A/HRC/31/30 lead to unequal treatment among persons with disabilities. The cause of impairment is irrelevant to the protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities. 20. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (see para. 8 above) is a good reference, reflecting a human rights-based sustainable development agenda inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities. According to the Framework, persons with disabilities and their organizations have a critical role to play at all stages of disaster risk reduction planning (para. 36 (a)(iii)). It also requires all disaster risk reduction policies to integrate a disability perspective (III (19)(d)) and inclusive risk-informed decision-making based on the dissemination of information disaggregated by, among other factors, disability (III (19)(g)). III. Addressing current and future challenges 21. Reliable data on the number of persons with disabilities facing conflict situations and natural disasters are scarce. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 15 per cent of the world’s population have impairments.32 UNHCR estimates that there are 59.5 million people forcibly displaced, worldwide. 33 Based upon these estimates, approximately 7.65 million persons with disabilities would face forced displacement. 34 A survey specific to refugees shows that the prevalence of refugees with disabilities is in fact higher;35 consequently, these figures may actually underestimate the dimensions of the problem. 22. Emergencies disproportionally affect persons with disabilities; for example, data from Japan confirm that persons with disabilities are four times more likely to die when a disaster strikes.36 Persons with disabilities are often exposed to a higher rate of abuse, neglect and abandonment in situations of risk, armed conflict and humanitarian emergency. Moreover, programme assistance, adequate shelter, communication and means of transportation tend to be inaccessible, resulting in widespread violations of their human rights.37 Older persons, women, boys and girls with disabilities are at particular risk of discrimination, exploitation, violence (including sexual and gender-based violence) and exclusion from support and services in the context of a crisis.38 23. In the present study, OHCHR addresses four themes relevant to ongoing global debates on disasters and humanitarian emergencies (largely corresponding to the four major themes of the thematic consultations conducted at the World Humanitarian Summit), with the aim of making relevant recommendations. Participation by organizations of persons with disabilities is essential for the design, implementation, evaluation and review of policies, including in the global debate (see paras. 5, 9 and 13 above). Accountability 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 8 WHO and the World Bank, World Report on Disability, 2011, p. 29. UNCHR, World at War: Global Trends. Forced Displacement in 2014, p. 8. Women’s Refugee Commission, Disability Inclusion: Translating Policy into Practice in Humanitarian Action, March 2014, p. 1. The survey estimated that as many as 22 per cent of Syrian refugees surveyed had an impairment. See HelpAge International and Handicap International, Hidden victims of the Syrian crisis: disabled, injured and older refugees, 2014, p. 6. See the Statement of Voluntary Commitments of Organizations Working on Disability-Inclusion for the 6th Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction, Bangkok, 22-26 June 2014. See “Addressing the vulnerability and exclusion of persons with disabilities: the situation of women and girls, children’s right to education, disasters and humanitarian crises” (CRPD/CSP/2015/4), para. 21. See UNHCR, conclusion No. 110 (LXI) on refugees with disabilities and other persons with disabilities protected and assisted by UNHCR, 12 October 2010.