Disability Hate Speech and Hate Crimes
Janet E. Lord, William I. Pons, Michael Ashley Stein, Kathy Ellem, Paul David Harpur · 2024
Disability hate speech and hate crimes have until recently received very little attention from international institutions, particularly the United Nations (UN) system. Positively, the near universal ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, together with the uptake of a UN agenda addressing hate speech and hate crimes, is beginning to change that oversight. Nevertheless, while there is now some traction on how to address disability hate speech and hate crimes, far more work is required to ensure that international human rights institutions and related bodies account for persons with disabilities in their work on hate speech and hate crimes. This chapter provides an overview of the conceptualization of disability-based hate speech and hate crimes under international law, the impact of such phenomena on persons with disabilities, and the emerging entry points for combatting such harms through international laws and processes.