The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 10 and 15 percent of the world's population, or around 1 billion people, live with a disability, making people with disabilities the largest minority in the world (WHO 2011, WRC 2008, UN 2012). Among the millions of refugees living in camps are a large number of people with disabilities. It is estimated that between 4.5 and 6.8 million of the world's 45.2 million forcibly displaced people also live with a disability. Among displaced people who have fled civil conflict, war or natural disaster, the number of people with disabilities may be even higher (WRC 2008, UN 2012). Yet today, people with disabilities remain among the most hidden, neglected and socially excluded displaced people. Displaced by conflict and seeking refuge, people with disabilities experience a triple disadvantage: they are outside their country of origin, are deprived of the protections of citizenship, live in fear of persecution and are hampered by physical disabilities , mental, intellectual or sensory which hinder their full and effective participation in society (Schulze, 2010 and Crook et al 2013). ). Emerging from a global movement for the rights of persons with disabilities, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) came into force in 2008 and led to unprecedented support for the rights of persons with disabilities around the world who were victims of neglect. , abuse and discrimination in all forms (Crook et al 2013, Schulze, 2010). The formulation of the CRPD has been hailed as a milestone in the struggle to reframe the needs and concerns of people with disabilities in human rights terms (Kayess & French 2008). But this is not without criticism. Debate and conjecture...... middle of paper ......Mirza, Mansha. (2011). Disability and humanitarianism in refugee camps: the case for a supranational itinerant practice of disability, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 32, no. 8, 2011, pp 1527-1536. Schulze, Marianne. (2010). Understanding the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Handbook on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Handicap International 2010, 3rd ed.); UNHCR 2012 Global trends: refugees, asylum seekers, returnees, internally displaced people and stateless people. Geneva, UNHCRHCR Mid-year trends 2013. Geneva, UNHCRUnited Nations Enable-Facsheet on Persons with Disabilities. 2012. Retrieved online from www.un.org/disabilitiesWorld Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank, World Disability Report. 2011 Press WHOWomen's Refugee Commission. 2008. Disability among refugees and conflict-affected populations. Geneva, UNHCR