Protecting the invisible: An intersectional approach to international human rights law

This article analyses 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 marginalised groups of 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: first, disabled women; second, disabled people who belong to racial or ethnic minorities; and third, disabled children. It concludes by arguing for the adoption of 'intersectional mainstreaming' in international human rights law. Providing a novel scholarship analysis of intersectionality, it proposes an intersectional perspective as an effective tool for accommodating intersectionality. The article thereby aims to close a gap in research on intersectionality in the field of human rights.