Indigenous and Minority Persons with Disabilities, Risk and Emergencies

Hybrid side event to the Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP17).

This side event took place under sub-theme two, ‘Persons with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies’. It aimed to highlight the disproportionate impacts on indigenous and minority people with disabilities and the strategies proposed to mitigate these risks in order to realise the goal of Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). 

Co-sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Minority Rights Group, the event explored the concrete steps being taken by civil society organizations, policymakers and human rights organizations to ensure that policies are developed to guarantee the rights of people in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies include an intersectional perspective.

Amongst others, it featured speakers from the Indigenous People with Disabilities Global Network (IPWDGN), Vidas Negras com Deficiência Importam (VNDI) (Black lives with disabilities matter) and the World Federation of the Deaf. Speakers discussed solutions based on the following key issues, as highlighted in our joint submission to the CRPD General Discussion on Article 11, including police violence, situations of armed conflict, health emergencies and humanitarian emergencies linked to climate change and natural disasters.

Watch the replay