Attachments
introduction
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Ukraine is facing an unprecedented, multifaceted humanitarian crisis. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there are more than 3.4 million registered internally displaced persons in Ukraine as of February 20241, the UNHCR reported that the number of refugees who fled Ukraine exceeded 6.4 million in March 20242, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that more than 14.6 million people in Ukraine will require humanitarian assistance in 20243. Given the severe adverse effects of the invasion on the population as a whole, vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities, have experienced disproportionate adversity.
Although official data after the Russian invasion is scarce, as of early 2021 there were more than 2.7 million people with disabilities in Ukraine4. While acknowledging that the pre-invasion figures were likely underreported due to various obstacles, including registration barriers, lack of identification documents, and homelessness5, it is estimated that the current figures are even higher as a result of the invasion, given the number of combatants and civilians with war-related injuries. According to one statistic, there were more than 3 million people with disabilities in Ukraine in September 20236, and it is estimated that the number of people with disabilities increased by approximately 27,000 in the year after the invasion7. On the other hand, some statistics point out that the number of new registrations of people with disabilities in the 10 months after the start of the war increased 3.5 times compared to 2021 (from 13,000 new registrations of people with disabilities before the war to 45,000 after the war8. According to the Damage and Needs Assessment conducted by the World Bank Group in 2022-20239, 130,000 people in Ukraine are certified as disabled, and approximately 1.3 million internally displaced people report having at least one household member with a disability.
Ukraine has been on a positive track towards building a comprehensive framework for protecting the rights, freedoms and lives of persons with disabilities since 2009, when it signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).