Climate change affects persons with and without Disabilities. However, due to the historic marginalisation of persons with disabilities, their experience of climate change may be different and more intense, causing a need for different kinds of support.

Climate change may also impact human beings in ways that may cause more than the current UN measure of 15% of the world’s population to acquire disabilities.

However, the focus of this article is not on the broad intersection of disability and climate change, but on the subject of accessibility by persons with disabilities at the recently ended COP26 on Climate, using the example of Israeli Energy Minister, Karine Elharrar.

On 1 November 2021, there were media reports that the Israeli Energy Minister, Karine Elharrar (a wheelchair user who has muscular dystrophy) had been excluded from attending the COP26 on Climate due to challenges surrounding access to the venue. In what appears to be the “criminalisation” of disability, police officers at a checkpoint did not allow her to enter the venue in the vehicle in which she had arrived. She said:

“The only way they said I could come in was to walk on foot for almost a kilometre, or to board a shuttle that was not wheelchair accessible.”

Through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [2006], the UN seeks to harmonise the action of nations with regards to disability. So what does it mean when the vehicle of a delegate with disability is barred for two hours from approaching a UN world conference venue? What does it mean when the delegate is offered a ride on a shuttle that is not wheelchair accessible, thus forcing her to return to her hotel in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, 80km (50miles) away? Elharrar later wrote on Twitter:

“It’s sad that the UN, which advances accessibility for people with disabilities, in 2021, doesn’t see to accessibility at its events.”

As an emerging disability research incubator and think tank, Includovate concurs with Elharrar’s assertion. Indeed, we are in 2021, 15 years after the enactment of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [2006]. In addition, the principle objective of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development “of leaving no one behind” has become widely known and should be adopted by the institution that created it as readily as it is by others.

Elharrar was only able to attend the UN Climate Change Conference on the second day, when challenges surrounding her access to the venue had been resolved.

It was wonderful to hear that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has personally apologised to Elharrar for the incident, but the scenario brings to the fore the widespread marginalisation of persons with disabilities in many countries across the world. This incident is also evidence of a serious human rights violation of a person with disabilities, where different identity markers, that include gender and disability, intersect to oppress.

Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [2006] is dedicated to the subject of accessibility and among other things, it clearly directs States Parties to:

“Enable persons with disabilities … to participate fully in all aspects of life … [and to] ensure [that] persons with disabilities [have] access on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment …”

The failure of COP26 on Climate organisers to provide reasonable accommodation to Elharrar as directed in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [2006] may be misinterpreted to mean that persons with disabilities are not expected to have a place at the tables of international dialogue on climate change.

Nonetheless, this commentary is not meant to be a call for pity for Elharrar, or an attack on the UN or organisers of COP26 on Climate. Through this article, Includovate seeks to highlight how persons with disabilities live at the intersection of various identity markers and systems, as well as in contexts where they have to constantly make decisions to either comply or to resist systems of social injustice in order to survive and to have their needs met.

In a tweet addressed to the conference organisers, Israeli Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid said:

“You cannot be concerned about the future, climate and sustainability if you aren’t concerned first of all [with] people’s accessibility, and people with disabilities.”

Elharrar’s experience at the COP26 on Climate illuminates the need to develop and publicly share international guidelines for disability competence training of stakeholders across sectors, including security personnel such as police officers so that they do not misinterpret certain requests or behaviours of persons with disabilities as non-compliance or disrespect.

Article 9 © of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [2006], directs States Parties to:

“Provide training for stakeholders on accessibility issues facing persons with disabilities.”

There is also a need for the UN to come up with new ways of thinking, leading, and supporting States Parties, to effectively move the provisions of the Convention from paper to the real world in order to make a positive difference in the lives of persons with disabilities.

Referring to Elharaar’s experience at the COP26 on Climate, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett summed it all up by saying:

“It’s a learning opportunity for all of us on the importance of disability for all.”

At Includovate, our disability experts with and without disabilities, are available to offer technical support to the UN, governments, private sector, development agencies, and other stakeholders focused on pushing forward the world agenda on disability across sectors.

About the Author