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How can we ensure the safety and wellbeing of children with disabilities during humanitarian crises? - Evidence brief

QURESHI, Onaiza
September 2020

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This brief reviewed evidence-based recommendations on how to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children with disabilities in humanitarian settings. The right to safety for all is enshrined in Article 11 of the CRPD, yet this population has been consistently neglected in the global literature around children affected by disaster and crises, and as such the recommendations made are limited to specific humanitarian settings (e.g., natural disasters, war and conflict) and towards children with physical and mobility challenges. There is a need to further explore their diverse needs and experiences by recognising them as independent actors who can meaningfully participate in and contribute to the development of services and policies targeted towards them

Policy Brief: COVID-19 and People on the Move

UNITED NATIONS
June 2020

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COVID-19 leaves few lives and places untouched. But its impact is harshest for those groups who were already in vulnerable situations before the crisis. This is particularly true for many people on the move, such as migrants in irregular situations, migrant workers with precarious livelihoods, or working in the informal economy, victims of trafficking in persons as well as people fleeing their homes because of persecution, war, violence, human rights violations or disaster, whether within their own countries — internally displaced persons (IDPs) — or across international borders — refugees and asylum-seekers.

 

The disproportionate impact of the COVID19 pandemic on people on the move presents itself as three interlocking crises, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities: a health crisis; a socio-economic crisis and a protection crisis.

 

This Policy Brief offers four basic tenets to guide collective response:

  • Exclusion is costly in the long-run whereas inclusion pays off for everyone
  • The response to COVID-19 and protecting the human rights of people on the move are not mutually exclusive
  • No-one is safe until everyone is safe
  • People on the move are part of the solution

COVID-19 Preparedness and response protection of groups at disproportionate risk – Yemen

PROTECTION CLUSTER YEMEN
May 2020

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Steps are described that support the implementation of mitigation measures to help prevent, reduce and respond to risks of exclusion and/or disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups. The mitigation measures aim to promote the protection of all groups during the pandemic (throughout the various phases of prevention and response) and contribute to alleviating the impact of the changing dynamics on the protection environment of the most vulnerable.

 

Groups highlighted to be at disproportionate protection risk include internally displaced people (IDPs) in IDP hosting sites, Muhamasheen (marginalized communities), refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, people with disabilities, women and girls

Operationalizing standards: Sphere and the COVID-19 response in camp settings

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONALS IN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND PROTECTION (PHAP)
April 2020

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In this webinar, organized by the CCCM Cluster and PHAP, we learn about COVID-19 prevention measures critical to the work of Camp Managers and others working in displacement settings. We hear from WASH specialists, as well as experienced Camp program staff who have recently been involved in setting up special measures to prevent the spread of disease and develop key messages for populations living in temporary settlements. A representative from Sphere also provided guidance for how the Sphere Handbook can be a useful tool for practitioners in this situation.

Interim Guidance: Scaling-up COVID-19 outbreak readiness and response operations in humanitarian situations. Including camps and camp-like settings Version 1.1

IFRC
IOM
UNHCR
WHO
April 2020

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It is of extreme importance from a protection, human-rights and public health perspectives, that people affected by humanitarian crises are included in all COVID-19 outbreak readiness and response strategies, plan and operations. There is a strong public health rationale to extend all measures to everyone, regardless of status and ensuring inclusiveness. This Interim Guidance addresses specific needs and considerations required in humanitarian situations, including camps and camp-like settings and the surrounding host communities, in scaling-up readiness and response operations for the COVID-19 outbreak through effective multi-sectoral partnership

COVID-19: Incluisve programming – Ensuring assistance and protection addresses the needs of marginalised and at-risk people

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC)
March 2020

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This paper brings together guidance and messages from the ICRC’s Operations Diversity Inclusion, Sexual Violence and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse teams, in collaboration with the Global Adviser on Children. Its purpose is to support the ICRC’s delegations and métiers in their response to COVID-19. The guidance focuses on the initial phases of the response, including contingency planning, adapting and possibly scaling back current activities and strengthening and establishing new activities and partnerships to respond to the virus in the humanitarian contexts in which it works

Agenda for Humanity

OCHA
2020

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The Agenda for Humanity sets out five major areas for action and change, the 5 Core Responsibilities, that are needed to address and reduce humanitarian need, risk and vulnerability, and 24 key transformations that will help achieve them.

How can the health of people with disabilities in humanitarian camps be supported during the COVID-19 pandemic? - Evidence brief

HUNT, Xanthe
2020

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More than 10% of the world’s 35 million displaced people are people with disabilities. People with disabilities and their families are at significant risk of discrimination, stigma, violence, and marginalisation, and get little access to adequate services in humanitarian camps. Disabled people are frequently sidelined during health sector planning in humanitarian camps, and healthcare access is a particular challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic, and measures necessary for its containment, pose a particular threat and challenge in humanitarian settings. Containment measures such as mass ‘stay-at-home' orders, social distancing, self-isolation and quarantine are often unsuitable for, or difficult to implement in, camp settings. People in humanitarian camps, then, need special consideration within the COVID-19 response. However, among people in humanitarian camps, people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to being left behind or overlooked in COVID-19 planning and programming. Their double vulnerability as refugees and disabled people warrants special consideration.

 

Evidence in considered and recommendations provided.

The regressive power of labels of vulnerability affecting disabled asylum seekers in the UK

YEO, Rebecca
2019

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There has been some progress in the United Kingdom regarding official recognition of the existence and needs of disabled asylum seekers and refugees. However, references are commonly accompanied by euphemistic labels, particularly of ‘vulnerability’. This should be understood in the context of systematic reduction of services and support available to the wider population of asylum seekers and disabled people in the United Kingdom. I argue that these processes reinforce each other and that both undermine a rights-based approach. Focusing on recent asylum and immigration policies, I explore how labels of ‘vulnerability’ obscure systemic oppression and distract from the rights and achievements of disabled people. The regressive elements of vulnerability discourse are presented as if better than nothing. Such discourse risks reinforcing hegemonic acceptance of distinctions of human worth, with detrimental impact for migrants and citizens alike.

Global education monitoring report, 2019: migration, displacement and education: building bridges, not walls

UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)
et al
2018

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“The 2019 GEM Report continues its assessment of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda.


Its main focus is on the theme of migration and displacement. It presents evidence on the implications of different types of migration and displacement for education systems but also the impact that reforming education curricula and approaches to pedagogy and teacher preparation can have on addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by migration and displacement. It gives voice to experiences in host and home communities.


With the help of case studies, it illustrates approaches which work and could be scaled up. In this way, it aims to be a tool for practitioners. It will make the case for investing in education of good quality in rural areas suffering from depopulation and in slum areas suffering from large population inflows; in countries with high rates of emigration and those with high rates of immigration; in short-term refugee emergencies and in protracted crises. Its analysis, conclusions and recommendations advance the aims of SDG 4 and its call to leave no one behind.”

Everywhere the bombing followed us. Forced displacement and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Perspectives of Syrian women refugees in Lebanon

BEAUJOLAIS, Aurelie
September 2017

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Based on a survey of 205 Syrian refugees in Lebanon and in-depth interviews with 14 Syrian women refugees originally from different towns and cities in Syria, and additional research, this study confirms that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas drives multiple forced displacements and induces a pattern of displacement that increases the vulnerability of civilians. Quantitative data collected during the survey confirms the correlation between multiple forced displacements and the use of the explosive weapons, as almost half of all respondents had been internally displaced prior to seeking external refuge in Lebanon, with an average of 3 internal displacements within their own city. The women interviewed highlighted the deprivation induced by forced displacement. 

Making migration accessible: Inclusive relocation for people with disabilities

GHENIS, Alex
February 2016

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Factors associated with complex and specific needs of people with disabilities who become migrants owing to climate change are discussed and rights of disabled migrants as covered by  UNCRPD Article 11: Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies and UNCRPD Article 18: Liberty of Movement and Nationality are highlighted. The challenge of disability-inclusive planning to incorporate migrants with disabilities in a way that maintains health, physical access and necessary support throughout the migration or relocation process and once at their destination is reported. This involves maximizing accessibility of transit and infrastructure (namely temporary camps, long-term housing and public spaces); maintaining personal care and communal support networks; and guaranteeing vital health-care and social services.

Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Policy Brief Series: Issue 6 | Vol. 2 | June 2016

‘Nowhere to be found’: disabled refugees and asylum seekers within the Australian resettlement landscape

SOLDATIC, Karen
SOMERS, Kelly
BUCKLEY, Amma
FLEAY, Caroline
2015

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Australia has long placed restrictions on the immigration of people with disabilities. While recent civil society mobilisation has forced some shift in policy, it is far from clear whether this will result in people with disabilities being accepted as immigrants. The issue is complicated further for people defined as ‘refugees’ and ‘asylum seekers’ who have encountered the migration restrictions on disability. As a result of this policy landscape, there is limited rigorous research that seeks to understand the social inclusion and participation of disabled refugees and asylum seekers within the resettlement process. An extensive review reveals that refugees and asylum seekers with disabilities remain largely absent from both resettlement literature and disability research. This paper summarises the limited available research in the area around the following themes: processes of offshore migration and the way that disability is assessed under Australia’s refugee legislation; the uncertainty of the prevalence of disability within refugee and asylum seeker communities; the provision of resettlement services, both mainstream and disability-specific, through the transitional period and beyond; and the invisibility of asylum seekers with disabilities in Australia’s immigration detention centres, community-based arrangements and offshore processing centres. To conclude, the paper outlines implications for further research, policy and practice in the Australian context.

 

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2 No. 1

Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2015, Vol. 2, No. 1 - Special issue: Disability and Forced Migration

2015

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Articles include:

  • EDITORIAL Towards a Critical Understanding of the Disability/Forced Migration nexus
  • Disability and Forced Migration: Critical Intersectionalities
  • Disability and displacement in times of conflict: Rethinking migration, flows and boundaries
  • ‘Ask us what we need’: Operationalizing Guidance on Disability Inclusion in Refugee and Displaced Persons Programs
  • Disability-inclusive healthcare in humanitarian camps: Pushing the boundaries of disability studies and global health
  • ‘Nowhere to be found’: disabled refugees and asylum seekers within the Australian resettlement landscape
  • ‘Disabled asylum seekers?… They don’t really exist’: The marginalisation of disabled asylum seekers in the UK and why it matters

All under one roof disability-inclusive shelter and settlements in emergencies

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES (IFRC)
2015

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All Under One Roof wants to transform the way humanitarian organisations approach inclusion and accessibility in their shelter and settlement programmes and aims to bridge the gap between good intentions and practical implementation by offering technical guidance for disability-inclusive shelter and settlement support in emergencies. It is the result of a collaborative process that started in 2013, involving CBM, Handicap International and IFRC. It draws upon existing guidelines from these and other institutions as well as relevant national and international standards and the expertise of practitioners. 

There are three sections:

Inclusion in phases of disaster management

Technical guidance for shelter and settlements

Promoting participation and equal opportunities

 

A set of training modules has been prepared based on this document

The gap report

THE JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV AND AIDS (UNAIDS)
July 2014

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The goal of this report is to provide the best possible data on the global AIDS epidemic, with a particular focus on information and analysis on the people left behind. The report highlights these gaps firstly in regional terms, providing “Regional Snapshots” and then explores issues faced by the following 12 populations that have been left behind by the AIDS response: people living with HIV, adolescent girls and young women, prisoners, migrants, people who inject drugs, sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender people, children and pregnant women living with HIV, displaced persons, people with disabilities and people aged 50 years and older

Guidance on infant feeding and HIV in the context of refugees and displaced populations

LHOTSKA, Lida
MCGRATH, Marie
2008

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This Guidance on Infant feeding and HIV aims to assist in policy formation and decision-making strategies on infant feeding and HIV in refugees and displaced populations. Its purpose is to provide an overview of the current consensus on infant feeding and HIV, and to give guidance to facilitate implementation of HIV and infant feeding programmes in refugee and displaced situations, in emergency contexts, and as an integral element of a coordinated approach to public health, HIV and nutrition programming

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