QADER Submits Three Strategic Contributions to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

QADER for Community Development announces the submission of three strategic contributions to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as part of the ongoing international consultations on several important normative documents related to the political and public participation of persons with disabilities, multiple and intersectional discrimination against women and girls with disabilities, and disability-based violence.

These contributions reflect QADER’s role as a producer of specialized human rights knowledge in the field of disability inclusion, drawing on its expertise in public policy and legislative development, monitoring and documentation, research and analytical papers, specialized normative contributions, and engagement with the United Nations system and its mechanisms. They also demonstrate the organization’s commitment to contributing to the development of relevant international standards and strengthening the presence of Palestinian expertise in global human rights discussions related to the rights of persons with disabilities, thereby supporting efforts to build more just, inclusive, and equitable societies.

The three contributions are guided by an integrated vision that views participation, equality, and protection not as separate pathways, but as interconnected dimensions for realizing the rights of persons with disabilities and ensuring their full enjoyment of rights and freedoms on an equal basis with others. QADER emphasizes that building more just and inclusive societies requires moving beyond traditional welfare-based approaches toward approaches grounded in human rights, dignity, autonomy, and meaningful participation. From this perspective, the contributions place persons with disabilities in their rightful position as rights-holders and full partners in shaping public policies, decision-making processes, development pathways, humanitarian response, recovery, and reconstruction, thereby promoting equality, equity, and empowerment and ensuring that no one is left behind.

First: Political and Public Participation and Equal Citizenship

The first contribution addressed the draft General Comment on Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities concerning participation in political and public life. It is based on a vision that recognizes participation as extending beyond voting and standing for election to include involvement in policymaking, public decision-making, institutional accountability, and the management of public affairs. The contribution highlights the close interconnection between political participation, legal capacity, accessibility, equality, non-discrimination, and effective partnership with organizations of persons with disabilities as fundamental pillars of equal citizenship. It further calls for a broader understanding of this right to encompass armed conflicts, humanitarian emergencies, recovery and reconstruction processes, and the digital environment, thereby strengthening the presence and influence of persons with disabilities in matters affecting their lives and futures.

Among the key messages emphasized in the contribution are:

• Full legal capacity constitutes the cornerstone of political and public participation for persons with disabilities.
• Participation does not begin with voting nor end there; it extends to policymaking, decision-making, and holding institutions accountable.
• The presence of persons with disabilities in decision-making positions alone is insufficient; their actual influence on outcomes must be ensured.
• Organizations of persons with disabilities are essential partners in identifying priorities and formulating, implementing, and evaluating policies and legislation.
• Disability inclusion serves as a governing framework for effective political and public participation rather than an additional measure or subsequent obligation.
• Equal participation requires meaningful representation of women and girls with disabilities and other marginalized groups among persons with disabilities.
• Political and public participation must continue during conflicts, emergencies, recovery and reconstruction processes, and pathways of justice and accountability.
• Data, monitoring, and documentation are essential pillars for identifying exclusion, measuring progress, and promoting equal participation.
• The digital environment and artificial intelligence should not become new spaces of exclusion or mechanisms for reproducing inequality.

QADER emphasizes that political and public participation for persons with disabilities is not merely a right but one of the fundamental foundations of equal citizenship and social justice. The broader the opportunities for meaningful participation in policymaking, decision-making, and institutional accountability, the greater the prospects for building more inclusive, equitable, and responsive societies.

Second: Women and Girls with Disabilities and Substantive Equality

The second contribution addressed the draft Guidelines on Multiple and Intersectional Discrimination against Women and Girls with Disabilities. It is grounded in the understanding that equality cannot be achieved merely through the recognition of rights but must be realized through the effective exercise of those rights on an equal basis with others. The contribution argues that discrimination against women and girls with disabilities is not simply the accumulation of multiple forms of discrimination; rather, it constitutes a complex and intersectional pattern of exclusion that requires comprehensive responses based on human rights and disability inclusion. It calls for strengthening legal capacity, access to justice, leadership, inclusive representation, and the integration of disability inclusion into gender policies, humanitarian response, recovery, and reconstruction, thereby ensuring meaningful participation and leaving no woman or girl with a disability behind.

Among the key messages emphasized in the contribution are:

• Discrimination against women and girls with disabilities cannot be reduced to multiple causes; it produces interconnected and overlapping forms of marginalization and exclusion.
• Women and girls with disabilities are full rights-holders, not merely subjects of protection or care.
• Disability inclusion constitutes a governing standard for gender policies rather than a secondary component or subsequent obligation
• Legal capacity is the foundation for exercising rights, achieving equality, and ensuring autonomy.
• Access to justice requires removing barriers and ensuring participation throughout all legal and judicial processes.
• Genuine participation is not achieved through symbolic presence but through effective leadership and representation in decision-making positions.
• Education, health, employment, and social protection policies must be built on inclusion and non-discrimination.
• Discrimination intensifies in situations of conflict and occupation, making disability inclusion in protection, recovery, and reconstruction essential.
• Data, monitoring, documentation, and accountability mechanisms are crucial for exposing discrimination, promoting equity, and realizing rights.

QADER affirms that substantive equality for women and girls with disabilities cannot be achieved simply by including them in policies and programs; it requires ensuring their meaningful participation in the design, implementation, and evaluation of those policies and programs. The greater the opportunities for access to justice, leadership, representation, and equal participation, the closer societies move toward sustainable equality, equity, and human dignity.

Third: Disability-Based Violence and Effective Protection

The third contribution addressed the draft Guidelines on Disability-Based Violence. It is based on the understanding that violence is not limited to direct individual acts but is also linked to legal, institutional, and social environments that produce or sustain discrimination and exclusion. Effective prevention of violence therefore requires strengthening legal capacity, access to justice, protection, monitoring, documentation, and accountability, while addressing forms of violence associated with substitute decision-making, institutionalization, and non-consensual interventions.

QADER for Community Development considers this issue increasingly important in light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2475 (2019), Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and subsequent developments in international law, including the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice and United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/ES-10/24. Accordingly, the contribution emphasizes the need to integrate disability inclusion into humanitarian protection, recovery, and reconstruction efforts, while ensuring the participation of persons with disabilities as rights-holders in protection, monitoring, documentation, accountability, and redress mechanisms, rather than viewing them solely as a group affected by conflicts and crises.

Among the key messages emphasized in the contribution are:

• Disability-based violence cannot be understood in isolation from discrimination, marginalization, exclusion, and unequal power relations.
• Persons with disabilities are full rights-holders, not merely subjects of protection or care.
• Legal capacity is one of the most important tools for preventing violence, exploitation, and abuse.
• Guardianship, institutionalization, and non-consensual interventions are associated with heightened risks of violence and loss of autonomy.
• Addressing gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities requires an intersectional, rights-based approach.
• Access to justice is not achieved merely through the existence of legal procedures but through the removal of barriers and the provision of effective remedies.
• Risks of violence and exclusion intensify during conflicts and occupation, making disability inclusion in protection, recovery, and reconstruction essential.
• Data, documentation, and accountability are essential pillars for preventing violence, promoting justice, and combating impunity.
• Disability-based violence is not limited to direct acts but also includes structures that generate coercion and exclusion.
• States, the United Nations system, international actors, and donors share responsibility for preventing violence and integrating disability inclusion into protection, recovery, and reconstruction efforts in partnership with organizations representing persons with disabilities.

QADER emphasizes that effective protection for persons with disabilities is achieved not only by responding to violations after they occur but also by addressing the structural and institutional causes that allow violence to emerge, persist, or go unpunished. The stronger the legal capacity, access to justice, monitoring, documentation, and accountability mechanisms, the closer societies move toward systems capable of preventing violence, protecting rights, and advancing justice. Prevention begins not after a violation occurs, but with empowering persons with disabilities to exercise their rights, freedoms, and autonomy on an equal basis with others within an environment grounded in justice, accountability, and human dignity.

Towards Disability Inclusion as a Pathway to Justice, Equality, and Empowerment

The three strategic contributions submitted by QADER to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities demonstrate that participation, equality, and protection are not separate pathways but interconnected dimensions for realizing the rights of persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others. Participation cannot be meaningful in the presence of discrimination and exclusion; equality cannot be achieved without protection and justice; and protection cannot be effective without full legal capacity, autonomy, access to justice, and accountability.

QADER stresses that disability inclusion should not be understood as a sectoral theme or an additional measure appended to policies and programs. Rather, it should be recognized as a governing framework for redesigning legislation, policies, plans, budgets, institutions, and services from a human rights perspective. From this standpoint, the three contributions place persons with disabilities in their rightful role as rights-holders and full partners in policymaking, decision-making, development processes, humanitarian response, recovery, and reconstruction.

Disability inclusion is not an end in itself; it is a pathway toward more just, equitable, and empowering societies. Such societies are measured not only by their recognition of the rights of persons with disabilities but by their ability to transform those rights into a lived reality reflected in people’s lives, opportunities, and futures. The true value of any society is not reflected merely in the principles it proclaims, but in its ability to uphold dignity and translate equality into everyday reality, where persons with disabilities are full partners in shaping the present and building the future.