STRENGTHENING THE RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHTS OFPHYSICALLY CHALLENGED PERSONS UNDERINTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW: MOVING BEYONDHUMANITARIAN PARADIGM

Abstract

Arguably the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities represents an
important progressive development in the protection framework accorded to physically
challenged persons under International Humanitarian Law. The objective of this paper is to
examine the extent of protection accorded to physically challenged persons from harm in
situations of risk consistent with International Humanitarian Law. The paper argued that
examining the applicable legal and policy framework aimed at protecting the rights of physically
challenged persons under international humanitarian law is not only a programmatic goal to be
attained in the long term, but rather an immediate task on Countries to adopt measures in this
without delay. This is against the backdrop driven by the desire to create stability between the
rules of International Humanitarian Law(IHL) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities(CRPD) both in times of peace and armed conflict. It is therefore important to
reiterate the fact that if the future of physically challenged persons must be guaranteed, the need
to take cognizance of their peculiarities must not be overlooked. It is therefore advanced that the
continued neglect of peculiarities of physically challenged persons both under the Convention
and International Humanitarian Law portends a clog in the general protection against the effects
of armed conflict or humanitarian emergencies. This paper adopts an analytical and qualitative
approach and built its argument on existing literature which is achieved by a synthesis of ideas.
Nevertheless, this article provides some recommendations that will guarantee special protection
to physically challenged persons derivable from the principle of humanity.