Published : 12-12-2021
Palestinian refugees with disabilities have been grappling with dire conditions in camps and shelters across the Syrian territories due to medical neglect and the absence of vital services.
UNRWA said the Covid-19 global pandemic highlighted the deep inequalities that exist in our world. Over the past year, the international community collectively witnessed the world’s most vulnerable populations fall through social safety nets and face increasingly insurmountable barriers to basic services. Persons with disabilities have been amongst the most negatively impacted, with new barriers added to pre-existing ones: they have had more difficulty exercising preventative measures due to inaccessible communication and barriers to accessing WaSH facilities.
In many contexts, persons with disabilities have not been adequately considered and prioritized to access health care due to a lack of understanding of the heightened risk they might face and negative perceptions about their value in society.
Children with disabilities have also struggled to keep up with remote learning due to inaccessible platforms that are not always customized to their specific needs. These are just some examples of the factors that have compounded the lack of access to services faced by persons with disabilities, increasing their invisibility, and further deepening their exclusion from society.
Often trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and disability, many persons with disabilities were already in a vulnerable situation pre-COVID. Many were, therefore, unprepared for the pandemic and associated movement restrictions as they lacked the resources to stock up on food supplies and essential medicine. Findings from an UNRWA assessment conducted in Syria revealed that surveyed Palestine refugees with disabilities lacked access to basic medical supplies and services.
UNRWA called for conscious steps to empower those who are most at risk of exclusion, creating a space in which voices are heard and equal participation is possible. We cannot move toward an inclusive, accessible, and sustainable post-COVID-19 world without the leadership and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities.
UNRWA assists more than 2,300 Palestine refugees with disabilities in Syria, who have had their lives marred by the unabated warfare and bloody strife.
Assistance to the most vulnerable Palestinian refugees, including persons with disabilities, is provided by donors like the European Union. The European Commission's civil protection and humanitarian aid department (ECHO) has funded assistance to those with disabilities, as well as female-headed households.
AGPS renews its calls to the international community, human rights institutions, UNICEF, UNRWA, and all concerned bodies to work on protecting Palestinian refugee children and people with disabilities in embattled Syria and to provide those who fled the war-torn country with physical and moral protection in the host countries.
Palestinian refugees with disabilities have been grappling with dire conditions in camps and shelters across the Syrian territories due to medical neglect and the absence of vital services.
UNRWA said the Covid-19 global pandemic highlighted the deep inequalities that exist in our world. Over the past year, the international community collectively witnessed the world’s most vulnerable populations fall through social safety nets and face increasingly insurmountable barriers to basic services. Persons with disabilities have been amongst the most negatively impacted, with new barriers added to pre-existing ones: they have had more difficulty exercising preventative measures due to inaccessible communication and barriers to accessing WaSH facilities.
In many contexts, persons with disabilities have not been adequately considered and prioritized to access health care due to a lack of understanding of the heightened risk they might face and negative perceptions about their value in society.
Children with disabilities have also struggled to keep up with remote learning due to inaccessible platforms that are not always customized to their specific needs. These are just some examples of the factors that have compounded the lack of access to services faced by persons with disabilities, increasing their invisibility, and further deepening their exclusion from society.
Often trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and disability, many persons with disabilities were already in a vulnerable situation pre-COVID. Many were, therefore, unprepared for the pandemic and associated movement restrictions as they lacked the resources to stock up on food supplies and essential medicine. Findings from an UNRWA assessment conducted in Syria revealed that surveyed Palestine refugees with disabilities lacked access to basic medical supplies and services.
UNRWA called for conscious steps to empower those who are most at risk of exclusion, creating a space in which voices are heard and equal participation is possible. We cannot move toward an inclusive, accessible, and sustainable post-COVID-19 world without the leadership and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities.
UNRWA assists more than 2,300 Palestine refugees with disabilities in Syria, who have had their lives marred by the unabated warfare and bloody strife.
Assistance to the most vulnerable Palestinian refugees, including persons with disabilities, is provided by donors like the European Union. The European Commission's civil protection and humanitarian aid department (ECHO) has funded assistance to those with disabilities, as well as female-headed households.
AGPS renews its calls to the international community, human rights institutions, UNICEF, UNRWA, and all concerned bodies to work on protecting Palestinian refugee children and people with disabilities in embattled Syria and to provide those who fled the war-torn country with physical and moral protection in the host countries.
