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Self Report 2018

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

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  • 2A
    Respect and protect civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of hostilities

    Individual Commitments (7)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Handicap International will continue its collaboration with members of INEW, participating in INEW meetings and governance, taking part in coordination of the network activities, providing specific expertise as a field operator on clearance, risk education and victim assistance, and implementing joint activities.


    • Partnership
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    • Handicap International will advocate at the national, regional, and international levels on this issue, raising awareness of the harm caused from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and need for a political declaration to prevent such harm and in particular to end the use of explosive weapons with wide area effect in populated areas, through outreach to government representatives, parliamentarians and media. International outreach will take place annually in a variety of forums, in coordination with other INEW members. National outreach will be carried out through the eight national associations of Handicap International in Europe and Northern America, and through its programs present in around 60 countries.


    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    • Handicap International will continue to collect data and document the humanitarian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and will publish a range of reports and papers on this theme in the coming years, with a particular focus in 2016 on the situation in Syria, and on the correlation between the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and displacement of populations.


    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    • Handicap International will continue to lead a process towards the development of recommendations on victim assistance provision in a future political declaration on that topic, and guidelines on how to implement assistance to victims of explosive weapons. In that process, it will ensure participation of survivors of explosive weapons and other persons impacted by the use of explosive weapons.


    • Partnership
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    • Handicap International will continue to respond to the humanitarian needs of communities affected by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, through responding to their basic needs such as food, shelter, child protection, water, sanitation and health, psychological interventions/assistance, education to the risks posed by explosive remnants of war, clearance and victim assistance.


    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    • Handicap International will raise awareness towards and educate the wider public on the harm caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas by developing public campaigns and media outreach on explosive weapons at the national and international level, with a special focus on its national associations.


    • Advocacy
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    • Handicap International will support the participation of survivors and other persons impacted by the use of explosive weapons in all events or meetings related to this topic at the national, regional or international level. It will gather testimonies of survivors and other persons impacted in past crises.


    • Operational
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

    Core Commitments (1)

    • Commitment
    • Core Responsibility
    • Commit to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.
    • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    In 2017, Humanity & Inclusion (HI) led a participatory process with civil society including survivors to develop recommendations on victim assistance for a future political declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas.

    HI teams also provided response to victims of explosive weapons in Afghanistan, Yemen, Colombia, Gaza, Iraq and in Syria and neighboring countries. HI teams supported long term recovery in post conflict areas in Africa, Asia, Middle East and South America.

    HI organized a Regional Meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, in November 2017, about the protection of civilians from the use of explosive weapons. It gathered more than 70 official representatives of 19 African States, who issued a strong and action-oriented communiqué showing support to the current diplomatic process towards a political declaration against the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. A few months before, HI gathered 10 African civil society organizations in Geneva to share expertise on the topic and mutualize efforts ahead of the Maputo Regional Conference

    For the second year in a row, HI launched a report documenting the correlation between the use of explosive weapons and displacement of population in Syria. It stressed once again the main reason for refugees interviewed leaving their home was the use of explosive weapons. It attracted strong media and public interest. Findings were mentioned by officials during expert meeting on explosive weapons.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    - HI mobilized media and general public on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas: 400,000 persons signed our petition
    - HI monitored States positions on the issue; More states supported HI recommendations on Protecting Civilians and Victim assistance

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Adherence to standards and/or humanitarian principles
    • Data and analysis
    • IHL and IHRL compliance and accountability
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Lack of understanding and ownership of the political declaration on the use of explosive weapons by States and lack of compliance with international humanitarian law rules are challenges, as is the lack of shared military practices on this issue.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    Following the success of the Maputo conference, HI will organize a Regional conference on the same topic in Santiago, Chile, gathering all Latin American states representatives, CSOs, survivors, and stakeholders.
    HI will keep providing assistance to those impacted by explosive weapons, and documenting the humanitarian impact of such use in populated areas in order to raise awareness towards all international decision makers and general public.
     

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    • With the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW network) there is a need to strengthen the visibility of the campaign (through press coverage) and global support from general public (through campaigning activities) in order to increase civil society's pressure towards decision makers, and push for tangible political signs of improvements in the protection of civilians.
    • As HI will do in Santiago, need to reach out to more States to increase involvement in the political declaration.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    • HI keeps mobilizing the public through an international petition against the bombing of civilians, aiming for 1 million signatures (400.000 so far).
    • HI and INEW network will organize a second regional meeting in Latin America to gather more states in the process.

    Keywords

    Displacement, IHL compliance and accountability, Protection, Urban

  • 3G
    Address other groups or minorities in crisis settings

    Individual Commitments (9)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • Handicap International will increase participation of persons with disabilities in decision making and planning processes of humanitarian programmes, including in relevant assessment and coordination mechanisms.


    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International endorses the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action and immediately commits towards its implementation.


    • Policy
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International will support the development and implementation of global guidelines on disability inclusion in humanitarian action to be initiated in 2016.  It is ready to take a leading role in the development of such guidelines in some of the following sectors: water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter, food, health and protection.


    • Policy
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International will improve the development and tools to continue to ethically collect quantitative and qualitative data on persons with disabilities, disaggregated by age and sex, in the view of increasing comparison and reliability of humanitarian programs.


    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International will strengthen the use of and support the development of improved and innovative methods and means of communication to ensure that persons with disabilities are reached during emergencies.


    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International will implement the principle of universal design in programming and in post-emergency reconstructions in order to strive to remove physical, communication and attitudinal barriers and discrimination.


    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International will reinforce pre-positioning of material, including assistive devices, to timely deploy and make resources available to individuals and their families who are in need of specific assistance during humanitarian emergencies.


    • Operational
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International will expand the implementation of advocacy and awareness raising programmes and trainings to enhance the understanding of the needs of persons with disabilities to all humanitarian actors willing to strengthen their response towards persons with disabilities.


    • Advocacy
    • Leave No One Behind

    • Handicap International will foster partnership with local and national organizations, including organisations representatives of persons with disabilities, in humanitarian emergencies, building their capacities and benefiting from their expertise on inclusion.


    • Partnership
    • Leave No One Behind
    1. Highlight the concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2017 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures.

    Humanity & Inclusion (HI) actively promotes the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, in line with international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL), in particular the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), in partnership with the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and CBM, by generating evidence, building resources and capacity, improving accountability, influencing policies and practices around the topic.

    HI is co-chairing the IASC Task Team on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, together with IDA and UNICEF, and contributing its technical knowledge.  HI is also working with IDA and the Washington Group on Disability Statistics to enhance the availability and use of quality data on persons with disability by humanitarian actors.

    HI supported the development of Humanitarian Inclusion Standards for older people and people with disabilities as part of the Age and Disability Capacity Programme (ADCAP), and the drafting of UNICEF Guidance on Including Children with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.

    HI is also strengthening its own internal inclusion policies through an institutional Policy on Disability, Gender and Age.

    At country level, HI has dedicated programs, projects and activities to promote inclusive humanitarian action, influencing strategic planning and humanitarian programming. The programs are implemented in different phases of humanitarian action, both supporting host communities, refugees and internally displaced populations. Examples of projects and activities in South Sudan, DRC, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Lebanon, Kenya, Myanmar and the Philippines are available in the attached annex. HI is also involved in DRR to strengthen innovative and traditional early warning system to make sure people with disabilities will be reached.

    2. A. How are you measuring progress toward achieving your commitments? Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Through existing, internal systems or frameworks for monitoring, reporting and/or evaluation.
    B. How are you assessing whether progress on commitments is leading toward change in the direction of the transformation?

    HI is assessing progress, for example through: increased request for technical support, uptake in donor frameworks and key humanitarian tools, mobilization of resources, awareness raising initiatives, increasing number of Charter endorsers and members of the IASC Task Team on inclusion of persons with disabilities, capacity building initiatives, development of inclusive contingency plans, stock pre-positioning.

    3. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Data and analysis
    • Field conditions, including insecurity and access
    • Gender and/or vulnerable group inclusion
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    The complexity of crises, restricted humanitarian access, implementing methods, and heavy coordination mechanisms create barriers. The lack of disability-disaggregated data inhibits adequate identification, analysis and monitoring. Humanitarian actors are challenged to modify responses to promote the protection and equitable inclusion of people with disabilities and consider their experiences and capacities.

    4. Highlight actions planned for 2018 to advance implementation of your commitments in order to achieve this transformation.

    • Continue gathering evidence, building resources and capacity, improving accountability and influencing policies and practices to implement the commitments to the Charter.
    • Support the work of the IASC Task Team, advance on the project on data collection on persons with disabilities in humanitarian crises, and develop programs to strengthen affected communities.
    • Internally, HI will continue building dedicated resources and capacity to promote the protection and equitable access of people with disabilities within HI programmes.

    5. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    Continue the evidence gathering and capacity building of disabled persons' organisations (DPOs), affected populations and humanitarian actors towards an inclusive humanitarian response for persons with disabilities. Nurture the multi-stakeholder collaborative dynamic around the Charter. Support the adjustment of existing humanitarian global frameworks under SPHERE and IASC, for them to become more systematically disability inclusive. Support the development/review of organization’s policies and practices. Promote a consistent collection of data, which is disaggregated by age, sex and disability.

    6. List any good practice or examples of innovation undertaken individually or in cooperation with others to advance this transformation.

    • Project on data collection on persons with disabilities in humanitarian crises, testing and assessing the Washington Group set of questions on Disability Statistics.
    • Collaboration on capacity building for DPOs to strengthen understanding of the humanitarian system and foster collaboration with humanitarian actors.
    • Development and testing of disability, gender, age marker. 

    Keywords

    Disability, Displacement, People-centred approach

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