© ICBL-CMC, June 2014Representatives of survivor networks from around the world hone their skills as victim assistance advocates, including by monitoring the Convention on Cluster Munitions, during a workshop in Mozambique.

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Since 1999, the Monitor has tracked casualties from landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) as well as the provision of victim assistance to the victims of these weapons, including victims of cluster munitions. In 2010, the Monitor initiated a specific focus on victim assistance in those States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions that have cluster munition victims.

Documentation of casualties from cluster munition strikes, as well as from cluster munition remnants,[1] remains inadequate but has been improving since when the convention process began. Beginning in 2013 and continuing into 2014, this was demonstrated in States Parties and also in Syria, where casualty data collection groups have disaggregated cluster munition casualties, resulting in far improved reporting on the devastating consequences of strikes than ever available before: 1,584 casualties were identified due to strikes and unexploded submunitions in 2012 and 2013 in Syria, with hundreds more being recorded into 2014. This improved reporting also highlights the incredible lack of reporting of cluster munition casualties from past conflicts, such as those in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, for which few casualties during cluster munition strikes were reported or no records were made available. 

Globally, there are no comprehensive, reliable statistics and both civilian and military casualties are under-reported. The Monitor has managed to identify a total of 19,419 cluster munition casualties in 31 countries and three other areas beginning in the mid-1960s through the end of 2013. However, a better indicator of the number of cluster munition casualties is derived from various state estimates that collectively place the total at more than 55,000 casualties globally. 

The convention is a landmark humanitarian disarmament agreement that is the first international treaty to make the provision of assistance to victims of a given weapon a formal requirement for all States Parties.[2] It codified the international understanding of victim assistance and its provisions have influenced the victim assistance commitments in the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), particularly Protocol V and its Plan of Action on Victim Assistance, and strengthened practices related to the Mine Ban Treaty. The Convention on Cluster Munitions continues to set the highest standard in obligations for provision of assistance and reporting practices on victim assistance.

In practice, victim assistance addresses the overlapping and interconnected needs of persons with disabilities, including survivors[3] of cluster munitions, landmines, and other weapons and ERW, as well as people in their communities with similar requirements for assistance. In addition, some victim assistance efforts reach family members and other people in the communities of those people who have been killed or suffered trauma, loss, or other harm due to cluster munitions. 

The rationale behind the Convention on Cluster Munitions is found in its preamble, which affirms that States Parties are “Determinedto put an end for all time to the suffering and casualties caused by cluster munitions.” While all States Parties in a position to do so have a legal obligation to provide resources and otherwise support the full implementation of the convention’s victim assistance provisions, the convention places overall responsibility for the provision of victim assistance on the States Parties with cluster munition victims in areas under their jurisdiction or control.

Afghanistan, Iraq, Lao PDR, and Lebanon are the States Parties with the most significant numbers of cluster munition victims in need of assistance and support. Together, they account for the majority of known cluster munition casualties. Non-signatories Cambodia and Vietnam—both of which have already reported their victim assistance efforts to the convention’s States Parties[4]—complete the list of the countries “considered to have the largest number of cluster munition victims, with the challenge of the responsibility to address the needs of several thousands of survivors.”[5] Given the data becoming available, it is likely that Syria should be considered among the group of non-signatory states with the largest numbers of survivors and needs.

In order to make a difference in affected communities, there must be a clear understanding of the rights and needs of victims, and victim assistance responses must be coordinated, timely, and measurable. With a year to go before the Vientiane Action Plan is reviewed in 2015, States Parties have reported significantly more efforts to improve assistance to cluster munition victims than were reported before entry into force, while striving to overcome challenges during the period. However, the challenges have continued to include armed conflict combined with the related displacement of populations and, in many states, inadequate funding and resources for the international organizations, national and international NGOs, and disabled persons organizations (DPOs) that deliver most direct assistance and services to cluster munition victims.

Cluster Munition Casualties

Cluster munition casualties in 2013                      

For 2013, the Monitor received reports of at least 1,001 cluster munition casualties in Syria; at least 151 people were recorded as killed and some 850 people were injured. Among those people who died, 142 were killed by cluster munition air strikes and shelling (direct use of cluster munitions) and another nine fatalities were recorded from incidents involving unexploded submunitions. Ninety-seven percent of those killed in 2012 and 2013 were civilians.[6] Detailed data on fatalities was collected and disaggregated according to the weapons involved by the Violation Documentation Center in Syria (VDC) and the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR).[7]

The SNHR also documented the number of people injured by cluster munitions, many of whom were wounded by unexploded submunitions that are scattered widely throughout many areas of the country.[8] Collection of data was ongoing and efforts to gather details on casualties were hampered by the intensity of the continuing conflict. The SNHR reported that the number of casualties, was believed to be far higher than presented in the available statistics.[9] Data collected by the SNHR was periodically updated.

In 2012, according to data from VDC and SNHR, 113 people were reported as killed (including four due to unexploded submunitions) and some 470 people injured by cluster munitions.[10] In 2013, the only casualties recorded globally during cluster munition strikes occurred in Syria.[11]

Despite efforts to improve data collection methods, casualties from cluster munitions remained chronically underreported and were often not distinguished in data from casualties of other types of unexploded ordnance. Despite the challenges of accessing information, in 2013 unexploded submunition casualties were reported in at least nine countries and one other area: Cambodia (three), Croatia (three), Iraq (eight), Lao PDR (six), Lebanon (one), South Sudan (six), Sudan (five), Syria (nine), Vietnam (four), and the other area Western Sahara (one).

In countries where incidents resulting in unexploded submunition casualties were disaggregated, and the circumstances were known, a continuing pattern of harm to civilians—particularly children and young adults trying to make a living—is apparent. Cluster munition remnants also continued to create a deadly threat to mine and ERW clearance personnel who endeavor to clear hazardous areas. The following examples of reports of casualties in 2013 illustrate the types of incidents that occurred:

• In Lao PDR, six young boys (ages 5, 6, 10, 13 and two aged 12) were out looking for bamboo shoots in the woods near their home when they picked up and began to play with a cluster submunition. The submunition exploded, killing one boy and injuring the others with shrapnel. Two of the wounded boys had serious injuries to their stomachs.[12]
• In Lebanon, an 18-year-old shepherd working on a farm in Hallat village in the south was killed when he stepped on a cluster submunition.[13]
• In Croatia, one member of a demining battalion was killed and two other clearance personnel in the battalion were injured in an accident when a BL-755 submunition detonated as they searched and cleared the area surrounding a military munitions storage facility in Pađene, near Knin. This was the site of an unplanned explosion in September 2011 that scattered cluster submunitions.[14]
• A 12-year-old boy was playing with his friends in Arjamia in the liberated territories of POLISARIO-controlled[15] Western Sahara when he picked up a small ball from the ground. It turned out to be an unexploded cluster submunition which detonated in his hand and blew the boy’s fingers off.[16] 

Details of unexploded submunition casualties in Syria were still emerging at the time of publication. Data sources include links to images and videos of torn, punctured, and bloody human remains of several of the people killed both in strikes and from unexploded submunitions.[17]

Global casualties

Casualties from cluster munition remnants and strikes have occurred in at least 31 states and three other areas where cluster munitions have been used.[18] Of the 31 states where cluster munition casualties occurred, 12 are States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and four have signed but not yet ratified the convention. There may have been casualties, as yet unconfirmed, in several more states.[19] 

States and other areas with cluster munition casualties (as of end 2013)

Note: Convention on Cluster Munitions States Parties are indicated in bold; other areas in italics.

Data collection of cluster munition victims mostly recorded only those people killed and injured (casualties). The available information on efforts to assist cluster munition victims focuses on the survivors.

There are no comprehensive, reliable statistics on cluster munition casualties—the people who were killed or injured by cluster munitions—and for decades there was inadequate reporting and massive under-reporting of both civilian and military casualties.[20] However, in 2013, for the first time, Iraq and Croatia did report cluster munition casualties in annual Article 7 transparency reporting. Western Sahara also disaggregated cluster munition casualties in their first voluntary Article 7 report. Yet Lao PDR and Lebanon reported all casualties of mines/ERW without differentiating or specifying how many cluster munition casualties were included in the casualty figures.

At least 19,419 cluster munition casualties have been reported globally through the end of 2013. But a better indicator of the number of cluster munition casualties is the estimated total of more than 55,000. Some global projections range as high as 85,000 casualties or more, but some of those country totals are based on extrapolations from limited samples and data may be inflated.[21]

The majority of reported cluster munition casualties (70%) have been recorded in States Parties and signatories, particularly Afghanistan (774), Iraq (3,019), Lao PDR (7,604), and Lebanon (713). 

The vast majority (15,652) of reported casualties were caused by cluster munition remnants—typically explosive submunitions which failed to detonate during strikes. Another 2,447 casualties were recorded from cluster munition strikes. For another 1,320 casualties documented in Syria in 2012 and 2013 it was not specified how many were due to strikes. Casualties at the time of use have been grossly under-reported; therefore the actual number of casualties, both known and estimated, is massively under-represented. Data on casualties due to cluster munition strikes is more difficult to collect systematically and is often not included in casualty reporting.

Civilians accounted for the majority (94%) of all cluster munition casualties recorded for all time from both cluster munition strikes and cluster munition remnants in the cases where the status was recorded.[22] Humanitarian deminers (clearance personnel) accounted for slightly more than 3%, and security forces (military, police, and other security personnel) accounted for just under 3%. The original data used by the Monitor is based on global casualty data collected by Handicap International (HI) in 2006 and 2007. The addition of new data sources over time did not significantly change the percentage of civilian casualties.[23]

Victim Assistance

The Convention on Cluster Munitions requires that States Parties with cluster munition victims implement the following victim assistance activities:

• Collect relevant data and assess the needs of cluster munition victims;
• Coordinate victim assistance programs and develop a national plan;
• Actively involve cluster munition victims in all processes that affect them;
• Ensure adequate, available, and accessible assistance;
• Provide assistance that is gender- and age-sensitive as well as non-discriminatory; and
• Report on progress.

According to the convention, States Parties with responsibility for cluster munition victims should identify the resources available as well as the needs for international cooperation and assistance for the above activities.

The Vientiane Action Plan 2010–2015 provides a guide for prioritizing implementation of victim assistance in all its key aspects.[24] States Parties in a position to provide such assistance should promptly respond to requests for support to victim assistance “to ensure that the pace and effectiveness of these activities increases in 2011 and beyond.” They should also “strive to ensure continuity, predictability and sustainability of resource commitments.”[25]

Assessing needs

According to the Convention’s Article 5 requirements, States Parties must make “every effort to collect reliable relevant data” and assess the needs of cluster munition victims. According to the Vientiane Action Plan, within one year of the convention’s entry into force for each State Party, all necessary data should have been collected and disaggregated by sex and age, and the needs and priorities of cluster munition victims should have been assessed.[26] Though no States Parties have fulfilled the action,[27] a number of States Parties saw progress in needs assessment in 2013:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) continued to identify new cluster munition casualties; however, details were insufficient for planning or analysis.
• In Iraq, the identification of new cluster munition casualties through an ongoing survey and needs assessment was reported in Iraq’s Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report for 2013.
• Lao PDR continued to gather data on survivors and their needs in its national Survivor Tracking System, which planned to track more than 15,000 mine/ERW and cluster munition survivors by the end of 2013. By April 2014, profiles of 9,000 survivors had been entered into the IMSMA database and data was to be made available to implementers when analysis was completed.
• Lebanon initiated a national victim survey and needs assessment survey in July 2013, targeting 690 people killed and injured as well as their families, covering medical, economic, social, psychological, and educational and training needs.
• In 2013, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), in cooperation with the Montenegrin Regional Centre for Underwater Demining, identified nine cluster munition casualties that occurred in 1999 in Montenegro. This was one more casualty than identified by NPA during a research study in 2006, but no other details were reported.
• In June 2013, a needs assessment of a representative sample of mine/ERW survivors was completed by HI and RAVIM, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs, in the provinces of Inhambane and Sofala in Mozambique. The survey did not differentiate the assessed survivors by type of explosive device.

Coordination, plans, and strategies

States Parties with cluster munition casualties must designate a government victim assistance focal point. The focal point should be appointed within six months after becoming a State Party.[28] All States Parties with known cluster munition victims with the exception of Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone have designated one or more focal points for Convention on Cluster Munition victim assistance activities. The government’s victim assistance focal point for BiH in 2013 was unclear,[29] although one had been designated in past years. 

BiH reported having revised its victim assistance strategy in 2013. Lao PDR adopted a victim assistance plan in March 2014, which specifies cooperation with relevant ministries. However, the plan is only a guideline and it is not mandatory for ministries to include the needs of cluster munition victims in their limited budgets.[30] In 2013, Mozambique developed a national plan for victim assistance, as a component of the National Disability Plan 2012–2019, with the support of HI.[31] Guinea-Bissau presented objectives of its national victim assistance plan in December 2013.[32] A victim assistance and disability plan was yet to be developed in Afghanistan pending the completion of a relevant policy paper. 

Providing adequate assistance: progress in 2013 and action required

Under the Vientiane Action Plan, each State Party with cluster munition victims should take immediate action to increase availability and accessibility of services, particularly in remote and rural areas where they are most often absent. States and other areas with cluster munition victims continue to face significant challenges in providing holistic and accessible care to affected individuals, families, and communities. Following are some of the key advances to improve the availability, accessibility, and sustainability of victim assistance in 2013, as well as actions required for further improvement.

Availability, accessibility, and sustainability of services and action points based on findings

With one year remaining to see the fulfillment of the Vientiane Action Plan promise of immediately available and accessible services for cluster munition victims, concrete steps have been taken by most States Parties. However, services remain a far cry from being adequately available, particularly for survivors in remote and rural areas. NGOs continue to provide the most direct and measurable assistance to persons with disabilities and war-injured persons, including survivors, while States Parties overall have not yet developed needed services or even replaced services and programs that were reduced or closed.           

Afghanistan

Although there was an overall decline in the extent of activities and services in 2013, the number of service providers remained primarily unchanged and no new rehabilitation centers were established and none closed. Organizations providing services and programs for survivors were unable to secure funding to sustain these programs due to a decrease in international financial support. Many organizations secured one-off support to implement projects that were similar to those that had operated in the past, but were, in some cases, more closely aligned with donor priorities than organizational plans. The precarious funding situation resulted in an overall decline in the number of survivors being assisted. This resulted in an overall decrease in the number of projects being implemented and some organizations were unable to complete their planned projects and overall mandates due to a decrease in international financial support.

Way forward:

• Expand access to physical rehabilitation, particularly in provinces lacking services or where travelling to receive rehabilitation is difficult for survivors. Coordination among donors funding services for persons with disabilities and government and NGO actors is needed to preserve programs as changing priorities increasingly become a challenge for service providers.

Albania

Donor support for the purchase of much needed rehabilitation equipment for the prosthetics department in the cluster munition affected-region helped avert a crisis in support that would have resulted in essential services not being available.

Way forward:

• Ensure the sustainability of rehabilitation supplies, particularly because surveys of abandoned ordnance casualties throughout the country have increased the demand for the limited services available in the area where cluster munition victims live.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

A decrease in all services provided by NGOs continued, mainly linked with the ongoing decline in international funding.

Way forward:

• Do more to improve the quality and sustainability of services for survivors and other persons with disabilities, including by upgrading community-based rehabilitation centers.

Chad

No significant reported changes in the accessibility, availability, or quality of victim assistance services. Rehabilitation was inadequately available and there was a persistent lack of physiotherapists, psychosocial support, vocational training, and economic reintegration opportunities for survivors and persons with disabilities.

Way forward:

• Increase all services and programs needed by victims, including physical rehabilitation and employment. There is an acute need for improved facilities and professional capacity in the rehabilitation sector. Ensure sustainability with government investment and support to rehabilitation and emergency care.

Croatia

Healthcare, rehabilitation, and employment were delivered through state services. A special facility for psychological rehabilitation continued to improve the availability of short-term support. However, provision for continuing psychosocial rehabilitation and reintegration remained weak during the reporting period.

Way forward:

• Secure adequate resources for civil society victim assistance activities that fill gaps in government services, including peer support outreach and targeted psychological assistance, while working toward improving government provision of necessary services. Expand services to rural and remote areas and improve accessibility to the existing services in those areas.

Guinea-Bissau

Over the last decade, there has been little progress overall in improving access and quality of assistance to survivors due to lack of funds and of government support.

Way forward:

• Dedicate increased national and international funding to address the needs and promote the rights of mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors and other persons with disabilities. 

Iraq

The national healthcare budget increased and the Iraqi and Kurdistan Ministries of Health assumed greater responsibility for the management and financing of physical rehabilitation. However, the availability of all services needed by survivors remained limited and access to those services that were available was hindered even more than in recent years in some parts of the country as armed violence rose to the highest level in 10 years.

Way forward:

• Improve access to physical rehabilitation services, particularly for people living in remote locations and areas with high levels of violence, and ensure equal access to services for both males and females.

Lao PDR

Lao PDR reported that it still has “a long way to go to provide support to survivors and their families. Beyond meeting their immediate emergency medical needs, very few survivors receive adequate physical, psychological, or economic support.”[33] Survivors lacked access to quality medical care and professional health workers in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and psychological support were almost non-existent.

Way forward:

• Improve accessibility to rehabilitation for survivors and other persons with disabilities in remote and rural areas. Integrate responsibility for the allocation of resources for services, referral, and outreach, including transport and accommodation into government budgets.

Lebanon

Relatively active but poorly funded private organizations made most of the efforts to assist persons with disabilities. International assistance received in 2013 was less than anticipated despite resource mobilization efforts undertaken by the Lebanon Mine Action Center together with operators.

Way forward:

• A sustainable funding strategy is needed for the physical rehabilitation sector, which relies on international funding and donations.

Mozambique

A lack of both availability and access prevented most survivors from receiving needed rehabilitation services.  Production of new prosthetic devices, which had halted due to a lack of resources, resumed in 2013, but long waitlists continued. Rehabilitation centers remained out of reach for survivors living in rural areas. No changes were registered in socioeconomic inclusion and psychological support.

Way forward:

• Prioritize rehabilitation and economic inclusion assistance for the most vulnerable among the survivor population, based on degree of physical, psychological, and socioeconomic need. Respond to the specific needs of women victims, the largest demographic group of victims as the members of affected families and communities, who continue to cope with financial, social and emotional loss.

There were no significant reported changes in the accessibility, availability, or quality of victim assistance services in Montenegro or Sierra Leone. The Monitor’s victim assistance thematic research for Convention on Cluster Munitions signatories and non-signatories on the provision of adequate assistance is ongoing and available online in country profiles.

Role of survivors

The participation of cluster munition victims was key in the development and adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the convention calls on States Parties to “closely consult with and actively involve cluster munition victims and their representative organisations” to fulfill victim assistance obligations. The Vientiane Action Plan states that States Parties must actively involve cluster munitions victims and their representative organizations in the work of the convention, placing responsibility on all States Parties, and not just those with cluster munition victims, for promoting the participation of cluster munition victims. 

All States Parties with victim assistance coordination structures in place in 2013 involved survivors or their representative organizations in victim assistance or disability coordination mechanisms. However, overall closer consultation and more active engagement of survivors were needed.

In nine of the 12 States Parties with known cluster munition victims, survivors were involved in victim assistance activities, including in providing ongoing services such as prosthetics or delivering peer-to-peer support.[34]

As highlighted by the Vientiane Action Plan, survivors and cluster munition victims should be considered as experts in victim assistance and included on government delegations to international meetings and in all activities related to the convention. As in the past reporting period, BiH was the only State Party known to have included a survivor as a member of its delegation to an international meeting of the convention in 2013. By contrast, many cluster munition victims have participated in international meetings as part of the Cluster Munition Coalition delegation. 

Age- and gender-sensitive assistance and non-discrimination

States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitionscommit to adequately providing age- and gender-sensitive assistance to cluster munition victims.[35] Yet for most States Parties and signatories, little information was available about this aspect of assistance. Few activities were reported that were designed to increase services appropriate to the needs of women, men, girls, and boys. Some of the reported activities are described below.

According to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, States Parties should not discriminate against or among cluster munition victims, or between cluster munition victims and those who have suffered from other causes. Research shows that for most countries where discrimination was reported, it was due to preferential treatment for veterans or discrimination against particular gender, age, or regional groups, rather than differences in treatment based on the cause of disability or the type of weapon that caused injury. For example, disabled war veterans were often given a privileged status above that of civilian war survivors and other persons with disabilities, particularly in regards to financial allowances and other state benefits. This continued to be a serious problem in BiH in particular. In Afghanistan, unequal benefits for veterans were included in revised disability legislation in 2013.

However, no discrimination in favor of cluster munition victims by, or in, States Parties with Article 5 obligations was identified in 2013.[36] Concerns about positive discrimination in the allocation of services to cluster munition victims nonetheless continued to be raised by States Parties and the question of how to manage a non-discriminatory approach was one of three questions on the agenda for victim assistance at the meeting of States Parties of the Convention in Lusaka in September 2013. These concerns seem to be in part because cluster munition victims and other mine/ERW survivors as a group are sometimes perceived as attracting more attention than other persons facing similar barriers, although this attention has not been seen to result in differences in the provision of services. Rather, research has indicated that it has contributed to making more resources available for people from other groups with similar needs.[37]

Reporting on progress

Under Article 7 of the convention, States Parties are required to submit reports on the status and progress of implementation of all victim assistance obligations. All States Parties with cluster munition victims that submitted their Article 7 report for 2013 included information on victim assistance in Form H; most provided detailed information or new factual reporting, including updates of contact information for focal points. In 2013, signatory State DRC and other area Western Sahara submitted voluntary reports with information on victim assistance. Albania, Chad, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone did not submit Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 reports for 2013, and Guinea-Bissau had not yet submitted its initial reporting.