News and Developments
May 2, 2026: Article on Disability Rights and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
The article (Cascades of Harm, Cascades of Care: Disability Rights and Nuclear (In)justice) by Dr. Sean Howard and Dr. Tammy Bernasky, appeared in NPT News in Review (Vol 21., No. 2), published by the Reaching Critical Will programme of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Entitled ‘Cascades of Harm, Cascades of Care: Disability Rights and Nuclear (In)justice,’ the piece recommends that delegates attending the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference being held at the UN in New York from April 27-May 22 adopt a rights-based, disability-inclusive approach to addressing the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear use, testing, and violence. As the authors argue: “Rather than simply “looking after” persons whose disabilities are caused or compounded by nuclear violence, care must be taken to ensure that their rights—alongside those of other affected individuals and communities—are placed at the centre of relevant decision- and policy-making processes.”
March 14, 2026: Article on ‘Importing Disability Rights into the Arms Trade Treaty’
The article (Importing Disability Rights into the Arms Trade Treaty) by Dr. Sean Howard and Dr. Tammy Bernasky, published on the ‘Disarmament Dialogue’ section on the Humanitarian Disarmament website, is the first contribution by the Disability Rights and Disarmament Initiative (DRDI) to the review and implementation of the 2014 Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Timed to coincide with meetings of the treaty’s three Working Groups in Geneva March 16-18, the article makes the case for disability rights, perspectives, and inclusion to be integrated into the treaty’s inaugural 5-Year Plan, currently under consideration and due to be adopted by the ATT’s 116 member states in 2027. Long overdue, such disability mainstreaming, Howard and Bernasky argue, is not only a moral imperative for a treaty dedicated to “reducing human suffering”, but can help advance the ATT’s core aims and objectives, strengthening the case for its universalization and thus effectiveness as ban on the irresponsible arms transfers currently fueling so many conflicts.
November 3, 2025: Scientific Advisory Group of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Holds Landmark Session on Disability Rights
At the request of the Disability Rights and Disarmament Initiative, the TPNW’s Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) convened a session on disability rights in relation to the implementation and review of the treaty’s efforts to redress the historic and ongoing impacts and harms of nuclear use and testing.
The session, chaired by Dr. Zia Mian of Princeton University, heard first from Dr. Tammy Bernasky, who outlined the central importance of the Convention on the Rights and Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in ensuring the maximum meaningful inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in the design and provision of victim assistance programmes, in alignment with the Convention’s rights-based approach and social model.
Dr. Sean Howard then placed the issue of disability rights in the TPNW in the broader context of disability rights and disarmament across the UN system, arguing that addressing the topic seriously had the potential to increase awareness of, and support for, humanitarian disarmament treaties such as the TPNW. Howard also made an appeal for ‘expertise’ in addressing nuclear impacts – especially in the work of the SAG – to be defined expansively enough to include persons with disabilities caused and/or compounded by nuclear violence who may not have had the opportunity to attain high academic and scientific qualifications. To exclude them from the process of assessing their own experience, needs, and priorities, he argued, would be a grave disservice in violation of the CRPD.
A constructive, supportive, and wide-ranging discussion followed. For more information on the SAG’s work, including the November 3 session, please see here.
