Will States Address Disability Invisibility in the Crimes Against Humanity Convention?

(Janet Lord, Kate McInnes, Gerard Quinn, Jillian Rafferty, Matthew “Hezzy” Smith, Michael Ashley Stein and Sigurjón Sveinsson – Just Security) Progress on a Draft Convention on Crimes against Humanity is finally underway — but whether it will deliver justice for persons with disabilities remains deeply uncertain. In April 2023, the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly adopted a resolution to begin drafting an international convention on crimes against humanity, opening a two-year process of debate and discussion on draft articles that had been prepared by the International Law Commission (ILC), the U.N. body charged with the development of international law. Based on that debate and discussion, State comments in response to the draft articles have now been released, and they are not encouraging. Of the 64 submissions proposing amendments, just two — from Poland and Uruguay — recommend revising the crime of persecution in the ILC draft articles to enumerate disability as a protected category. Sustained advocacy from persons with disabilities, related organizations, broader civil society, and academics, such as those of us working on disability rights in international criminal law, has aimed to generate wider support for recognizing disability-based persecution. Failure to do so would cast a shadow over the 20th anniversary later this year of the U.N. General Assembly’s adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was drafted with the intent to close gaps in international legal protections for persons with disabilities. Dialogue between now and December with States and civil society alike can build on discussions that occurred at the 19th Conference of States Parties convened in early June at the U.N. in New York, where the issue was a focus of an important side event on the topic. Measured against the benchmarks set by Security Council Resolution 2475 in 2019 on the protection of persons with disabilities in armed conflict, as well as the U.N. Disability Inclusion Strategy for 2026 to 2030, and the nearly universally ratified CRPD, early state responsiveness to disability inclusion in the Convention on Crimes against Humanity has been poor. The window for course correction, however, remains open. It must be used. – Will the Crimes Against Humanity Treaty Address Disability?