August 16th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – People with disabilities in the United Nations protection of civilian camp in Unity State’s Bentiu town are unable to fully benefit from humanitarian services provided by aid workers in the camp, a new report by the Handicap International and the IOM said.
The new report offers an assessment for the people with disabilities who live in difficult conditions due to lack of full access to humanitarian services supposed to be available for their need.
According to the report as a recommendation to solving the problem faced by the group, several humanitarian organisations are assisting the population in the field, but improvements must be made to ensure humanitarian response takes into account the needs and rights of people with disabilities.
Although conditions are extremely harsh for everyone living in the camp, people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable. Present in the field, HI and IOM have identified discriminating factors affecting people with disabilities and recommended ways to promote more inclusive humanitarian response.
Major barriers identified by the humanitarian organizations includes long distances, inaccessible infrastructure and roads, information formats poorly adapted to their disability, and discrimination.
The report said 49% of the surveyed people with disabilities reported particular difficulty accessing clean drinking water due to the distance to water pumps and unsuitable road surfaces. Many people reported difficulty moving around their shelter. Children with disabilities cannot access child-friendly spaces.
Although there are priority queues at food distribution sites, people with disabilities are finding it difficult to get their rations home safely because containers are unsuitable and often stolen by others on the way home.
