non-integrated cases respectively. Paralysis from poliomyelitis was the most common [62.9% (95% CI; 54.3–70.8%)] disability, and the non-integrated participants included people with poliomyelitis [1.2% (95% CI; 0.2–6.7%)], general paralysis [10.5% (95% CI; 2.9–31.3%)] and sight disorders [50% (95% CI; 9.4–90.5%)]. Tailoring was the main field of training [57.4% (95% CI; 48.7–65.7%)], and high numbers of participants with non-integrated training worked in tailoring, shoe making, welding and computer repair.

Conclusions: Despite a high rate of integration in Congo, professional training and subsequent integration would still benefit from a comprehensive approach that considers the type of disability, training and socio-demographic features. Further studies targeting alumni from the training programmes and their ongoing assessment are warranted.

This is a special issue of the Forced Migration Review. It includes articles relating to Iraq, Darfur, Colombia, Bulgaria, Bhutanese refugees, accountability protection, profiling internally displaced populations, and the role of the private sector