ALERT – HI addresses the UN Security Council members at their first informal meeting on persons with disabilities in armed conflict

Today 3^rd December, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, an informal meeting of the United Nations’ Security Council on Persons with Disabilities in Armed Conflicts will take place in New York.Anne Héry, the head of Advocacy and Institutional Relations, will therefore share with UNSC members our experience, expertise and data on the issue. HI will specifically call UNSC Members to take deliberate action to ensure that persons with disabilities are protected, participate in and have meaningful access to humanitarian assistance and protection services, in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and as articulated in the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.This “Arria-formula” meeting is hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to the United Nations, in partnership with the Permanent Missions of Cote D’Ivoire, Germany, Kuwait and Peru, as well as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the International Disability Alliance. These informal meetings are convened by UN Security Council (UNSC) members in order to hear the views of individuals, organizations or institutions on matters within the competence of the Security Council, and they are open to civil society organisations and UN agencies. It is the first time that the Security Council discusses the inclusion of persons with disabilities in such a specific way, and therefore a token of the raising awareness on the disproportionate impact of armed conflict on persons with disabilities. It could lead to the identification of measures to implement inclusive emergency responses in conflict zones, to change humanitarian practices and to reflect on the role of the Security Council in this regards. [embed]https://youtu.be/kftRlE_-bYA[/embed]