Inaugural Speech of the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability
Hissa Al Thani

at the conference on
Disability and Disasters
Bhubaneswar, India 28-29 January 2008

Allow me first to express the depth of my happiness at having been provided with an opportunity to visit this astonishing land. This land which is a rich, creative, colourful fusion of cultural, ethnic, racial, religious, linguistic diversity, coexisting—each teaching the other a little of itself and each an inspiration to the rest.

I look forward to the rest of my time here and am only sorry that I will have to leave after only a few days due to other commitments and obligations.

Second, allow me to congratulate you on holding this conference about an issue that it is high time we dealt with.

Whether it is a natural disaster or whether it is war and armed conflict, we know from unfortunate experience that the victims and casualties are always from among the most vulnerable: children, women, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

We saw that during the Asian Tsunami; we saw it in the American Hurricane called Katrina; we saw it in the earthquakes that have shaken many parts of the world recently; and we see it everyday in the dozens of armed conflicts and wars, terrorist attacks and bombings across the globe.

It is particularly significant for me that this conference is taking place here in Orissa in light of the suffering inflict on this region by the cyclone of 1999 which left 20,000 people homeless and killed off a vast number of livestock.

It is particularly significant that it should take place here in Asia, a region that has seen more than its share of natural disasters, from cyclones, to typhoons, from tsunamis to mud slides, from earthquakes to floods.

While doing some reading and research about your fair State in preparation for this visit, I was impressed by reports (1) I read on the internet, that the initial relief and post relief work undertaken by NGOs has been praised by relief organizations worldwide. However, despite the comprehensiveness and scope of the information, there was no mention of the special needs of and the services to persons with disabilities.

As you know, I come from a region that has been plagued by repeated cycles of violence and armed conflict. And in that region too, I have seen the woeful neglect of the protection for persons with disabilities whether in terms of accessible bomb shelters or warning signs. Yet many of those countries, through experience, have become experts at relief and rescue in times of crisis.

Although there have been pockets of work on the issue of protecting and providing for the needs of persons with disabilities in crisis situations, it is the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that brought it to the forefront. The particular vulnerability of persons with disabilities in times of conflict and natural disaster was mentioned twice in that document:

(s) Concerned that situations of armed conflict and the occurrence of natural disasters have considerably increased the experience of disability in war stricken and disaster prone countries, as well as having especially devastating consequences for the human rights of persons with disabilities,

And again in Article 11:
SITUATIONS OF RISK AND HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCIES

States parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.

Now that we have an Article in the Convention obligating governments and civil organizations to take all the “necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities” in those situations of crisis, it is our job to identify those measures.

DPOs, NGOs, civil society organizations and institutions, medical and health experts, relief workers, rescuers, volunteers, persons with disabilities, their families and their community should all be involved in this exercise.

And I am happy to see from the programme of this conference that this is what will be happening over the next couple of days.

For any programme or set of procedures intended to meet the needs of persons with disabilities to succeed, persons with disabilities have to be involved in it from conceptualization, to design, to implementation, to monitoring and finally review and evaluation.

Allow me to share with you a few more thoughts about what I believe would make for effective disaster response, relief and mitigation (2), geared towards protecting and saving the lives of persons with disabilities at a time when they are particularly vulnerable:

1. The importance of establishing partnerships among the different levels involved in disaster relief and services cannot be over-estimated. Disabled persons organizations, relief and rescue outfits, the media and the medical establishment must join together to inform about accessible shelters and escape routes and educate about contingencies and self-help plans. Awareness raising campaigns should be devised and implemented to inform people with disabilities about necessary precautions to be taken in case of imminent disaster. In the event of a sudden natural disaster, such a program would minimize injury and facilitate rescue efforts.
2. Educating the public about disaster preparedness and warning the people most likely to be affected are crucial. Relief and rescue operations must have the appropriate medical equipment and supplies, whether wheelchairs or respirators, and the adequate training to address the immediate needs of people with disabilities. Relief personnel must be equipped and trained in dealing and serving persons with disabilities. In addition, relief personnel should provide training, particularly for personnel and volunteers in the field, on how to support the independence and dignity of persons with disabilities in the aftermath of a disaster.
3. Disaster preparedness for people with disabilities is critical in minimizing the impact of a disaster. The media-in partnership with disability and governmental organizations-should incorporate advisories into emergency broadcasts in formats accessible to people with disabilities. Such advisories alert the public, provide a mechanism for informing rescue personnel of individual medical conditions and impairments, and identify accessible emergency shelters. The creation and repetition of accessible media messages is critical for empowering people with disabilities to protect themselves from disasters.
4. Access to appropriate facilities -- housing, beds, toilets, and other necessities -- must be monitored and made available to individuals with disabilities before, during, and after a disaster. This access also must be ensured for those who incur a disability as a result of a disaster.
5. It is also important to prepare the families of persons with disabilities on how to deal with the needs in times of crisis. Communities have a role to play as well. Often neighbours and other community members can be recruited to help a family with a member with disability in case of emergency.
6. Appropriate planning and management of information related to architectural accessibility improves the provision of disaster services for persons with disabilities. Having said this it is important to mention that accessible shelters, warning signs, escape routes, information, medical care will not cost more and will benefit many more people that just those with disabilities. Children, the elderly, pregnant women, families with very small children, people with chronic illness will all benefit from universal architectural design and accessible information.

Finally, allow me to congratulate you for this conference and to wish you the best of luck in your work.

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