Overlooked and underrepresented: women with disabilities in international peacebuilding

Gaps in inclusive peace and security agendas  

Over the past 25 years, inclusion has increasingly been integrated into the peace and security pillar at the United Nations (UN). This was inspired by the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda through UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 and later in the Youth, Peace and Security agenda through UNSCR 2250. An inclusivity norm was codified in the Sustainable Development Goals under the Leave No One Behind Principle. 

The inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in peace and security activities has been slower to emerge. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in 2006, assures the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian planning and this commitment was strengthened through UNSCR 2475 on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in peacebuilding and humanitarian action, which was adopted in 2019.  

Both the WPS agenda and the emerging disability, peace and security agenda should ensure that women with disabilities are included in activities under the peace and security pillar at the UN.However, disability is conspicuously absent from the WPS agenda and gender is absent from emerging policy supporting the inclusion of persons with disabilities in peacebuilding, both in UNSCRs and United Nations policy. Women with disabilities are sparsely represented in National Action Plans on WPS and subsequent reporting and they are also excluded from reporting on the implementation of UNSCR 2475 and the UN Disability Inclusion Strategy, which also omits gender considerations and was released in the same year.  

Problematising the exclusion of women with disabilities in peacebuilding  

This exclusion in policy has translated to women with disabilities being overlooked and underrepresented in peacebuilding and peace operations. Participants from five UN departments and agencies participating in the “Finding their Place: The Contributions of Women with Disabilities to Peacebuilding Efforts” project led by Kirsten Van Houten described challenges in identifying who women with disabilities are and what role they play in peace and conflict. As a result, they are sporadically included in meetings, consultations and other activities held by the UN and there is limited specific programming that targets their engagement in peace and security.  

This is problematic for a number of reasons. First, women, persons with disabilities and women with disabilities are all disproportionately targeted by violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, during periods of armed conflict and should be included in designing programming for a more peaceful future. This is amplified by the fact that war is disabling and may increase the percentage of the population who have disabilities. In addition, women are members of armed forces and may have preexisting disabilities or acquire disabilities during conflict. Programming that targets the greater inclusion of women in armed forces should be designed to support women with disabilities. Further, in the context of where women with disabilities are part of armed groups, specific disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration activities should be deployed to support them. Without these parameters, women with disabilities risk returning from armed conflict even more vulnerable to stigmatisation and exclusion in their civilian communities. Women and girls with disabilities are not only victims of armed conflict but also active participants and contributors to peace processes and community resilience. Recognising and amplifying their voices strengthens both the inclusiveness and the sustainability of peacebuilding efforts. 

The EU’s role in advancing gender and disability rights 

As one of the world’s largest humanitarian donors and an active actor in international fora on peace and security, the European Union is uniquely positioned to set standards and shape global practice on the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities. The EU also has strong policy foundations to build upon-  including the EU Disability Strategy 2021–2030 and the Gender Action Plan III – which already mandate an intersectional, rights-based approach. 

A concrete recommendation is to ensure that all EU-funded humanitarian and peacebuilding programmes apply sex, age and disability-disaggregated data. In addition, these programmes should adopt a twin-track approach. This means, on the one hand, systematically mainstreaming disability and gender considerations across all actions and sectors, so that women and girls with disabilities are not overlooked in general programming. On the other hand, it requires targeted measures that directly address the specific barriers they face, such as inaccessible services, heightened risks of gender-based violence or exclusion from decision-making fora. The EU could also institutionalise partnerships with local organisations of persons with disabilities, particularly those led by women, to strengthen participation in needs assessments, decision-making and implementation. It is also important to foster a shift in societal perceptions.  

At the peace and security level, the EU should strengthen the Women, Peace and Security agenda across its external action and the European Peace Facility, explicitly requiring the participation of women and girls with disabilities. By building on the Council Conclusions on Women, Peace and Security, which call for gender-responsive, survivor-centred and trauma-sensitive approaches, the EU can make disability inclusion a standard component in disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes, security sector reform and mediation support. Scaling up such practices across EU institutions and delegations would demonstrate leadership and ensure that women and girls with disabilities are not only protected, but meaningfully engaged as actors in building peace and resilience. 

EU member states possess extensive practical experience and good practices in disability and gender inclusion, which can be shared and scaled up to strengthen humanitarian and peacebuilding efforts worldwide. EU countries frequently serve as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council and can play a particularly important role in shaping global discussions and advancing the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in peace and security agendas. Together, the EU and its member states are well-positioned to set international standards and ensure that humanitarian and peacebuilding actions are inclusive, effective and rights-based. 

The views expressed in this #CriticalThinking article reflect those of the author(s) and not of Friends of Europe.