The International Disability Alliance (IDA) was established in 1999 as a network of global and, since 2007, regional organisations of persons with disabilities (DPOs) and their families. 

IDA was instrumental in establishing the International Disability Caucus (IDC), the network of global, regional and national organisations of persons with disabilities and allied non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which was to become a key player in the negotiation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).

Today, the aim of the Alliance is to promote the effective and full implementation of the UN CRPD worldwide, as well as compliance with the UN CRPD within the UN system, through the active and coordinated involvement of representative organisations of persons with disabilities at the national, regional and international levels. IDA is working to ensure the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals are realized in line with the UN CRPD. IDA supports DPOs in engaging with UN human rights processes in Geneva and New York, including the Treaty Bodies, Universal Periodic Review and Human Rights Council. IDA supports DPOs at national and regional levels through trainings and disseminating resources and information. With member organisations around the world, IDA represents the estimated one billion people worldwide living with a disability.This is the world’s largest – and most frequently overlooked – minority group.

IDA, with its unique composition as a network of the foremost international disability rights organisations, is the most authoritative representative voice of persons with disabilities and acknowledged as such by the United Nations system both in New York and Geneva.