Disability as a Missing Dimension in Disarmament Diplomacy

Building on its long-standing scholarship and advocacy promoting disability inclusion across the wide spectrum of issues on the global peace and security agenda, HPOD is co-sponsoring an in-person side event from 8:30 to 9:45AM on October 29th during the United Nations General Assembly First Committee (Disarmament and International Security)'s 79th session.

In recent decades, the work of the First Committee has been increasingly focused on the humanitarian dimension of disarmament, recognizing that national and human security can and must be pursued as complementary objectives, in accordance with the dictates of public conscience and international law. The need to include marginalized voices and groups – such as women, youth and survivors – in discussions and decision-making regarding peace and disarmament is now widely recognized. As such, the landmine, cluster munition and nuclear weapons ban treaties include victim assistance and support provisions. 

This side event will discuss how persons with disabilities are invariably among those groups most disproportionately affected by conflict. But persons with disabilities also need a voice in how systems and machines of violence can be dismantled, disarmed, and replaced by cultures of cooperation and non-violence. 

As the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) makes clear, persons with disabilities should not be viewed primarily as victims to be assisted, survivors to be pitied, or patients to be cared for, but as agents of change and enablement on par with us all. While many existing Committee resolutions should already be addressing disability, the fact they are not suggests a scope for new initiatives, focusing on both the humanitarian needs and rights of persons with disabilities and the powerful contributions they can make to advancing the disarmament agenda. 

Panelists

• Véronique Christory, Senior Arms Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross
• Janet E. Lord, Senior Associate, HPOD
• Dr. Tammy Bernasky, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Cape Breton University; author of Working to End Gender-Based Violence in the Disability Community: International Perspectives
• Dr. Matthew Breay Bolton, Co-Director of Pace University’s International Disarmament Institute

Co-Sponsors

• International Committee of the Red Cross
• Pace University
• Cape Breton University
• Harvard Law School Project on Disability
• International Peace Research Association
• U.S. International Council on Disabilities
• Center for International and Comparative Law, University of Baltimore

Light refreshments and coffee will be provided.