Background

Twice a year, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities issues calls for inputs to inform her thematic studies to be presented at the Human Rights Council at its March session and at the General Assembly in October.

Objectives

Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 44/10, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of person with disabilities has begun the preparation of his thematic report to the 77th session of the General Assembly which will be presented in October 2022, which will look at the rights of persons with disabilities in the context of armed conflict, with a particular focus on the conduct of hostilities, military operations, and peacekeeping operations.

Key questions and types of inputs sought

Questionnaire for State Militaries and Peacekeeping Institutes

Recognizing the application of Article 11 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD),¹ the specific obligation to protect and consider persons with disabilities during armed conflict within the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977,² and the reaffirmation of these requirements by the Security Council Resolution 2475 (2019),³ the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities is seeking inputs from State Militaries and Peacekeeping Institutes on efforts to implement a disability perspective into training and educational courses for weapon bearers during the conduct of hostilities, military operations within an armed conflict, and peacekeeping operations.

Inputs are sought to the following questions:

Download the questionnaire (Word | PDF)

1. How has your institution changed its training and educational courses for weapon bearers to reflect the international humanitarian law obligation to specifically protect and consider persons with disabilities during the conduct of hostilities, military operations within an armed conflict, and peacekeeping operations?
2. How has your institution changed its training and educational courses for weapon bearers to reflect the international humanitarian law obligation to specifically protect and consider persons with disabilities during the conduct of hostilities, military operations within an armed conflict, and peacekeeping operations?
3. Please provide detailed examples of courses, trainings, and/or curricula for weapon bearers that discuss the obligations under international humanitarian law to provide specific protection for and consideration of persons with disabilities during the conduct of hostilities, military operations during armed conflict, and peacekeeping operations.
4. Does your institution consult with persons with disabilities, organizations of persons with disabilities, or their representative organizations to develop training and educational courses for weapon bearers on how to specifically address their protection needs during the conduct of hostilities, military operations during armed conflict, and peacekeeping operations?
5. Does your institution collect any data on the impact of military operations on persons with disabilities as a tool to better inform and guide improvement of your training and educational courses?Does your institution consult with persons with disabilities, organizations of persons with disabilities, or their representative organizations to develop training and educational courses for weapon bearers on how to specifically address their protection needs during the conduct of hostilities, military operations during armed conflict, and peacekeeping operations?

Other contributions and consultations

The Special Rapporteur would also welcome contributions from National Human Rights Institutions, civil society organizations, United Nations agencies, academia, international and regional organizations to inform his report.
As part of the preparation of the report, the Special Rapporteur is also planning to undertake a series of expert consultations and meetings with civil society organisations and organisations of persons with disabilities, during the course of 2022. For more information, see: https://bit.ly/3pvnRKH

Treatment of inputs received

Inputs received within the deadline indicated above will inform the report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities on armed conflict – conduct of hostilities, military operations and peacekeeping operations.
All submissions received in accessible format will be published on this webpage, unless the submitter clearly indicated that they did not wish to have their input be made publicly available when submitting their response. Please note that submissions received in non-accessible PDF format will not be published, but can be made available upon request.