Conference on Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Preparedness and Response

4-5 December 2014, Brussels, Belgium

How to involve people with disabilities in disaster preparedness and response? The EUR-OPA Agreement organised, under the auspices of the Belgian chairmanship to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, a conference on the implementation of the Guidelines for assisting people with disabilities during emergency, crises and disasters and the Recommendation on including people with disabilities in disaster preparedness and response. The event took place in Brussels on 4 and 5 December 2014.

The Conference assessed the state-of-the-art in this field across Europe and presented in particular the first results of the Council of Europe Toolkit on disability and disaster preparedness. The aim of the Toolkit is to provide practical guidance for the improvement of services, plans and assistance to people with disabilities in the light of risks, crises, emergencies and disasters.

The Council of Europe strives to promote the perception of persons with disabilities as holders of rights in the same way as all other citizens, considering disability to be part of human diversity. Defending values and promoting human rights through including people with disabilities in disaster preparedness and response is at the heart of the Council of Europe’s mission.

Template on Good Practice in Disaster Risk Reduction

In May 2014 the Council of Europe circulated a questionnaire aiming at collecting good practices on "inclusive disaster risk management". The Toolkit, presented at the conference in Brussels on 4 and 5 December 2014, is a compilation of the answers received before the conference. In order to complete the actual version, the EUR-OPA Agreement encourages member States of the Council of Europe to share further examples of good practice by using the attached template.


Organised under the auspices of the Belgian chairmanship to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.