Humanitarian Inclusion Standards for Older People and People with Disabilities. A Sphere Companion Standard

Globally, around 15 per cent of the population are living with some kind of disability. An estimated 13 per cent of people worldwide are over the age of 60. More than 46 per cent of those who are over the age of 60 have a disability. Humanitarian principles require that humanitarian assistance and protection are provided on the basis of need, without discrimination. No one should be excluded from humanitarian action, either deliberately or inadvertently. Yet there is still limited capacity among humanitarian actors to fulfil this commitment. The Humanitarian inclusion standards for older people and people with disabilities are designed to help address the gap in understanding the needs, capacities and rights of older people and people with disabilities, and promote their inclusion in humanitarian action. They are designed both to strengthen the accountability of humanitarian actors to older people and people with disabilities, and to support the participation of older people and people with disabilities in humanitarian action. The standards can be used as guidance for programming, and as a resource for training and advocacy, particularly for influencing organisational policies and practice to be more inclusive.