WWDA thanks the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for the opportunity to comment on draft General recommendation No. 37 (2023) on Racial discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health (General Recommendation). Our response draws attention to the issues relevant to women and girls with disability in interpreting key sections of the draft.
There is strong evidence that women with disabilities from cultural, ethnic and racial minorities experience compounding forms of discrimination at the intersections of racism, imperialism, ableism, and sexism. As a key element of the human rights approach to disability required by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), intersectionality highlights how these overlapping forms of discrimination result in unique barriers, and specific experiences of marginalisation and violence. Legal and policy responses that seek to protect against human rights violations must take into account the interactions between gender, disability, race and other elements of structural inequality.