The video recording (in English only) has now been released for the virtual panel held on September 26, 2025, co-hosted by co-hosted by two SSHRC-funded projects—Finding Their Place: The Contributions of Women with Disabilities to Peacebuilding, and the EDID-GHDI partnership (a project under the Live Work Well Research Centre).
At this event, attendees joined us for a panel exploring the emerging inclusion of persons with disabilities in United Nations peacebuilding policy and practice in conversation with academics, practitioners, and policy experts in the field. This panel explored the specific challenges to engaging women with disabilities in peacebuilding practice and envisioned a future in which meaningful inclusion is possible.
The panel was hosted by Hiwot Mekuanent of the University of Guelph. We were joined by the following panelists:
- A.H. Monjurul Kabir, an international human rights and rule of law expert and political scientist, is Senior UN Coordination Adviser and Global Team Leader for Gender Equality, Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality at UN Women HQ in New York.
- Kirstin Lange currently works with UNICEF as a Programme Specialist on disability-inclusive humanitarian action, based in UNICEF’s Geneva Headquarters and providing guidance to UNICEF’s work on disability-inclusive humanitarian action globally, including support to UNICEF-led and co-led clusters.
- Janet E. Lord is currently Executive Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. She is also currently serving as a senior fellow with the Harvard Law School Project on Disability.
- Bogna Ruminowicz is currently the chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Republic of Poland to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
- Kirsten Van Houten is an Assistant Professor at the University of the Fraser Valley in the School of Social Justice and Global Stewardship. She also holds adjunct positions at the University of Guelph and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.
The panel was recorded and captioned in English.
In the description below the YouTube video, you can also access a summary of the event, the anonymized transcript of the Q&A, and the policy brief Finding Their Place: Towards the Inclusion of Women with Disabilities in UN-led Peacebuilding Efforts by Kirsten Van Houten and Fabian Garcia. The video and accompanying materials can also be found on the EDID-GHDI Events page.
