Promoting the rights of Children with disabilities innocenti digest no

disability and poverty
The World Bank has estimated that persons with 
disabilities account for up to one in five of the world’s 
poorest people, that is, those who live on less 
than one dollar a day and who lack access to basic 
necessities such as food, clean water, clothing and 
shelter.
8
These figures have been brought to life in 
a recent report from Inclusion International which 
documents the poverty and exclusion experienced 
daily by people with intellectual disabilities and their 
families in all regions of the world, but which also 
records many examples of how these obstacles are 
beginning to be overcome.
9
Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of dis-
ability. Correlates of poverty, such as inadequate 
medical care and unsafe environments, significantly 
contribute to the incidence and impact of disability, 
and complicate efforts for prevention and response. 
By the same measure, many of the factors contribut-
ing to high levels of impairment among children are 

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Innocenti Digest No. 13
Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
potentially preventable, thus offering the opportunity 
to reduce the levels of disability as well as of poverty. 
Such factors include malnutrition and micronutrient 
deficiencies, preventable diseases such as measles, 
lack of sanitation and clean water, as well as violence, 
abuse and exploitation, including through labour. Lack 
of access to all levels of education and low levels 
of family support in any community are also closely 
linked to both poverty and disability. 
Significant progress is being made in eliminating ma-
jor causes of impairment such as iodine deficiency 
and lack of access to safe water. On the other hand, 
the last decade has seen a persistence or rise in 
other factors that have contributed to the incidence 
of impairments, including HIV/AIDS, environmental 
pollution, accidents and drug abuse.
10
War and civil 
strife are also major causes of impairment among 
children, largely affecting countries in the developing 
world. UNICEF has estimated that between 1990 and 
2001, 2 million children around the world were killed 
and as many as 6 million disabled by armed conflict.
11
The prevention of disability caused by landmines and 
unexploded ordnance needs to be given higher prior-
ity in the regions most affected.
The additional burden placed on families with mem-
bers, including children, with disabilities, deepens the 
impact of economic poverty and may further perpetu-
ate discriminatory attitudes towards these groups.
In the light of the inextricable link between poverty 
and disability, effective action to reduce poverty must 
address disability concerns in a systematic manner.
12
This fundamental principle of inclusive planning was 
recognized by former President of the World Bank 
James Wolfensohn: 
If development is about bringing excluded peo-
ple into society, then disabled people belong in 
schools, legislatures, at work, on buses, at the 
theatre and everywhere else that those who are 
not disabled take for granted. Unless disabled 
people are brought into the development main-
stream, it will be impossible to cut poverty in half 
by 2015 or to give every girl and boy the chance 
to achieve a primary education by the same date-
goals agreed by more than 180 world leaders at 
the United Nations Millennium Summit in Sep-
tember 2000.
13
The World Bank has promoted a broad and inclusive 
approach to disability issues, including through the 
appointment of an experienced disability adviser and 
the recruitment of disability experts. A guidance note 
released in 2007, which includes consideration of 
issues relevant to children and youth, has the aim 
to “assist Bank projects in better incorporating the 
needs and concerns of people with disabilities, as 
well as integrating a disability perspective into ongo-
ing sector and thematic work programs, and to adopt 
an integrated and inclusive approach to disability.”
14
Similar initiatives, developed with non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs), are also being pursued by the 
European Union.
15
© UUNICEF/HQ06-1260/Azhar Mahmood

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Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities
Innocenti Digest No. 13
Over four decades, the United Nations has made a 
strong commitment to the human rights of persons 
with disabilities.
16
This commitment has been re-
flected in major human rights instruments as well as 
within specific measures and initiatives, which began 
with the 1971 Declaration on the Rights of Persons 
with Mental Retardation and now has culminated in 
the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities. Other examples of disability-focused ini-
tiatives include the International Decades of Disabled 
Persons, the 1993 Standard Rules on the Equalization 
of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and the 
1994 Salamanca Statement and Framework for Ac-
tion for Special Needs Education (see box 4.1 for a 
more complete list).