16 Days of Activism: International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities, commemorated each year on December 3, provides an opportunity to renew commitments, call for accountability, and advocate for decisive action to address the unique challenges faced by persons with disabilities, particularly in the context of gender-based violence.

Women and girls with disabilities are up to ten times more likely to experience gender-based violence throughout their lives compared to those without disabilities. Between 40% and 68% of young women with disabilities are likely to experience sexual violence before the age of 18.

As part of our intersectional approach to addressing sexual violence, we recognize the importance of understanding how different markers of identity, such as disability, intersect to create unique barriers to justice. Throughout 2024, Equality Now has worked to address systemic failures that perpetuate injustice against survivors, particularly by highlighting and advocating for the elimination of discrimination that affects women, girls, and adolescents with disabilities.

On this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we reaffirm our commitment to advancing justice and equity for all survivors, ensuring that no one is left behind.

Overcoming Barriers to Justice

Survivors with disabilities face significant barriers to accessing justice for sexual violence, including fear of disbelief, humiliation, blame, and systemic inaccessibility. To address these challenges, Equality Now conducted a survey to identify the additional support needed for a multisectoral approach that ensures justice for all women and girls, particularly those from marginalized communities. The findings highlight pervasive sexual violence-related abuses and the obstacles survivors encounter in legal systems.

Key barriers include:

• Physical inaccessibility: Many justice institutions, such as police stations, courts, and shelters, are not physically accessible, preventing survivors from reporting crimes or attending hearings.
• Communication barriers: Survivors with disabilities, particularly those with sensory or intellectual disabilities, often face difficulties in accessing information in formats they can understand, such as Braille, sign language interpretation, or simplified language.
• Lack of trained personnel: Law enforcement, health professionals, and judicial actors are frequently not trained to work with survivors with disabilities, leading to discriminatory practices or mishandling of cases.
• Intersectional discrimination: Women and girls with disabilities who also belong to marginalized racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups may face additional layers of discrimination, further excluding them from justice systems.
• Fear of retaliation or disbelief: Many survivors with disabilities fear that their reports will not be taken seriously, or that they will face retaliation from caregivers or abusers, who often hold positions of control over them.

Addressing these issues demands systemic changes, including legislative reforms, enhanced accessibility measures, targeted training for justice personnel, and shifts in societal attitudes to eliminate discrimination against survivors with disabilities.

Amplifying the Voices of Survivors with Disabilities

In 2024, Equality Now has taken significant steps to ensure the voices of women, girls, and adolescents with disabilities who have survived sexual violence are at the forefront of advocacy efforts:

At the 68th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW):

In March, we collaborated with the MESECVI and UNFPA to host an event emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive legal frameworks addressing the intersection of disability and sexual violence. This gathering brought together key stakeholders, including government officials, women with disabilities, and civil society organizations dedicated to disability issues, such as Women Enabled International, Colectivo Vida Independiente de Guatemala, and Sordas Sin Violencia.

Global Advocacy at the CEDAW Committee:

In June, we joined over 30 organizations worldwide to call on the CEDAW Committee to issue a General Recommendation on access to justice for women, girls, and adolescents with disabilities. This initiative highlighted the need for global standards and accountability mechanisms to tackle the unique barriers these survivors face. Representatives from civil society organizations, alongside Equality Now, participated in a meeting in Geneva to advocate for a specific recommendation on sexual violence and disability. The aim was to establish stronger global guidelines to inform regional and national policies.​​ We hope civil society, governments and treaty bodies will work increasingly together to fully integrate the rights of people with disabilities into their work.

Regional Conference on Population and Development in LAC

In July, we organized a side event in alliance with the Center for Reproductive Rights, Corporación Polimorfas, and Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network at the Regional Conference on Population and Development held in Colombia to address the situation of women and girls with disabilities who are survivors of sexual violence in Latin America and the Caribbean through an intersectional lens. A key focus was ensuring the participation of women with disabilities, placing their voices at the center of the dialogue. The event fostered new partnerships, identified priority actions to ensure their sexual and reproductive rights and access to justice, and laid the groundwork for collective advocacy at regional and global levels.

Expert Meeting on Sexual Violence Against Women with Disabilities 

Equality Now organized an expert global meeting in Belgrade, Serbia, in September 2024 as part of our work on access to justice for women and girls with disabilities and developing a manual for lawyers and criminal justice practitioners in Kyrgyzstan. This manual aims to enhance access to justice for survivors with disabilities by improving the investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of sexual violence cases while ensuring survivors receive adequate support.

The intersection of sexual violence, disability, and criminal justice processes remains a much-neglected area. By bringing together experts from jurisdictions worldwide with experience in disability, policing, and prosecutorial procedures, this meeting served as a platform to collaborate on proposing robust standards that could be universally promoted.

During the meeting, we discussed key issues such as understanding consent in relation to survivors with disabilities, addressing legal capacity to ensure access to justice, providing reasonable and procedural accommodations during criminal justice processes for individuals with various disabilities, and identifying barriers and stereotypes that hinder access to justice for women with disabilities.

This meeting marked a significant step forward in our efforts to strengthen justice mechanisms for women and girls with disabilities who are survivors of sexual violence.

Public Hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

Together with allied organizations from the Americas region, we requested a regional thematic hearing before the IACHR on the sexual and reproductive rights of persons with disabilities. During the hearing, barriers faced by girls, adolescents, and women with disabilities in exercising their rights and accessing justice were exposed, also highlighting issues such as forced sterilization, contraception, and abortion perpetuated by ableism. Testimonies emphasized the urgent need for accessible comprehensive sexuality education and legislative reforms aligned with inter-American standards, including those set by the Angulo Losada vs. Bolivia judgment. Equality Now urged the IACHR to call on States to adopt concrete measures to ensure access to justice free from discrimination, especially for survivors of sexual violence. The event amplified the voices of women with disabilities, demanding the abolition of laws limiting their legal capacity and the implementation of inclusive policies. This space was a crucial step in advancing recognition of the systemic rights violations faced by persons with disabilities in the region.

Be part of the movement

Collaboration is key to ensuring that justice systems are inclusive and responsive to the needs of survivors of sexual violence with disabilities. We need more allies, more advocates, and more experts to drive this change. Join our Changemakers Network to be part of the movement. If you are a survivor with disabilities or a practitioner working with people with disabilities, we invite you to respond to our survey and follow us for additional resources. Together, we can create meaningful change.