Debate 3 December 2022:
Today, on International Disability Rights Day, three aid organizations call on Sweden to prioritize help for children with disabilities in war and conflicts.
Every tenth child in the world lives with a disability. They are one of the most marginalized and vulnerable groups. It becomes especially clear in armed conflicts and wars.
People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable in armed conflicts, and it is worst for children with disabilities. They are at greater risk of discrimination, greater risk of violence and abuse and greater risk of abandonment.
According to the UN, children with disabilities are more than four times more likely to be killed in war and armed conflict. They have a harder time escaping and a harder time getting to safety. The boy who is deaf does not hear the alarm that warns. The girl who is blind cannot make it to safety when the guns rattle. And the child who uses a wheelchair cannot get down to the shelter.
Girls and young women with disabilities, especially those with intellectual disabilities or autism, are up to ten times more likely to experience sexual violence and exploitation.
During a war, it is difficult for many to access clean water, food, care, medicines, education and information, and a child with a disability is almost always totally dependent on a benevolent environment, even those in refugee camps.
The children living with disabilities often live in difficult conditions even in peace. It is not uncommon for people with disabilities to live their entire lives in institutions under undignified conditions and deprived of human rights. When the war is a fact, they often risk being deprioritized or completely forgotten - even by humanitarian actors whose mission is to help the most vulnerable.
Despite the fact that children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable, they are often completely excluded when interventions are planned and implemented. They are not found, they are not seen, they have few opportunities to make their voices heard and they are often left completely to their own devices.
Today, there are Swedish humanitarian efforts that are carried out without children with disabilities in mind. The consequence is that children who could have been protected and survived are now injured and die.
Sweden's government has declared that humanitarian aid will increase in the coming period. It has also expressed that the rights of people with disabilities must be given special attention.
Sweden has the chance to take the lead in the issue of inclusive humanitarian aid and raise the international priority of children with disabilities.
We hope that Aid and Foreign Trade Minister Johan Forsell ensures that all humanitarian efforts that Sweden supports must have a functional rights perspective and a children's rights perspective and be inclusive.
We are prepared to assist in all possible ways so that the humanitarian aid from Sweden better includes the most vulnerable - children with disabilities.
Help must reach everyone. All children have the same rights and all children are equally valuable.
Jesper Hansén, General Secretary MyRight
Josephine Sundqvist, Secretary General Läkarmissionen
Eva Ekelund, Policy Manager ACT Church of Sweden
The debate article has been published in:
The Dala Democrat
New Wermlands-Tidningen
The worker's sheet
The barometer
Kristianstadsbladet
Southeast
