Click to expand Image Ali, a 22-year-old Afghan asylum seeker with a disability, living in Moria camp, on the beach in Lesbos, Greece. He told Human Rights Watch he can’t access showers in the camp and sometimes tries to wash himself in the sea. © 2017 ZALMAÏ for Human Rights Watch The European Union’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, a sweeping overhaul of the EU’s migration rules that is entering into force on June 12, risks weakening protection for migrants and asylum seekers with disabilities. Disability rights groups warn that the Pact lacks clear safeguards to ensure disability-inclusive screening, reception and full and fair asylum procedures.  In a joint policy brief, the European Disability Forum and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) affirmed that the Pact represents a missed opportunity to address the exclusion of migrants with disabilities. Elham Youssefian, IRAP’s Director of Disability Inclusion and Accessibility said that “more restrictive migration policies make it even more difficult for migrants and asylum seekers with disabilities to access their fundamental rights in the EU.” The Pact establishes screening procedures that include “preliminary vulnerability checks” intended to identify asylum seekers’ support needs, primarily health related. However, it provides limited guidance on how those needs should be identified and addressed in practice. The Pact’s continued reliance on vulnerability assessments and medical-based evaluations risks overlooking the accommodations and supports that people with disabilities may require throughout the migration process.  Failure to properly identify those needs during screening can result in people with disabilities being wrongfully detained or denied reasonable accommodation and other support necessary to participate effectively in all migration and asylum procedur