In the frame of their strategic collaboration reflected in December 2020 Memorandum of Understanding, the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) started exploring the intersection of international refugee law and the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
This paper highlights the multitude of barriers persons with disabilities experience in obtaining refugee protection. The paper reviews the accessibility of asylum procedures for persons with disabilities, disability as an element in interpreting and applying the refugee definition under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention), and protections provided under the CRPD for asylum-seekers and refugees with disabilities, formulating key questions for further discussion. This paper does not reflect positions of the International Disability Alliance, nor UNHCR or the United Nations.
