Protecting the Invisible: An Intersectional Approach to International Human Rights Law

This article researches intersectionality in the area of international human rights law. Moving attention away from the field of anti-discrimination law, it examines how an intersectional approach to international human rights law can offer stronger human rights protection to people who share a number of characteristics associated with distinct groups of marginalised people. In order to illustrate the application of this approach the article provides a case study addressing three groups of disabled people who possess such characteristics, namely: 1) disabled women; 2) disabled people who belong to racial or ethnic minorities and; 3) disabled children. It concludes by arguing for the adoption of ‘intersectional mainstreaming’ in international human rights law. The article thereby aims to close a gap in research on intersectionality in the field of human rights. Providing a novel analysis of intersectionality, it proposes a remedy for the deficiencies of anti-discrimination law and shows how intersectionality can be applied in practice.