Mapping disability in war-to-peace transitions: global patterns and the Lebanese experience

The inclusion of people with disabilities can facilitate sustainable peace after civil war. To shed light on the relationship between war-to-peace transitions and disability, we map approaches to impairments in 286 worldwide intra-state political agreements, before considering the experience of Lebanon. Through mixed methods, we show that war-to-peace transitions entrench the marginalization of people with disabilities. Political agreements reproduce oversimplified understandings of disability; emphasise war-related physical impairments over non-physical and congenital ones; and prioritise support for former combatants. In Lebanon, disability-related legislation suffers from similar blind spots and remains unimplemented because of weak long-term financial resources, of the lack of capacity and cooperation among responsible local and international agencies, and of the features of the local political settlement. We discuss some of the profound implications for the lives of people with disabilities and their families before providing recommendations to promote inclusive war-to-peace transitions after civil war and conflict.