Global disability movement asks to be included in climate negotiations
On 10 September 2024, eight organisations from different parts of the world representing the interests of people with disabilities as well as their families sent a formal letter to the member States of the Paris Agreement denouncing the exclusion of the disability movement from the climate negotiations. The organisations call for an official constituency for people with disabilities at the ongoing COP 29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, blocked by bureaucratic delays, as has been done for other interest groups. The presence of an official constituency “would give persons with disabilities equal opportunity to participate, including making plenary interventions, receiving informal advance information from the UNFCCC Secretariat” and would allow them to collaborate on “an equal basis with the other constituencies”.
The document states that persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected by the effects of climate change and reminds States that this exclusion goes against UN treaties such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, specifically Article 4.3. Therefore, states are obliged to consult with people with disabilities, through their organisations, as they already do for other dossiers, e.g. in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Several organisations are already working on the inclusion of disability in climate action and these cover most of the different disabilities and bring representatives from many regions of the globe. These organisations include associations of persons with disabilities, non-governmental organisations dealing with disabilities and other NGOs that focus their actions on climate and consider inclusion to be very important.
The signatories of the letter say they are convinced that the creation of an official constituency in the UNFCCC and thus ensuring a fuller participation of persons with disabilities in the negotiations is crucial to developing effective global climate solutions and building more resilient and sustainable societies.
Signatories:
- International Disability Alliance
- International Disability and Development Consortium
- African Disability Forum
- Arab Organization Of Persons With Disabilities
- ASEAN Disability Forum
- European Disability Forum
- Latin American Network of NGOs of Persons with Disabilities and their Families (RIADIS)
- Pacific Disability Forum