Executive Summary

Persons with disabilities in the Arab region, as elsewhere in the world, are one of the most marginalized and excluded population groups. They are often not visible in public life, as the social and physical environments remain inaccessible, and they are disproportionally affected by crises and disasters. Reporting on the ongoing violent conflicts across the region is largely silent on the plight of persons with disabilities, who are unable to run away from destruction, unaware of dangers facing them, or even left behind by their families. It is important to keep in mind that for each person killed, many more are severely injured or permanently disabled. 

Arab countries are committed to improving the situation of persons with disabilities, as shown by the fact that most of them have signed, ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). However, implementing legislation and realizing ambitions often proves challenging, and the exclusion of persons with disabilities is in part self-perpetuating. Inclusive social protection is critical in order to overcome these challenges. Importantly, though, social protection needs to be an integrated component of the larger development agenda. Moving from the charity model to a rights-based one will empower persons with disabilities in the Arab region. Better social protection can foster the shift from a “not able to work” approach to “social participation”.

Chapter 1 focuses on disability rights and the 2030 Agenda. Monitoring progress towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals requires a comprehensive set of reliable data. However, this is still largely unavailable for the Arab countries, as shown by the gaps in the statistics most recently collected by ESCWA. Those statistics indicate that there are considerable differences in disability prevalence between Arab countries. While hardly any data directly relating to poverty among persons with disabilities is available, the statistics show that they are to a much lesser extent than persons without disabilities educated and employed, which strongly indicates that they are also more likely to be poor. Women with disabilities are particularly disadvantaged.

Chapter 2 concerns social protection. Data on social protection coverage of persons with disabilities is largely lacking, and when it is available it is frequently hard to interpret. Whereas it appears that persons with disabilities across the region are strongly underrepresented among the population covered by social insurance and contributory health insurance, data on their coverage of social assistance and non-contributory health insurance show more variegated results. Targeting for social assistance programmes and for non-contributory health insurance programmes is increasingly done through proxy means testing (PMT), which may be problematic if disability related costs are not (sufficiently) included when the poverty level of households is evaluated.

When eligibility for social protection is contingent upon disability status, access depends on how disability is determined. Frequently in the Arab region, disability is defined as work inability, which may serve to discourage labour force participation among persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities’ access to social protection is also restricted by the lack of information, arduous application procedures, and barriers in the physical and social environment. Even when social protection is accessible, it is often inadequate in the sense that monetary benefits are too low, or health services do not correspond to the needs of persons with disabilities – something that particularly affects women with disabilities and people living in rural areas.

The concluding chapter makes the point that ensuring social protection for persons with disabilities requires the integration of social protection systems into the broader policy framework. Other goals of the 2030 Agenda and CRPD provisions, such as accessibility of the physical and social environment, need to be implemented alongside core social protection objectives in order to achieve the transformative commitments of the 2030 Agenda. The chapter details a range of recommendations to assure that social protection is accessible and adequate, that it furthers the autonomy of persons with disabilities, and that it conforms to the principles of the CRPD in order to achieve this objective.