Introduction

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions was the first multilateral treaty to make the provision of assistance to victims of a specific weapon a formal obligation for all States Parties with victims.[1] The convention continues to set the highest legal standards for victim assistance. It requires States Parties with cluster munition victims to implement specific activities to ensure that adequate assistance is provided, including the following:[2]

• 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.

The five-year Dubrovnik Action Plan, agreed in 2015, lays out six very broad objectives for victim assistance that States Parties should work to have achieved by the time of the Second Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2020:

• Improvement in the quality and quantity of assistance for persons with disabilities;
• Strengthened respect for human rights;
• Increased exchange of information on good and cost-effective practices;
• Increased involvement of victims in processes that concern them;
• Increased support for victim assistance programs;[3] and
• Increased demonstration of results in Article 7 transparency reports.

Progress on planned actions

This summary highlights developments and challenges in States Parties in the penultimate reporting period prior to the Second Review Conference of the convention in 2020, which will require a review of progress on commitments made in the five-year Dubrovnik Action Plan. Aside from the final section, it focuses primarily on the 14 States Parties with responsibility for cluster munition victims to which Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 5 and the action plan commitments are applicable.

States Parties with cluster munition victims

In addition to this overview, a collection of thematic overviews, briefing papers, factsheets, and infographics related to victim assistance produced since 1999, as well as the latest key country profiles, are available through the victim assistance portal on the Monitor website.[4]

The process of victim assistance

Data collection

Article 5 of the convention requires that States Parties with victims make “every effort to collect reliable relevant data” and assess the needs of cluster munition victims. The Dubrovnik Action Plan commits States Parties to the ongoing assessment of those needs.

In Afghanistan, where the last national disability survey was carried out in 2005, a plan for nationwide disability survey developed in 2016 was finally to be implemented in 2019. Afghanistan also finalized disability indicators developed for the national health information system. BiH continued to report that further survey was needed to establish detailed information on cluster munition victims, specifically those who had already been identified through initial survey. Both Croatia and Lebanon needed to revise or combine their national victim databases. However, despite initial efforts and recent opportunities, no progress was reported. Further survey was needed in order to identify cluster munition victims and/or needs in Chad, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Montenegro, and Mozambique. Mauritania and Zambia had yet to conduct initial surveys to identify or confirm if they have cluster munition victims.

Plans and coordination

Among States Parties with cluster munition victims, only Sierra Leone did not have a designated victim assistance focal point, which was an action with the deadline of the end of 2016.

Through the Dubrovnik Action Plan, States Parties without a national disability action plan committed to draft a disability or victim assistance plan before the end of 2018.[5]

Six States Parties had current planning in place for victim assistance: Albania, BiH, Colombia, Lao PDR, Lebanon, and Mozambique. Mozambique has not reported on implementation of its specific victim assistance planning and remained focused on the earlier broad national disability plan, which also includes references to victim assistance.

Montenegro, Sierra Leone, and Somalia did not have an active plan in place. Chad had not yet adopted a revised plan. Iraq was using annually updated plans, but in 2018 began the process of developing a national victim assistance and disability strategy with the Antipersonnel Mine Ban Convention Implementation Support Unit and European Union (EU) funding. Croatia has not replaced its plan that expired in 2014.

Involvement of victims

States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions have committed to actively include cluster munition victims and their representative organizations in policy- and decision-making, so that their participation is made sustainable and meaningful.[6]

In most States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, survivors were engaged in relevant activities, but generally there was no indication that survivor’s views were actively considered or acted upon.

In BiH, a victim assistance coordination body was officially established on 23 May 2018. Survivors’ representatives were involved in the two unofficial coordination meetings held in 2017 and advocated for official coordination. In 2017, Croatia did not hold any victim assistance coordination meetings, but survivors occasionally participated in the work of governmental and non-governmental bodies. Somalia held a survivor assistance meeting in early 2019, some five years after the initial, and only, previous coordination meeting on victim assistance, held in 2014. Montenegro and Sierra Leone were the only states where the Monitor has not identified any survivor involvement in victim assistance activities since entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. However, disabled peoples’ organizations (DPOs) in both countries advocated for the rights of all persons with disabilities. The Sierra Leone Union on Disability Issues requested the official state appointment of persons with disabilities to high-level governance positions where they can influence decisions that affect them and counter the existing marginalization and discrimination at all levels.

Survivor networks and sustainability

To strengthen sustainability and the effective delivery of services, States Parties have committed to enhance the capacity of organizations representing survivors and persons with disabilities, as well as national institutions.[7] The Monitor identified the following states and areas with cluster munition casualties where survivor networks reported developments.

Survivor organizations and networks active in countries and areas with cluster munition victims

Note: other area indicated in italics.

Rarely did survivors and their representative organizations benefit from financial and technical resources, and training to improve services and sustainability. Most struggled to maintain their operations with decreasing resources available. Networks in States Parties Albania, Croatia, and Mozambique were largely unable to implement essential activities. The situation was acute for Albania, going more than a year without resources despite a recent national survey identifying survivors’ needs throughout the country. The indifference of the international community to supporting survivors in Albania, a State Party that has completed clearance, is particularly alarming.

Availability and accessibility of assistance

States Parties responsible for cluster munition victims have the obligation to provide adequate assistance.[8] Such assistance should be age- and gender-sensitive.[9] The Dubrovnik Action Plan also calls for the review of the availability, accessibility, and quality of existing services, and identification of the barriers that prevent access.[10]

Healthcare and rehabilitation, including prosthetics

All States Parties with cluster munition victims had some forms of ongoing healthcare and rehabilitation available. Some have yet to systematically integrate rehabilitation into health system funding and planning. Many need to simplify the process of applying for new or replacement prosthetic devices. Even where support exists for eligible mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors to replace prosthetic devices at regular intervals (such as every three or five years), this was not sufficient for survivors who were very active, or lived and worked in harsher physical environments, particularly in remote and rural areas, to acquire adequate or timely prosthetic limbs.

Access to rehabilitation services for survivors in remote and rural areas needed significant improvement in Chad, Guinea-Bissau, and Iraq. In Iraq, a new physical rehabilitation center for Mosul, built by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was opened in October 2018 and transferred to the local directorate of the health ministry to increase the availability of services in northern Iraq, including for refugees. In Chad, where health services in contaminated areas remain limited, free healthcare is effective, but is partially implemented. The only operational physical rehabilitation center in the capital was facing funding difficulties.

In 2019, a five-year Okard project to improve equal access to health and social services for persons with disabilities began in Lao PDR, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). This project builds on the previous 2014–2017 Training, Economic Empowerment, Assistive Technologies and Medical Rehabilitation (TEAM) project, which had similar objectives.

Lebanon reported that national standards for prosthetic devices had been established. In Mozambique, prosthetics were only available in the capital, and the supply was limited. In Sierra Leone, a survey of lower limb amputees found that they need improved access to medical care and better access to food and clean water for adequate health.

Continued conflict or other emergencies and disasters significantly negatively impact possibilities for providing effective assistance. In some States Parties facing conflict and insecurity—including those noted below, as well as states not party Syria and Yemen, both with recent cluster munition casualties—the national or subnational humanitarian response Health Cluster coordinates priorities and response strategies.[11] This is conducted with the guidance of lead agencies and is sometimes integrated into or operates parallel to victim assistance coordination.

Health Clusters in States Parties with cluster munition victims[12]

Due to the devastating impact of cyclone Idai, the IASC system-wide response also declared Mozambique a scale-up level three emergency, which was activated for three months from March 2019 through June 2019. Such an activation occurs when a humanitarian situation suddenly and significantly changes and it is clear that the existing capacity to coordinate and deliver humanitarian assistance and protection does not match the scale, complexity, and urgency of the crisis.[13]

Other countries with cluster munition victims that have Health Clusters operating include signatory DRC, and non-signatories Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.

An IASC Task Team on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action is developing guidelines for the inclusion of persons with disabilities into humanitarian action that encompasses issues related to protection of survivors and the implementation of victim assistance. It was planned to launch in 2018, but was extended into 2019, while being reviewed. The guidelines should respond to the charter on inclusion of persons with disabilities adopted at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.

Psychosocial support

Psychosocial support remained inadequate in most States Parties. Peer support contributes to fulfilling Dubrovnik Action Plan commitments by providing referrals to existing services, and by enhancing the capacity of national survivors’ organizations and DPOs to deliver relevant services.[14] Far from enough peer support was available in Afghanistan in recent years, although the need is constantly increasing due to ongoing conflict. Support in Albania was ad hoc, because the national survivor network lacked resources.

Psychological support remained the least improved area of assistance. So much so, that states often did not report on the challenges for improving limited availability or non-existent services, especially where peer support was no longer available due to decreased resources to survivors’ organizations. For example, the availability of peer support in Croatia declined due to a lack of funding to the national and local survivor networks. Guinea-Bissau had no psychological support services for survivors at all. Lebanon has not yet realized a recommendation from a 2012 survey to establish peer support groups for survivors.

In BiH, a three-year EU-funded project launched in November 2018 aimed at building the capacity of survivors and women with disabilities, raising awareness of disability issues among civil society organizations and local authorities, and promoting the inclusion of persons with disabilities more broadly.

Economic inclusion

The Dubrovnik Action Plan places specific emphasis on increasing the economic inclusion of cluster munition victims through training and employment, as well as social protection measures. While some progress was made in this field, decent work and livelihoods remain the least developed of all victim assistance pillars overall. Several limited scale projects to provide economic and education opportunities were undertaken in Albania, BiH, Lao PDR, and Lebanon.

Article 7 Transparency Reports

Article 7 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions requires States Parties to report on the status and progress of implementation of victim assistance obligations.

As of 1 August 2019, Afghanistan, Albania, Chad, Croatia, Iraq, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Montenegro, and Mozambique had reported on annual victim assistance efforts. BiH had not yet submitted its report, but had done so for past years. Guinea-Bissau has never submitted an Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, while Sierra Leone did not include the form on victim assistance in its initial, and only, Article 7 report. As of 1 August 2019, Somalia had not submitted an initial transparency report, which was due on 31 August 2016.

International law

States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions with victims under their jurisdictionare legally bound to implement adequate victim assistance in accordance with applicable international humanitarian and human rights law.[15] All except two States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions with cluster munition victims (Lao PDR and Lebanon) are also party to the Mine Ban Treaty and, as such, have also made victim assistance commitments through the Mine Ban Treaty’s action plans. In total, 63 States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions are also High Contracting Parties to Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Protocol V, which includes provisions on assisting ERW victims.

The requirement to apply human rights law has been understood foremost in terms of enhancing implementation through the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), by including victim assistance in national disability rights-related coordination structures. Among States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions with cluster munition victims, Chad, Lebanon, and Somalia are signatories. Somalia signed the CRPD in October 2018. The remainder are States Parties to the CRPD.

In September 2015, UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are designed to address the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, with emphasis on poverty reduction, equality, rule of law, and inclusion. Therefore, the SDGs are generally complementary to the aims of the CRPD and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and offer exceptional opportunities for bridging the relevant frameworks.

More specifically, persons with disabilities are referred to directly in several of the SDGs that are highly relevant to the implementation of the CRPD and the humanitarian disarmament conventions’ action plans: education (SDG 4), employment (SDG 8), reducing inequality (SDG 10), and accessibility of human settlements (Goal 11), in addition to including persons with disabilities in data collection and monitoring (SDG 17).

Specific actions to address challenges

Specific actions to address victim assistance challenges in States Parties, signatories, and non-signatories of the Convention on Cluster Munitions have been identified in Cluster Munition Monitor country-level reporting for victim assistance. Some of these priority actions and activities are noted below.

States Parties

Signatories

Non-signatories

Other areas