Background

Handicap International is officially founded to respond to the needs of 6,000 Cambodian amputees living in refugee camps along the Thai border. Jean-Baptiste Richardier, co-founder of Handicap International, recalls "... this particularly vulnerable group was not provided with aid adapted to their needs. Providing specific aid during emergency relief efforts was not the done thing back then." Co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, Handicap International is an independent and impartial organization working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. We work alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, taking action and bearing witness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. With local partners, we run programs in health and rehabilitation and social and economic integration. We work with local authorities to clear landmines and other war debris and to prevent mine-related accidents through education. We respond quickly and effectively to natural and civil disasters in order to limit serious and permanent injuries and to assist survivors' recovery and reintegration. We advocate for the universal recognition of the rights of people with disabilities through national planning and advocacy. Handicap International is the world's most comprehensive mine action charity. The heart of this action is victim assistance—this was our beginning in 1982—but teams also prevent injuries through weapons and landmine clearance, risk education activities, stockpile management, and advocacy to ban landmines and cluster bombs.

Staff