Disability Rights in the 21st Century: Sexual Gender-Based Violence in the Context of Forced Displacement (2015)

Undergraduate: Casey Crow

Faculty Advisor: Gyula Csurgai
Department: Political Science

---

In this paper I seek to highlight the specific challenges faced by women and girls with disabilities in context of forced displacement, and how these challenges impact the level of risk for sexual violence against women and girls in both refugee camp settings and urban settings. I critically examine the central factors making women and girls with disabilities more vulnerable to sexual gender-based violence during displacement, and how these factors can be addressed practically and through policy. I explain that the prevalence of SGBV (sexual gender-based violence) in situations of forced displacement, and against women and girls with disabilities, is linked to extreme poverty, social stigma, isolation, and credibility issues. However, I also argue that sexual violence against disabled refugees is indicative of the complex intersectionalities people with disabilities face on a regular basis, complexities that until recently have been overlooked by prominent disability discourse, legal frameworks, and humanitarian networks. In order to effectively and holistically address the needs of persons with disabilities, legal frameworks must be built upon the social, rather than medical, model of understanding disability, and protections for persons with disabilities must be disseminated into broader human rights institutions using a mainstream-integrated approach.