The Future of European International Cooperation and Humanitarian Action

14.11.2024

Andre Felix

International cooperation

As part of the preparations for the European Regional Disability Summit 2024 and the Global Disability Summit 2025, the European Disability Forum (EDF) and the Global Disability Summit (GDS) Secretariat held several online consultation meetings and conducted a comprehensive survey to gather insights from persons with disabilities and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) across greater Europe (including the Balkans and the Caucuses) and Central Asia. The consultation meetings and survey aimed to capture the perspectives and priorities of persons with disabilities and OPDs regarding key issues related to international development, humanitarian action and disability rights. The consultations and survey explored the following questions:

Urgent Priorities: What do OPDs and persons with disabilities see as urgent priorities for European international cooperation (in the European Union’s global work, its neighboring countries and Central Asia)?
Key Recommendations: What are the key recommendations that OPDs and persons with disabilities would like to propose to governments and allies during the European Regional Disability Summit 2024 to advance the rights of persons with disabilities within international cooperation and humanitarian action?
Message to European Leaders: What would persons with disabilities like to share with European leaders about the inclusion of persons with disabilities in international cooperation and humanitarian action?

The survey was available in Easy-to-Read, English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish and was open for responses from February to July 2024, receiving a total of 47 responses. Additionally, we held three OPD consultation meetings on February 28, March 26, and July 2. The first two meetings included interpretation in International Sign, as well as French, Spanish, German, and Russian. The third consultation was held in Russian with English interpretation and Russian Sign Language, focusing on OPDs based in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Altogether, our online consultations engaged over 100 participants.

Summary: Overarching Regional Commitments

Persons with disabilities represent a significant yet often overlooked population whose inclusion is essential for achieving truly inclusive and sustainable global development. The European Disability Summit 2024 and the Global Disability Summit 2025 offer unique opportunities to translate words into action. Based on survey results and consultation meetings with OPDs, EDF has compiled 11 overarching commitments related to inclusive international cooperation and humanitarian action.

These commitments serve as broad guiding principles, encouraging countries to consider specific, actionable commitments that align with these overarching goals ahead of Global Disability Summit 2025.

Mainstream Disability Inclusion in Development Cooperation: Fully incorporate inclusive development and a rights-based approach across all European international cooperation and humanitarian action. This includes ensuring that disability considerations are embedded from the design to the implementation and evaluation of all programmes, policies and projects.
Promote Local Leadership and OPD Participation: Strengthen the participation of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) from both urban and rural areas in decision-making processes. Ensure that OPDs have meaningful involvement in planning, implementation, and monitoring of development cooperation and humanitarian initiatives.
Support Deinstitutionalization and Independent Living: Allocate resources to promote community-based services over institutional care, particularly in the context of EU accession processes. Prioritize deinstitutionalization as a key reform area, focusing on independent living and integration into society.
Advance Inclusive Education and Employment: Ensure that all education and employment initiatives funded by European international cooperation are fully inclusive of persons with disabilities. This includes supporting inclusive education systems and promoting equal employment opportunities through accessible workplace environments and non-discrimination against persons with disabilities.
Enhance Data Collection for Evidence-Based Policy: Improve the collection and use of disaggregated data by disability, gender, and other factors. This data is essential for informed policymaking, effective resource allocation, and the monitoring of progress toward disability inclusion.
Promote Accessibility in All Sectors: Continuously promote and fund initiatives that ensure accessibility in transportation, education, healthcare, employment, technology, public infrastructure, and other critical areas. This includes both physical accessibility and digital inclusion.
Implement Gender and Intersectionality Approaches: Prioritize the needs of marginalized groups, including women and girls with disabilities, by incorporating intersectional approaches in all policies and programs. Address gender-based violence, reproductive rights, and promote the recognition of national sign languages.
Increase Funding for OPDs and Disability-Focused Projects: Expand Official Development Assistance (ODA) and humanitarian budgets to include specific allocations for projects that target the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities. Strengthen the financial and human resource capacities of OPDs, particularly those representing underrepresented groups.
Strengthen Climate Resilience by Centering Disability Leadership in Risk Reduction and Adaptation: Prioritise disability inclusion in all climate action and disaster risk reduction efforts. Ensure that persons with disabilities are considered and involved in all strategies aimed at enhancing resilience to climate change and other environmental challenges.
Strengthen Protection Mechanisms for Persons with Disabilities in Conflict Zones and Humanitarian Crises: Increase funding and resources within humanitarian budgets specifically for programmes that prioritize the safety and rights of persons with disabilities in conflict zones, humanitarian crises, and natural disasters. Ensure that organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) are actively involved in the design and implementation of these initiatives, particularly in creating accessible early warning systems, emergency response strategies, and support services tailored to the needs of persons with disabilities.
Advocate for Consistency in Disability Rights Implementation: Address the hypocrisy in Europe’s promotion of disability rights abroad by ensuring full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities within the region. Lead by example in ending ableism, disability discrimination, and promoting equal rights both domestically and internationally.

Key Findings

European international cooperation faces several urgent priorities, particularly in relation to its global work, engagement with neighboring countries, and partnerships in Central Asia. According to persons with disabilities and OPDs urgent priorities include:

Inclusive Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Action

Fully Inclusive Development: European international cooperation must fully adopt to inclusive development principles and a rights-based into overall development cooperation and humanitarian action, ensuring that Official Development Assistance (ODA) and aid programs also address the immediate needs of persons with disabilities while also supporting long-term development goals. This includes designing programs from start to finish that are accessible and inclusive to all, including persons with disabilities.
Mainstreaming via a Twin-Track Approach: Disability should also be included in all thematic issues across all sectors of development schemes through mainstreaming and twin-tracking. Mainstreaming disability refers to including and incorporating disability in all areas across every development project and program while twin-tracking refers to including disability in all thematic areas, along with having programs that target and primarily focusses on disability issues.

Meaningful Participation – A Seat at the Table

Local Leadership and OPD Engagement: European international cooperation must promote local leadership in international cooperation and humanitarian action activities. Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) from both urban and rural contexts must be able to meaningfully participate and have a seat at decision-making tables to ensure their needs and rights are represented and addressed.
Monitoring and Evaluation Participation: Promote the use of the OECD DAC Disability Policy and implement measures to ensure persons with disabilities are included in European international cooperation and humanitarian action activities including funding, program and policy development.

Deinstitutionalization and Independent Living

Community-Based Services: Investing in community-based services and support services is essential to promote the right to independent living for persons with disabilities. European external action initiatives must avoid funding segregated settings like institutions and instead focus on initiatives that promote autonomy, such as personal assistance and accessible mainstream services. Further, fund and advocate for services that support the inclusion of people with disabilities in daily life, such as human assistance, access to technical aids, accessible transportation, adapted housing, and sign language interpretation.
Deinstitutionalization as an Accession Requirement: During the EU accession processes, particularly in countries like Ukraine, deinstitutionalization should be a key reform area. This involves transitioning from institutional care to community-based services, ensuring that all individuals with disabilities, regardless of age, can live independently.

Poverty Reduction

Inclusive Education: European international cooperation must support inclusive education strategies for students with disabilities and all education-related polices, programs and projects must ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
Equal Employment Opportunities: European international cooperation activities must support meaningful employment opportunities for persons with disabilities and avoid funding segregated employment of persons with disabilities such as sheltered workshops.
Disability Inclusive Social Protection: Social protection is crucial for persons with disabilities to address the systemic and persistent barriers that affect their lives and lead to higher levels of poverty among this group. All international cooperation initiatives must be inclusive of persons with disabilities to reduce inequality and ensure the well-being of persons with disabilities across different income levels and in various challenging circumstances.
Ending Stigma and Discrimination: To reduce poverty and to ensure equal education and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities international cooperation activities must also collaborate with local communities to eliminate negative stigmas and end discrimination against persons with disabilities that often prevent them from enrolling in school or obtaining employment.

Promote Accessibility

Universal Access: European international cooperation must continuously promote access and accessibility in all areas of life, including public transportation, education, healthcare, employment, technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), communications (including media), information and public infrastructure. This includes providing financial resources and technical support for creating accessible environments and services.
Accessible Education: Any development activity related to education must also ensure that educational institutions are equipped with the necessary resources and infrastructure to accommodate students with disabilities.
Healthcare Access: Facilitate access to healthcare services that are tailored to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
Employment Opportunities: Support workplace adjustments and create inclusive environments that enable individuals with disabilities to contribute to the workforce.
Public Infrastructure: Invest in accessible transportation, public spaces, and communication tools to eliminate barriers to mobility and participation.
Sports, Culture and Recreation: European international cooperation should actively promote access to sports, cultural, and recreational activities for persons with disabilities, recognizing these as essential for personal development, social inclusion, and community building.

Data Collection and Evidence-Based Policy

Improved Data Collection: The collection of disaggregated data by disability and other factors is crucial. Accurate data enables better understanding of the challenges faced by persons with disabilities, leading to more effective budgeting and resource allocation, ensuring that interventions are targeted and impactful.

Advocacy and Capacity Building

Support for OPDs: Increasing funding and capacity-building opportunities for OPDs within Europe and beyond is vital. OPDs play a crucial role in advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities and ensuring that policies and legislation are rights-based and inclusive. Official Development Assistance to projects targeting persons with disabilities and OPDs must be increased.
Sharing Best Practices: European international cooperation should prioritize the sharing of best practices and experiences in advancing disability rights. This includes mentorship, study visits, and other forms of knowledge exchange that can empower disability rights leaders in neighboring countries, Central Asia and partner countries as well as within Europe. It is important to recognize that Europe can learn much from our partners as well.
Legal Capacity and Representation: Ensuring that persons with disabilities across the globe have the legal capacity and opportunities to participate in political and advocacy processes is essential. This includes ensuring accessibility to voting and other forms of civic participation, as well as supporting persons with disabilities in advocacy efforts.

Gender and Intersectionality

Focus on Marginalized Groups: European international cooperation should prioritize the needs of the most marginalized groups, including women and girls with disabilities, deafblind persons, persons with disabilities living in rural communities, refugees and migrants with disabilities, indigenous persons, and linguistic minorities. Intersectional approaches that consider multiple forms of discrimination are necessary to ensure inclusive development, which is also why development cooperation must include a targeted approach.
Gender-Based Violence and Reproductive Rights: Addressing gender-based violence and ensuring sexual and reproductive rights for persons with disabilities are urgent priorities. This includes creating safe spaces, access to justice, and comprehensive support services. European international cooperation cannot overlook women and girls with disabilities.
Support for Deaf Communities: Deaf individuals, including in EU neighboring countries and Central Asia, face significant barriers due to language and accessibility issues. International efforts should focus on promoting Sign Language acquisition, early intervention for deaf children and their families, and the recognition of national sign languages.

Climate Action and Environmental Resilience

Climate Change and Economic Diversification: In Europe and partner countries alike, fostering sustainable development is crucial. This includes enhancing resilience to climate change, promoting economic diversification, and ensuring that development efforts are inclusive and equitable to all including persons with disabilities. Any European international cooperation and humanitarian action activity related to addressing climate action must include OPDs and persons with disabilities.
Protection from Disasters: European international cooperation should ensure that emergency preparedness and response plans are inclusive of persons with disabilities, with specific protocols to protect them during disasters including incidents related to climate change.

Addressing Hypocrisy in CRPD Implementation and Cultural Change

Consistency in CRPD Implementation: Europe must lead by example by fully implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) within its own borders. Hypocrisy in Europe’s promotion of disability rights abroad while failing to fully implement these rights at home undermines its credibility and effectiveness.
- Localization: Encouraging governments to invest more in mainstreaming disability inclusion and cooperating with local OPDs as equal partners.
- European Leadership in Inclusion: European leaders should continue supporting inclusion programs for persons with disabilities, especially in Central Asia, and support the exchange of best practices.
- Cross-Sectoral Cooperation: Encouraging intersectionality between OPDs and other stakeholder groups, such as women’s rights movements and Indigenous Peoples.Ending Ableism: While pushing for equal rights in other parts of the world, Europe must end ableism, the discrimination against persons with disabilities, at home and abroad,

Key recommendations

Key recommendations that OPDs from Europe and Central Asia would like to propose to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in European international cooperation and humanitarian action activities include:

Funding and Resources

Increase Development Assistance: Expand official development assistance (aid) projects that both mainstream and specifically target the rights of persons with disabilities including humanitarian action budgets. Also, reserve specific budgets for projects focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Support Long-Term Services: Provide adequate funding to OPDs for the establishment of sustainable community services.
Enhance Capacity of OPDs: Strengthen the human and financial resources of European and global OPDs, particularly those representing underrepresented disability groups.
Deinstitutionalization: Allocate funds for deinstitutionalization in compliance with new UN guidelines.
Conflict Zones: Address the needs of people with disabilities in conflict zones and emergencies.
Support Research and Development: Fund and promote the development of technologies that benefit people with disabilities.

Inclusion and Participation

Full Inclusion: Prioritize the meaningful inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of international cooperation, humanitarian action, and climate action including in political dialogues, hearings, report writing, etc.
Involvement in Decision-Making: Ensure that European OPDs and their local partners are actively involved in planning, implementing, and monitoring Pan-European and international initiatives.

Policy Development and Implementation

Inclusive Budgeting: Adopt disability-inclusive and gender-responsive budgeting practices to address the needs of persons with disabilities.
Improve Data Collection: Prioritize the enhancement of data collection methods to better serve persons with disabilities.
Legislation and Enforcement: Develop and enforce legislation and policies to ensure disability inclusion.
Clarify Concepts: Establish mechanisms and normative legal acts that clearly define concepts like “discrimination” and “stigmatization” within the context of disability.
Integrate Disability Rights: Embed disability rights into international documents and policies.

Data Collection and Monitoring

Data Gathering: Collect comprehensive data about persons with disabilities to inform policy decisions.
Disaggregated Data: Ensure that data is disaggregated by disability and gender to accurately address specific needs.
Monitoring Mechanisms: Develop systems for monitoring and evaluating progress in implementing disability rights measures.
Evidence-Based Approach: Utilize evidence-based methodologies in projects, ensuring regular reporting and accountability.

Awareness and Training

Training Programs: Organize training sessions to raise awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Public Awareness: Enhance public understanding of disability challenges and real-life experiences.
Experience Exchange: Facilitate systematic education and experience exchanges on disability issues among EU Member States and partner countries.

Legal and Rights Protection

Focus on Human Rights: Emphasize the ongoing discrimination against persons with disabilities as a human rights violation.
Equality Before the Law: Ensure equal access to legal services and opportunities for persons with disabilities.
Legal Support: Provide legal support to protect the rights of people with disabilities.
Combat Discrimination: Strengthen laws and enforcement to fight discrimination against persons with disabilities.

International Cooperation and Experience Sharing

Promote Cooperation: Encourage international cooperation and the exchange of best practices in disability rights.
Job Creation: Promote job creation and improved working conditions for persons with disabilities through international cooperation.

Accessibility

Public and Private Services: Ensure accessibility to all public and private services, including digital technologies and the internet.
Physical Environment: Promote accessibility in the physical environment, including public buildings, transportation, and infrastructure.
Digital Inclusion: Advance digital accessibility and professional development for persons with disabilities.
Social Integration: Promote programs that support the social integration and skill development of people with disabilities.

Gender and Intersectionality

Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Implement gender-responsive budgeting that addresses the unique challenges faced by women and men with disabilities.
Intersectionality in Policy: Incorporate intersectionality in all policies and programs to address multiple forms of discrimination.
UN CRPD Compliance: Ensure the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) follows the principle of gender mainstreaming.
National Sign Languages: Ensure at least 15% of international cooperation projects related to persons with disabilities promote and include national sign languages, particularly in Global South countries.
Address Systemic Oppression: Adopt a disability inclusion approach that recognizes the connection between ableism and other systems of oppression, such as racism, sexism, and colonialism.
Immigrant Rights: Protect the rights of people with disabilities who are migrants and asylum seekers from third countries.

European leaders must consider the inclusion of persons with disabilities in international cooperation and humanitarian action such as:

Accessibility and Participation

Inclusion and Representation: Include persons with disabilities in international cooperation and humanitarian initiatives. They should be present in all processes of international cooperation and the disability representation must also be diverse.
National Sign Languages: Recognizing linguistic diversity, including national sign languages, as key to building inclusive societies.

Data Collection and Use

Disaggregated Data: Promote proper standards for data collection and ensure disaggregated data in areas of international cooperation.
Accurate Data for Policymaking: Use accurate and disaggregated data on persons with disabilities when policymaking.

Capacity Building and Empowerment

Support for OPDs: The EU must provide OPDs with affirmative actions for receiving direct funding, prioritize their activities over state/local authorities, and reduce tokenism.
Capacity Building: OPDs often lack financial capacity and human resources, ensure OPDs are equipped with the necessary resources to continue their efforts in the context of international cooperation, humanitarian action and climate action.
Financial Resources: OPDs need financial resources, expertise, and government support to participate effectively.
Reducing Tokenism: Support reduction of tokenism and increase localization.

Policy and Legal Frameworks

Human Rights and Disability Law: Urge countries to prioritize and enforce disability laws, ensuring participation and rights of persons with disabilities in society.
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): Emphasize the full and consistent implementation of the UN CRPD in international norms and standards including CRPD articles 11 and 32.
International Cooperation as a Mechanism: International Cooperation should be considered important for supporting national efforts in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities.

Advocacy and International Cooperation

Localization: Encouraging governments to invest more in mainstreaming disability inclusion and cooperating with local OPDs as equal partners.
European Leadership in Inclusion: European leaders should continue supporting inclusion programs for persons with disabilities, especially in Central Asia, and support the exchange of best practices.
Cross-Sectoral Cooperation: Encouraging intersectionality between OPDs and other stakeholder groups, such as women’s rights movements and Indigenous Peoples.

Contact

If you have any questions or concerns about this document, please contact Erika Hudson, EDF International Cooperation Policy Officer, at Erika.hudson@edf-feph.org.