Amenities

About International Disability Alliance

Our Vision

A society which values diversity, respects equality and realizes the full potential of persons with disabilities in order to build a better world for all.

Our Mission

To advance the human rights of persons with disabilities as a united voice of organisations of persons with disabilities utilizing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other human rights instruments.

The International Disability Alliance (IDA) was established in 1999 as a network of global and, since 2007, regional organisations of persons with disabilities (DPOs) and their families. 

IDA was instrumental in establishing the International Disability Caucus (IDC), the network of global, regional and national organisations of persons with disabilities and allied non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which was to become a key player in the negotiation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD).

Today, the aim of the Alliance is to promote the effective and full implementation of the UN CRPD worldwide, as well as compliance with the UN CRPD within the UN system, through the active and coordinated involvement of representative organisations of persons with disabilities at the national, regional and international levels. IDA is working to ensure the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals are realised in line with the UN CRPD. 

IDA supports DPOs in engaging with UN human rights processes in Geneva and New York, including the Treaty Bodies, Universal Periodic Review and Human Rights Council. IDA supports DPOs at national and regional levels through trainings and disseminating resources and information. With member organisations around the world, IDA represents the estimated one billion people worldwide living with a disability.This is the world’s largest – and most frequently overlooked – minority group.

IDA, with its unique composition as a network of the foremost international disability rights organisations, is the most authoritative representative voice of persons with disabilities and acknowledged as such by the United Nations system both in New York and Geneva.

IDA's guiding principles are:

1. To respect the sovereignty of all member organisations and recognise their expertise on issues affecting their own constituency;
2. To promote the capacity of its member organisations in the interest of their disability constituencies;
3. To follow democratic governance ensuring transparency, accountability and full consultation with its member organisations;
4. To promote solidarity among and equal treatment of all disability constituencies in all regions of the world;
5. To fully respect in all of its work non-discrimination on any grounds including disability, race, gender, religion, age, language, ethnic origin, and sexual orientation; and,
6. To ensure the leadership of persons with disabilities through their representative organisations in all decisions affecting their lives.

Geneva Office

150 route de Ferney, PO Box 2100
CH 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 (0)22 788 42 73
Fax: +41 (0)22 788 42 74 

New York Office

205 East 42nd Street
20th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Telephone: +1 646 776 0822