A/HRC/44/41 23. Under article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, States parties are specifically required to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of armed conflict and disasters. In addition, all the provisions of the Convention remain relevant in displacement situations (see A/HRC/31/30). 24. Internally displaced persons with disabilities unfortunately lack visibility in the monitoring of their rights. A search of observations and recommendations relating to the Convention in the Universal Human Rights Index database reveals that in March 2020, out of a total of 3,826 records, there are only 22 relating to internally displaced persons with disabilities. 25. Principle 4 of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which reflect international human rights and humanitarian law, explicitly states that they should be applied without discrimination of any kind, including on the basis of disability. Having been developed before the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Guiding Principles should be interpreted in rights-based language with respect to persons with disabilities. Importantly, they entitle internally displaced persons with disabilities to safe and dignified access to the protection and assistance they might require, as well as durable solutions. 26. The basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement refer to the need to give priority in housing and land allocation to disadvantaged groups, including persons with disabilities (A/HRC/4/18, para. 31). 27. The United Nations is upgrading its system-wide policies to become more inclusive of persons with disabilities. In June 2019, it launched the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy, whereby the entire United Nations system, including country and humanitarian teams, has committed to measuring and tracking their performance with respect to disability inclusion. In June 2019, the Security Council adopted its very first resolution on persons with disabilities, resolution 2475 (2019), calling for the protection of persons with disabilities, including those displaced in time of conflict. 28. The World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 endorsed the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action, which led to the adoption in October 2019 of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian action (Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines). The guidelines complement, among others, the humanitarian inclusion standards for older people and people with disabilities and the revised Sphere handbook provisions on persons with disabilities. 12 Efforts are under way to advance inter-agency collaboration on disability inclusion in humanitarian response plans and humanitarian needs overviews. 13 At the field level, protection clusters are increasing the focus on disability inclusion throughout the humanitarian programme cycle. 29. At the regional level, relevant instruments include the Kampala Convention (arts. 5 (1) and 9 (2) (a) (b) and (c)) and the Protocol on the Protection of and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons adopted by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in November 2006 (articles 4 (1) (d) and (f) and annex, principles 4 and 19). 30. Of 86 existing national laws and policies on internal displacement, some 35 explicitly mention persons with disabilities. 14 Some countries have national frameworks for persons with disabilities that also apply to those living in situations of internal displacement. 15 12 13 14 15 See Age and Disability Consortium, Humanitarian Inclusion Standards for Older People and People with Disabilities (2018) and Sphere Association, The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response (2018). See, for example, Department for International Development, “Guidance on strengthening disability inclusion in humanitarian response plans” (2019). See contribution by the Global Protection Cluster Task Team on Law and Policy. See contributions from Cambodia, Colombia, Honduras, Italy, Mexico and Ukraine. 7