Publication

Equality and Quality in Disability-Inclusive Human Support Provision (EQUIP): Foundational Papers and Checklist

18 May 2026

Bridging Business and Human Rights

Applying the Business and Human Rights (BHR) lens to human services (health, education, transport, social care, social protection and other essential services) means ensuring that both public and private providers, including those contracted by States, conduct human rights due diligence and apply principles that are explicitly disability-inclusive. In line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and OHCHR’s disability inclusion mandate and policy, this entails equal access, universal design, reasonable accommodation, accessible information and grievance mechanisms, and meaningful participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations throughout policy design, procurement, service delivery, and remedy. Within this framework sits OHCHR’s EQUIP project, which advances efforts to embed disability-inclusive human service provision within the broader UNGPs implementation landscape.

EQUIP, standing for "Equality and Quality in Disability-Inclusive Human Service Provision", is a project funded the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Korea Disability Policy Development Institute (KODDI).

The project aims to support service providers, both for-profit and non-profit, in aligning their work with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

It addresses persistent structural challenges in the sector, such as, among others:

Policy and funding gaps;
Workforce instability;
Limited integration of rights-based models;
And minimal awareness of the UNGPs among service actors.

Through a range of activities, most notably, foundational knowledge products, human rights risk mapping, thematic papers, and field-level mapping in two countries (Moldova and Mexico), the project seeks to provide practical tools and actionable pathways for advancing inclusive, sustainable, and rights-compliant support services.

EQUIP's main output is the six foundational papers and the related checklist that frame the approach to disability-inclusive service provision. Each paper addresses a key dimension of the transformation toward inclusive, rights-based care and support systems:

Foundational Paper 0 – Towards Rights-Based Care and Support

This introductory paper frames care and support as a human rights enabler rather than a welfare service. It defines “care and support” through UN and ILO frameworks, emphasizing that fragmented or ideologically biased definitions can perpetuate paternalism and exclusion. It distinguishes between different types of providers (public, private, non-profit, and informal) and argues for a shared responsibility to uphold dignity, autonomy, and inclusion. The paper reinterprets “care” and “support” through a rights lens, positioning them as structural components of equality, rather than as charitable or medical acts. It also clarifies how both States and service providers bear obligations and responsibilities to realize CRPD rights through regulation, procurement, and business practice.

Foundational Paper 1 – The State as Regulator and Customer

This paper analyses the State’s dual role as market regulator and market participant, showing how public procurement, licensing, and funding decisions shape the structure and values of the care and support sector. It examines how States’ choices, such as prioritizing “efficiency” or institutional occupancy rates, can either reinforce segregation or promote independent living. Drawing on the UNGPs, it outlines practical steps for embedding human rights–based criteria in public contracts, budgeting, and oversight systems, including mandatory due diligence, user participation in regulation, and safeguards against conflicts of interest. It concludes that States cannot outsource their CRPD obligations through privatization: rather, they must ensure accountability and rights compliance throughout the care and support value chain.

Foundational Paper 2 – User Agency and Democratising Services

Participation emerges as a core human right and a systemic precondition for rights-based care and support. This paper details how user agency must be embedded across governance, service design, and monitoring processes. It identifies persistent barriers, such as paternalistic cultures, tokenistic consultations, and regulatory blind spots, and highlights mechanisms for institutional transformation, including participatory budgeting, user advisory councils, and co-governance models. It stresses that participation must be inclusive and intersectional, accounting for barriers faced by women, children, people in institutions, or those in rural or low-income settings. The paper frames “democratisation” of care as both a safeguard against abuse and a practical means of improving service quality, innovation, and trust.

Foundational Paper 3 – Business Models and Human Rights Risks

This paper examines how business models—defined by funding structures, governance, labour practices, and performance incentives—determine human rights outcomes. It identifies systemic risks linked to institutional, medicalized, or cost-efficiency logics, contrasting these with emerging rights-based models. Using a “traffic-light” typology, it classifies services as:

Red – institutional or control-based models, with high human rights risks;
Yellow – transitional or mixed models with limited autonomy but potential for reform;
Green – rights-based, user-led services centred on autonomy, inclusion, and community participation.

It highlights that most global services currently occupy the “yellow” category, requiring structural incentives, financing reform, and policy coherence to shift toward “green.” It also underscores decent work as a prerequisite for rights-respecting services, linking labour rights and user outcomes.

Foundational Paper 4 – Human Rights Due Diligence and Remedies

This paper operationalizes the UNGPs’ second and third pillars, i.e. the corporate responsibility to respect and access to remedy, within the care and support sector. It defines human rights due diligence (HRDD) as a continuous process of identifying, preventing, mitigating, and addressing risks to people (not to institutions). It introduces a practical “involvement framework” distinguishing between cases of causation, contribution, and direct linkage, guiding appropriate responses for service providers. The paper also stresses the salience of CRPD rights, notably legal capacity (Article 12), community living (Article 19), and freedom from violence (Article 16), in HRDD design. Finally, it sets out mechanisms for tracking progress and ensuring user participation in remedy and accountability processes, including grievance mechanisms and feedback systems co-designed with users and workers.

Foundational Paper 5 – The “Smart Mix” of Measures

The final paper consolidates the findings of the series into a coherent “smart mix” framework that integrates legal, policy, and market-based measures for aligning care and support systems with human rights standards. It recommends a blend of:

Regulatory tools, such as mandatory human rights due diligence and public reporting;
Economic incentives, including outcome-based procurement and funding mechanisms that reward inclusion and autonomy;
Collaborative governance, featuring multi-stakeholder platforms and user co-management structures;
Learning and innovation mechanisms, promoting data-sharing, ethical innovation, and capacity-building.

Checklist

EQUIP also includes a practical checklist designed to help States and service providers translate the foundational papers into day-to-day decisions. Structured around disability-inclusive human rights due diligence and CRPD standards, it provides step-by-step prompts to assess whether policies, procurement, governance arrangements, staffing models, service delivery practices, and grievance mechanisms genuinely enable autonomy, accessibility, participation, and community inclusion. The checklist can be used both as a planning tool (to design or reform services and contracts) and as a monitoring tool (to identify gaps, track progress, and strengthen accountability), supporting continuous improvement across the full service cycle, from design and commissioning to delivery and remedy.

The work concludes that sustainable transformation requires coordination between States, providers, workers, and organizations of persons with disabilities, underpinned by accountability, participation, and long-term investment in rights-based service ecosystems.