International guidance regarding non-discrimination in prioritisation of patients with COVID-19 (especially in cases of lack of ventilators and bed):

• Our open letter to the World Health Organisation.
• Our recommendations on ethical medical guidelines.
• UN experts: “Everyone has the right to life saving interventions”
• UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) especially Article 11 – situations of risk and humanitarian emergency

“States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters”

• World Medical Association Statement on Medical Ethics in the event of disasters

“In selecting the patients who may be saved, the physician should consider only their medical status and predicted response to the treatment, and should exclude any other consideration based on non-medical criteria.”

• Humanitarian charter of The Sphere

“Any such (humanitarian) assistance must be provided according to the principle of impartiality, which requires that it be provided solely on the basis of need and in proportion to need. This reflects the wider principle of non-discrimination: that no one should be discriminated against on any grounds of status, including age, gender, race, colour, ethnicity, sexual orientation, language, religion, disability, health status, political or other opinion, and national or social origin.”

• The Spanish bioethics committee produced guidance specifically for COVID-19 stating that disability cannot be a factor in ethical medical guidelines.
• The Bioethics Committee of the San Marino Republic produced guidance specifically for COVID-19

“The attribution of priority of treatments to be deliver as well as the victims to be treated cannot fail to take into account the fundamental ethical principles, which materialize in a correct application of triage, trying to optimize the allocation of resources. The only parameter of choice, therefore, is the correct application of triage, respecting every human life, based on the criteria of clinical appropriateness and proportionality of the treatments. Any other selection criteria, such as age, gender, social or ethnic affiliation, disability, is ethically unacceptable, as it would implement a ranking of lives only apparently more or less worthy of being lived, constituting a unacceptable violation of human rights.”

Statements on government measures

• Complaint by the Spanish National Disability Council
• Statement by Italian disability organisations
• Statement by the Belgian National Superior Disability Council

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights states: “It is the foremost duty of all member states to ensure that this does not occur and to reassure people with disabilities that they will not risk discrimination on the basis of disability in accessing health care and that their needs will still be addressed adequately.”

In 2016, EDF launched a series of European Human Rights Reports which will be published on a yearly basis. Each of the annual issues will be dedicated to a different theme of great importance for people with disabilities in Europe.

Our first issue was published in December 2016 to mark the 10 years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). The report gives an overview of the state of play on the CRPD in Europe.

A seventh issue is being prepared, focusing on the employment issues faced by persons with disabilities. We aim to publish the report towards the end of 2022.

Read our previous reports:

• Human Rights Report 2022: political participation of persons with disabilities
• Human Rights Report 2021: Impact of COVID19 on persons with disabilities
• European Human Rights Report 2020: Poverty and Social Exclusion
• Human Rights Report 2019: Ensuring the rights of persons with disabilities to equality and non-discrimination in the European Union
• Human Rights Report 2018: Disability-Inclusive SDGs in Europe and in International Cooperation
• Human Rights Report 2016 – Marking 10 years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

If you need legal assistance, please check the following websites:

• Ukrainian Legal Aid; Online Legal Service; United for Ukraine. 

If you and your family need urgent help in Ukraine related to accessible transportation, shelter, assistive devices, legal services and more, contact: 

• In Lviv, Ukraine: “Dzherelo Centre”. If possible, contact in advance Zoreslava Lulchak (+380678554511) 
• Uzhhorod, Ukraine (more info to come) 
• The Latvian Umbrella Body For Disability Organizations SUSTENTO provides helpful information about the possibilities to transport Ukranian civilians with disabilities to Latvia. Please, contact Niiara Chubarova (niiara.chubarova@sustento.lv), +371 20013797 
• UNICEF Hotline and UNICEF contacts in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.
• UNHCR contacts in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.

If you need legal assistance, please check the following websites:

• Ukrainian Legal Aid; Online Legal Service; United for Ukraine. 

If you and your family need urgent help in Ukraine related to accessible transportation, shelter, assistive devices, legal services and more, contact: 

• In Lviv, Ukraine: “Dzherelo Centre”. If possible, contact in advance Zoreslava Lulchak (+380678554511) 
• Uzhhorod, Ukraine (more info to come) 
• The Latvian Umbrella Body For Disability Organizations SUSTENTO provides helpful information about the possibilities to transport Ukranian civilians with disabilities to Latvia. Please, contact Niiara Chubarova (niiara.chubarova@sustento.lv), +371 20013797 
• UNICEF Hotline and UNICEF contacts in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.
• UNHCR contacts in Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.