The meeting of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance will be held from 10:00 on Wednesday, 29 May 2013 at the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) building, 7 bis avenue de la Paix, Geneva.
Updates from relevant States Parties on challenges and work that remains in applying the victim assistance aspects of the Cartagena Action Plan at the national level are to be provided by States Parties that have indicated that they hold the responsibility to provide for the well-being of significant numbers of landmine survivors. These States Parties have been asked to respond to the following two questions:

1. What further progress has your State made since its last update in applying the victim assistance aspects of the Cartagena Action Plan ?
2. What specific and measurable objectives in applying the victim assistance aspects of the Cartagena Action Plan does your State still anticipate meeting between now and the Third Review Conference in 2014?

Technical Workshop: Assistance to Child Victims of Landmines/ERW

On 30-31 May, the Co-Chairs of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance, Austria and Colombia, are convening a victim assistance technical experts’ workshop to develop guidelines on ways and means to address the particular challenges faced by girls and boys who are victims of mines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war.

The workshop will take place at the Conference Centre Varembe, 17 Rue de Varembé, Geneva.

In preparing for this workshop, the Co-Chairs solicited expert input, which was provided by a variety of organizations. Links to the PDF files of these contributions can be found here:

Handicap International

ICBL

ICRC

UNICEF

UNOHCHR

WHO

More resources and information are available on the following pages:

Landmines/ERW & Children

Child Survivors

The Committee observed: “In one case, in 2000, 8 boys playing in the Mitrovica hills came across a number of undetonated cluster bomb units dropped during the NATO bombardment of Kosovo in 1999 and began playing with them. Believing it was safe, one boy threw an undetonated cluster munition into the air. It exploded, killing one boy and blinding and disfiguring his brother. French troops forming part of UNMIK had failed to support de-mining activities and warn the local population as it was not a ‘high priority’. In 2007, the European Court of Human Rights found that the impugned action was attributable to the UN.”

The European Court of Human Rights decided that the case was inadmissible due to alleged lack of jurisdiction. A recent publication on that court case can be found here:  Behrami v. France: An Unfortunate Step Backwards in the Protection of Human Rights, Sadia R. Sorathia, March 8, 2013.

Such examples of compensation are still rare. In a different type of case, in 2009, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission identified a monetary value to be awarded as compensation for loss of life and injuries caused when cluster bombs dropped on  the Ayder school in the town of Mekele, Ethiopia, killed fifty-three civilians including twelve school children (above image); another 185 civilians were wounded including 42 children.

Recently, however,  there have been at least a few successful cases.

“National and Regional Courts Uphold the Rights of Victims of Cluster Munitions” writes Megan Burke of the Monitor, in the Landmine and Cluster Munition Blog:

On 4 April, a Magistrate’s court in Israel awarded approximately €18,000 to a man severely injured by a cluster munition remnant in 2003. The court found that the Israeli state had failed to adequately protect the civilian from known dangers of what was once a firing range. The award included compensation for pain and suffering as well as for lost income as a result of a permanent disability.

This ruling follows other recent cases in which courts ruled in favor of the rights of victims of cluster munitions.

In November 2012, the Montenegrin court system awarded €85,000 in compensation for pain and suffering to the family members of a boy who was killed by a cluster submunition remnant in 1999. The, 17-year-old victim was killed by the submunition in a field that had been bombed the night before. The author of the report Yellow Killers and Monitor researcher Jelena Vicentic obtained the original court papers from the case that found a failure to “warn the citizens about the immediate danger to life and safety and to properly control the area in the given circumstances”

Also in November of last year, the Inter-American Court concluded its deliberations in the case known as the “Massacre of Santo Domingo” vs. Colombia. In its judgment, it found that Colombia violated the right to life of 17 civilians who died (including 6 children) and 27 others who were injured (including 9 children) following its use of cluster munitions when bombing a populated area of the country in 1998. The court also recognized other violations such as the right to special protection for children, the right to private property and the right to circulation and residency, since many residents of Santo Domingo were forced to leave their homes following the bombing.

While many of the victims had already received “no fault” compensation packages from the state, the court ordered the State to provide comprehensive reparations to the victims by publically acknowledging the incident, recognizing the suffering of the victims and ensuring comprehensive health and rehabilitative care for those victims who were injured in the bombing, as well as providing financial compensation in some cases.

These recent court decisions reinforce the norm that states hold a responsibility to protect their people from the effects of cluster munitions and their deadly remnants.  Regardless of who used the weapon, cluster munition victims’ rights and needs must be addressed. When states fail to protect, people have a right to compensation. The rights and needs of victims are also recognized within the Convention on Cluster Munitions, where assistance to victims of these weapons is an obligation. Victim assistance provisions within this Convention are the most comprehensive of any disarmament treaty and set the highest standard to be sure that these needs are met.

According to recent reporting: of at least 30 states that have responsibility for cluster munition victims, 11 are States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions: Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Chad,  Guinea-Bissau, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Montenegro, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone and five have signed, but not yet ratified the convention: Angola,  Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, and Uganda.

On Monday 15 April, Action on Armed Violence and Article 36 held a side event addressing the topics of Weapons, casualty recording and victims’ rights. Building on casualty recording as an obligation in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, this side event  explored the role of casualty recording as a basis for legal reforms regarding weapons, for armed violence reduction and as a basis for the fulfilment of the rights of victims.  It made the case for a stronger international policy movement towards improved casualty recording. Chair: Caroline Woergoetter, Counsellor (Disarmament), Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations in Geneva. Speakers: Richard Moyes,  Article 36 on casualty data, victim’s rights and controls onweapons; Serena Olgiati, Action on Armed Violence; and Loren Persi,  Monitor, on Casualty recording in the Context of the CCM.

A Technical Workshop on Victim Assistance  was also held on 15 April with the objectives of enhancing the understanding of victim assistance in the context of the CPRD and emphasizing the importance of reporting on victim assistance activities.

“Currently, in most cases, services in cluster  munition and mine affected countries are far from adequate and the highest attainable standard would seem to be beyond the life-time of survivors.” was one of the key points made in an intervention by Megan Burke, Coordinator of the Survivor Network Project and Monitor Casualty and Victim Assistance Research. “In these cases we should encourage states to report to both the CCM and the CRPD why they are not applying the highest standards in communities and what steps they are taking to reach these standards. To make this effective, survivors must be involved in both processes.”

Regarding the question of “why” States need to report on victim assistance,  the ICBL-CMC agreed that victim assistance is at the heart of the CCM and noted that reporting is in fact a legal obligation.

The Technical Workshop Cooperation and Assistance, on the same day included issues of victim assistance resource mobilization. Elke Hottentot, Victim Assistance Technical Advisor for Handicap International presented an overview and  recommendations on what countries, UN agencies and affected States could do to mobilize international resources more effectively.

During the Victim Assistance Session, on Tuesday 16 April, CMC campaigner Moaffak Al Khafaji made a statement calling for states to ensure that survivors participate in victim assistance in a free, informed and meaningful way. The majority of States Parties and signatory states where there are cluster munition victims do not have a national plan for victim assistance and must create one. He noted that there has been very little improvement in the accessibility of services in recent years, especially in remote and rural areas where many survivors are. He also called on countries with cluster munition victims, such as Cambodia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Serbia and Vietnam, to accelerate their accession to the CCM.

Read more in the CMC Summary of the sessions on Victim Assistance and Cooperation and Assistance.

Side event (Top) and CCM Intersessional Meeting Technical Workshop, Monday 15 April. Images (c) CMC

A statement presented by Paramdeep Mtharu, of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Implementation Support Unit (ISU) on the 9th Session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Geneva,  15 April 2013: read the full text here.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (Mine Ban Treaty) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) share a common agenda in that the 161 States that are part to this disarmament treaty have accepted not only that they shall eradicate anti-personnel weapons, but also that they shall provide for the well-being and guarantee the rights of women, girls, boys and men whose lives have been irreversibly changed by these insidious, indiscriminate and long-lasting remnants of war.

Paramdeep Mtharu & Professor Ron McCallum. Images: Courtesy Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention ISU

As the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay said at the Twelfth Meeting of the States Parties of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention: “when survivors of mines and other explosive devices acquire a disability they fall under the scope of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”

Based upon the experience of the implementation of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the parties to all relevant conventional weapons instruments have accepted a non-discriminatory and rights-based approach.

As the former Chair of the Committee, Professor Ron McCallum, stated in his 2011 foreword to the ISU’s publication on assisting survivors in the context of disarmament, disability and development: “the impact of international humanitarian law, starting with the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, in addressing the rights and needs of persons with disabilities should not be under-estimated.”

Organized by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)  in cooperation with the campaign AktionAufschrei – Stoppt den Waffenhandel!, activities will include lectures, panel discussions and workshops about the social and health effects of the use of small arms and the global arms trade, as well as about future activities and campaigns to stop arms exports. Hundreds of thousands of people each year are killed by small arms, with millions more injured and disabled.

The meeting will be opened by Dr. Bob Mtonga, IPPNW, Zambia—Co-President of IPPNW. On Friday 31 May 2013, Dr. Shahriar Khateri, IPPNW, Iran and Dr. Omolade Oladejo, IPPNW, Nigeria will present on how small arms production, trade and use affects health and development. Other international guests from Kenya, Nepal, Switzerland, India, Australia and the USA will share also their knowledge and know-how.

Flyer and Online registration.

See also: Armed Violence and Victim Assistance

Armed Violence and Victim Assistance, Arms Trade Treaty & Armed Violence, 

Armed Violence and Victim Assistance, Arms Trade Treaty & Armed Violence,

Armed Violence and Victim Assistance, Arms Trade Treaty & Armed Violence,

Armed Violence and Victim Assistance, Arms Trade Treaty & Armed Violence

Technical Workshops
Technical workshops will be organised on 15:00, 15 April 2013, in Geneva at the WMO. The objectives of the victim assistance workshop are as follows:

• To understand victim assistance in the context of the CPRD;
• To provide practical information on measures to implement victim assistance in the framework of implementation of the CRPD.

Images: CMC

15:00-16:30: Technical workshop Victim Assistance

Presentations on:
- “Relevance of the CRPD for States Parties of CCM”
- “How to better implement Victim Assistance within the framework of the CRPD”
- “How to integrate and maximize resources to promote victim assistance in the framework of the implementation of the CRPD” (the case of Afghanistan and Bosnia Herzegovina)
- “Reporting obligations on Victim Assistance under the CCM”

Victim assistance will also be a key focus of the workshop on Cooperation and Assistance, which has the following objectives:

• To gain a better understanding of the policies and approaches of donors towards the future funding of victim assistance and stockpile destruction;
• To identify other channels available and being utilized to support victim assistance (in addition to traditional mine action funding channels);
•  To gain a better understanding of how donor governments can ensure that they approach victim assistance from a broad perspective (medical care through to economic inclusion).

The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) administers the registration website for the CCM third Intersessional Meeting: register here.

Images: Mari Nordmo, Norwegian MFA

The ICRC warned that very little progress has been made on international assistance mechanisms for victims of nuclear weapons in situations of conflict. As things stand there is no effective way of delivering humanitarian assistance to victims of a nuclear blast. Read more in: No way to deliver assistance in the event of a nuclear explosion an interview with Gregor Malich—expert on the operational response to nuclear disasters and similar events. See also: Use of nuclear weapons: No effective relief would be possible, 28 February 2013 and  Who will assist the victims of nuclear weapons? Statement by Peter Maurer, President of the ICRC, 4 March 2013.

stop nuclear weapons

All rights get considered—including the rights of children, persons with disabilities, etc. During review sessions, countries submit a report and civil society has the opportunity to submit one or more reports as well (in advance).

A guide about how civil society can participate in this process is available from OHCHR. (see “technical guidelines”). The calendar for when country’s review sessions will be held and when reports have to be submitted is also available on that same page, or here.

NGO reports are generally due about six months before the actual review takes place. See the UPR Info website for details.

There is now a new way to submit Universal Periodic Review NGO reports, starting with the submissions for the UPR seventeenth session.  (This session will include at least three mine/ERW affected countries with survivors— Senegal, Chad and Jordan.)

A new online UPR submissions system to register contributions for the UPR documentation from UN entities and stakeholders was made available as of 4 March 2013. All future contributions for UPR documentation of countries to be reviewed should be sent to OHCHR through the on-line system.

Register your NGO.

The link to the online UPR submission system is available in the OHCHR homepage.

Also, read an interview with Claude Tardif, head of the ICRC’s physical rehabilitation programme:  War disabled: fresh commitment needed to ensure sustainable support.

In 2013, the ICRC will continue to support 12 countries that are party to the Mine Ban Convention (Afghanistan, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen). In addition, the ICRC supports the provision of services for landmine survivors in five States not party to the Convention: China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Nepal.

ICRC database on customary international humanitarian law – new update of State practice,  The following countries are included in the latest update: Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Djibouti, El Salvador, Guatemala, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Serbia, the former State of Serbia and Montenegro, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, and Viet Nam. See also: Customary IHL: Landmines

Every landmine in the ground is a threat to civilians:

Kathleen Lawand, the head of the ICRC’s Arms Unit, explains the outcome of  the 12th meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty.

The Guidelines on health-related rehabilitation will provide evidence-informed recommendations and guidance to governments and other relevant actors on how to develop, expand and improve the quality of rehabilitation services, particularly in less resourced settings, in line with the recommendations from the World report on disability.

The integration and decentralization of rehabilitation services within existing health systems will be a key focus of the Guidelines, as will addressing the issues of availability, accessibility, affordability, appropriateness, acceptability and quality of rehabilitation services.

The Guidelines are due to be published by the World Health Organization towards the end of 2014.