The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human rights of women and girls with disabilities

Abstract

This paper tackles the situation of particular vulnerability women and girls with disabilities are subject to, which has been aggravated in the context of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, in the first part, the author takes note of the current deterioration of human rights of women and girls with disabilities, as double discrimination and marginalization become growing concerns. To face this challenge, the second part emphasizes the crucial role of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a minimum standard of protection. In this sense, the third part analyzes the scope of specific provisions of such Convention which aim to guarantee the human dignity of women and girls with disabilities in the face of multiple forms of discrimination, to ensure their accessibility in the labour, social or media contexts, or to protect them in emergency situations. Then, the fourth part denounces specific setbacks where the rights of women and girls with disabilities have been affected not only by the Coronavirus crisis, but also by the negligent attitude of public authorities at all levels. For these reasons, the author concludes that the United Nations Convention should be exploited as an effective protection framework by which all public authorities assume their positive obligations and make effective the pro personae principle in favour of women and girls with disabilities.