Results of Fight For Right’s advocacy visit to New York at COSP19
Four days of advocacy by Fight For Right in New York City during the 19th Conference of States Parties To The Convention On The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (COSP19) were full of meaningful events.
During the COSP Fight For Right with the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN and partners hosted a side event ‘War crimes against people with disabilities in Ukraine: rethinking international humanitarian law.’ We had an opportunity:
– to highlight gaps in the international legal system,
– to elevate and present documented testimonies of Ukrainians with disabilities affected by russia’s war crimes,
– to disseminate emerging developments and research findings concerning the access of Ukrainians with disabilities to justice mechanisms,
– to share experience and recommendations developed on how to document crimes against people with disabilities,
– to enlist the support of international experts for further work in Ukraine to address the above issues.
Advocacy Manager Yevheniia Bulana participated in an event ‘Access to justice: ensuring disability inclusion in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity,’ organized by the International Disability Alliance.
COSP19 focuses on strengthening the protection of the rights of people with disabilities. However, such protection cannot be ensured where people are deprived of legal capacity on the basis of disability and placed in institutional settings. Ukraine’s experience demonstrates that institutionalization significantly increases risks in situations of armed conflict, exposing persons with disabilities to violence and control by the aggressor. This underscores the urgent need for deinstitutionalization and for ensuring the right to independent living and community inclusion as essential safeguards for protection and access to justice.
Fight For Right actively called for immediate reforms in international criminal and humanitarian law to ensure justice for people with disabilities. Without embedding accessibility in the new Convention on Crimes Against Humanity, progress is impossible.
Iryna Tekuchova, Fight For Right’s Director of Development, presented at the event ‘Expanding political participation: accessible parliaments as a driving force for the inclusion of people with disabilities’. At this event, participants discussed possible ways to involve people with disabilities in the political life of their countries and to improve the accessibility of parliamentary institutions.
Fight For Right also participated in a discussion at the Microsoft Corp event held as part of COSP19 on the integration of artificial intelligence and universal design to ensure the accessibility of electoral processes and political participation.
Founder Yulia Sachuk emphasized: “For us, participation in COSP is about advancing urgent, system-wide legal transformation. Without comprehensive reforms, there can be no meaningful justice for war crimes and other serious violations committed against people with disabilities committed by russia in Ukraine.”
For the tenth year, Fight For Right has been defending the rights of Ukrainians with disabilities.
Team Fight For Right and Mushegh Hovsepyan, Dovilė Juodkaitė and Steven Allen
With Katrin Langensiepen
Join us in advocating for the rights of people with disabilities.
#COSP #SDGs #GlobalGoals #COSP19 #CRPD
With the support of: Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN, International Partnership for Human Rights, New Society Institute Canada, Validity Foundation, Kvinna Till Kvinna, Christoffel-Blindenmission (Christian Blind Mission, CBM), Global Rights Compliance (GRC), Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflicts (IFHV) at Ruhr University Bochum, Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (Italy), University of Baltimore, United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD).
