In the lead-up to the Global Disability Summit in February 2022, the Atlas Alliance distributed advocacy grants to organisations in several countries in order for them to initiate new advocacy activities or upscale existing ones. Among the grantees were the Yemeni organisation Mwatana.
Mwatana works to promote human rights in what is possibly one of the world’s most challenging contexts. The organisation was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.
Mwatana has documented cases of war injuries leading to disability in Yemen from 2019 to 2021. For this policy brief they also conducted consultations with persons with disabilities and civil society actors working on disability rights.
As a human rights organisation Mwatana does not specialise in disability rights. However, they are adamant that the growing number of persons with disabilities in Yemen – a consequence of the armed conflict – requires an explicit focus on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in advocacy and relief work.
Persons with disabilities resulting from the armed conflict are part of the larger community of disabled people in Yemen. […] This brief focuses primarily on civilians with disabilities resulting from the armed conflict, but many of the topics apply to all people with disabilities, whether they were disabled since birth or acquired their disabilities through disease or as a result of injuries.