Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2015, the Monitor identified seven casualties from mines and other ERW in the Republic of India. Of the total casualties for which the age and sex were known,[1] five were men and one was a boy. There were six civilian casualties, including one child casualty. All incidents occurred in the region of Jammu and Kashmir.[2]

The seven mine/ERW casualties identified in 2015 represented a decrease from the 18 casualties in 2014, 23 casualties in 2013, 78 casualties in 2012, 51 casualties in 2011, and 26 casualties recorded in 2010. Such fluctuations in annual casualty figures are not necessarily indicative of trends and can be attributed to the challenges in collecting consistent and accurate data from media and local sources, since India lacks a systematic data collection system.

The cumulative number of casualties in India is not known. Between 1999 and 2015, the Monitor identified 3,191 victim-activated mine/improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and ERW casualties in India (1,083 killed; 2,107 injured; 1 unknown). Nearly half of these casualties were civilians.

Victim Assistance

The total number of survivors is unknown, but at least 2,107 people were injured through the end of 2015.

Assessing victim assistance needs

In early 2015, Handicap International (HI) carried out a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) survey regarding risks surrounding mines/ERW and IEDs in four districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The survey focused on risk education, but also identified an apparently high prevalence of disability in border areas that required further investigation.[3]

Victim assistance coordination

India does not have any specific coordination mechanisms or national plans for mine/ERW victim assistance.

The MSJE coordinated the Indian physical rehabilitation sector. A new Department of Disability Affairs within the MSJE began operation in May 2012. Its role is to facilitate the empowerment of all persons with disabilities, to regulate physical rehabilitation services and various disability funds, as well as to develop and implement India’s legal framework as it relates to physical disability.[4]

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities bill was finalized in 2014 and began the parliamentary process for adoption.[5] The history of the bill process began with a draft proposal in 2011 following consultations with persons with disabilities and disabled people’s organizations (DPOs). The second draft was notified by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in 2012. However, that draft was opposed in part by several key stakeholders. Disability rights actors united against the third draft of bill, of 2013, which was believed to contain violations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).[6] In February 2014, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2014 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the parliament of India, to replace the Persons with Disabilities Act (1995). The Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment of the Rajya Sabha submitted its report on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014 on 7 May 2015.[7] As of May 2016, the bill had not yet been passed.

At the Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference in Maputo in 2014, India stated that “Mine victims are also assisted in rehabilitation through the provision of financial compensation, employment and health assistance. India’s ratification of the CRPD underscores the importance that we attach to victim assistance.”[8]

India stated that its 2007 ratification of the CRPD underscores the importance it attaches to victim assistance.[9] India did not submit a Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Amended Protocol II Article 13 report nor a Protocol V Article 10 report for the period from April 2015 to March 2016. Its April 2014 to March 2015 report did not include details of victim assistance provided, and India noted that the situation had remained unchanged since 2006.[10] In the April 2014 to March 2015 CCW Protocol V Article 10 report, India stated that reporting on the protection of the civilian population from the effects of ERW was not applicable for India.[11]

Survivor inclusion

Associations of mine survivors were included in the consultative process to in initial draft of the national Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill (2011).[12]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[13]

Budget shortfalls forced the suspension of programs by the ICRC SFD in India in 2014. The ICRC took over support for SFD programs.[14] In 2015, the ICRC continued to provide support for six rehabilitation centers including the Artificial Limb Centre at the Bone and Joint Hospital, Srinagar; the Artificial Limb Centre at the Governmental Medical College, Jammu; and the Voluntary Medicare Society in Jammu and Kashmir. These ICRC-supported centers assisted 15 mine/ERW survivors to obtain prosthetic limbs in 2015, a decrease compared to 26 in 2014 and 64 survivors in 2013.[15] However, this continues to represent a significant increase in contrast with the period 2000 to 2010, when just 95 survivors were served during the entire period.

The government has stated at international meetings that mine survivors and families of those killed by mines are entitled to compensation.[16] Monetary compensation to landmine survivors and family members of people killed is distributed by the Ministry of Defence under a 2006 decree. However, many survivors have not been successful in applying for compensation.[17]

The standard one-time compensation payment from the government is the equivalent of US$1,500, which is inadequate to cover treatment and the future needs of survivors.[18] To pay for medical expenses, families often have to borrow money or sell their land or livestock, resulting in worsening economic situations overall.[19]

Psychosocial support for survivors continued to be limited. MSF provided mental health and psychosocial care, particularly for conflict and weapons victims at five fixed locations in Srinagar and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir. Teams also visited victims of violence in Srinagar hospitals and provided psychological first aid, thereby ensuring basic psychological, social, and material needs were being met.[20]

India’s Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 protects the rights of persons with disabilities. However, discrimination in employment, education, and access to healthcare remained pervasive, especially in rural areas. Legislation requires that all public buildings and transportation be accessible for persons with disabilities, although accessibility remained limited.[21]

India ratified the CRPD on 1 October 2007.