Who’s Missing? Women with Disabilities In U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 National Action Plans

By Stephanie Ortoleva, Esq., (with research assistance from Alec Knight)

Despite progress made through a series of United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR), beginning with the groundbreaking UNSCR 1325 in 2000, to give women a place at the table in post-conflict peace building and reconciliation, women with disabilities are missing and ignored and have not had a role in these processes. Women with disabilities are excluded both in practice and formally, through the various United Nations (U.N.) resolutions and policy documents, including the UNSCR 1325 Indicators and the UNSCR 1325 National Action Plans , each country is to prepare.

Women with disabilities face unique challenges and offer unique perspectives, which enable them to make important contributions to the peace-building process. Moreover, their participation ensures that their needs and concerns are addressed and effectively represented. Emancipatory gender politics require the consideration and recognition of the intersectionality and multiple dimensions of women’s lives. The 2011 Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women focuses on the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that contribute to and exacerbate violence against women. According to the report, disability is a factor, along with age, access to resources, race/ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, and class, which can exacerbate the discrimination against and marginalization of women.

Furthermore, pursuant to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), especially Article 6 on Women, and the U.N. Interagency Support Group for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, both the concerns of and the participation of women with disabilities must be incorporated into these efforts. Additionally, the parallel provisions in the CRPD and the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on conflict and post-conflict situations brings into focus the synergy between the two treaties.