Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 7 September 2010. It became a State Party on 1 March 2011.

National legislative measures to implement and enforce the Convention on Cluster Munitions are being considered.[1]

BiH submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report on 20 August 2011, covering calendar year 2010. It provided an annual updated Article 7 report on 4 May 2012, covering calendar year 2011.

BiH actively participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, making strong contributions based on its experience as a country affected by cluster munitions and declaring a national moratorium on cluster munition use prior to the conclusion of the process.[2]

BiH continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2011 and the first half of 2012. BiH participated in the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, with a delegation that included a cluster munition survivor. During the meeting, BiH made several statements on subjects such as clearance, victim assistance, and stockpile destruction, and emphasized its full support of the implementation of the ban convention as both a former producer and victim of cluster munitions.[3] At the meeting, BiH was named co-coordinator on victim assistance together with Austria.

At the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012, BiH co-chaired the session on victim assistance and made statements on clearance, stockpile destruction, and the retention of cluster munitions.

In August and September 2011, BiH civil society groups commemorated the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions with an art exhibit and sporting activities, including a sitting volleyball tournament in Doboj. [4]

BiH is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Interpretive issues

In July 2011, the head of the department of conventional weapons of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Ministry’s views on a number of issues important for the interpretation and implementation of the convention. On the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations or “interoperability,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that, “under the same Article 21, para 3, we may engage in joint military operations with non-states Parties that might engage in activities prohibited by the Convention, however our personnel or nationals should not provide assistance with activities prohibited by the Convention.”[5]

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the “transit of cluster munitions across, or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the national territory of States Parties is prohibited by the Convention.”[6] The Ministry, however, noted that it does not have “access to or information on weapon types” stockpiled in European Union Force (EUFOR) military bases “on our territory.”[7]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also stated that it considers “investment in the production of cluster munitions to be prohibited.”[8]

Convention on Conventional Weapons

BiH is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

BiH attended the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in Geneva in November 2011, but did not make any statements in its national capacity to express its views on the chair’s draft text of the proposed CCW protocol on cluster munitions. On the final day of the conference, BiH did not join a group of 50 states that issued a joint declaration declaring that there was no consensus on the protocol, which would have allowed for the continued use of cluster munitions.[9]

The Review Conference concluded without agreement on a protocol and there was no proposal for further negotiations in 2012, thus concluding the CCW work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, and transfer

Yugoslav forces and non-state armed groups used available stocks of cluster munitions during the 1992–1995 war. The various entity armies inherited cluster munitions during the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 

BiH has acknowledged that it produced cluster munitions for a period of 11 years and stated in 2007 that production had ceased.[10] In its initial Article 7 report, under “status and progress of programmes for conversion or decommissioning of production facilities,” BiH reported, “There are no production facilities for CM [Cluster Munitions] in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”[11]

BiH produced KB-1 and KB-2 submunitions for the Orkan multi-barrel rocket system and artillery and mortar projectiles.[12] The production capacity included the ability to manufacture KB-series submunitions and integrate them into carrier munitions such as artillery projectiles and rockets.[13] According to Jane’s Information Group, the Ministry of Defense has produced the 262mm M-87 Orkan rocket, with each rocket containing 288 KB-1 dual purpose submunitions.[14] Jane’s also lists BiH Armed Forces as possessing KPT-150 dispensers (which deploy submunitions) for aircraft.[15]

Stockpiling

BiH once possessed a stockpile of 445 cluster munitions and 148,059 submunitions. In its initial Article 7 transparency report provided in August 2011, BiH listed a stockpile of 441 cluster munitions and 147,967 submunitions, of which 429 cluster munitions of three types containing 64,511 submunitions were “in possession of Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and intended for destruction.”[16] In addition, BiH declared 12 M-87 Orkan 262mm rockets with 78,641 submunitions for this weapon system, and another 4,815 KB-1 and KB-2 submunitions. [17]

In April 2012, BiH informed States Parties that it had discovered four more M-93 120mm mortar projectiles containing 92 submunitions following the initial completion of its stockpile destruction.[18]

Cluster munitions stockpiled by BiH[19]

Destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, BiH was required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2019. In April 2012, a BiH official announced that the country’s stockpile destruction program had been “completed” by the end of 2011.[20]

According to BiH’s initial Article 7 report (August 2011), the 12 M-87 Orkan 262mm rockets were destroyed through disassembly, delaboration, and burning, while a total of 74,721 KB-1 submunitions were destroyed through disassembly and destruction. The destruction took place at two locations on 20 May and 30 June 2011.[21]

According to BiH’s second Article 7 report (April 2012), the 52 M-93 120mm mortar projectiles, 56 M-87 262mm rockets, and 321 BL-755 bombs were destroyed at the Glamoč training ground. In April 2012, BiH stated that the three types of stockpiled cluster munitions were destroyed between August and December 2011 by “open delaboration” at a cost of approximately $850,000, with financial assistance provided by the UNDP.[22]

In April 2012, BiH stated that the four M-93 120mm mortar projectiles were found after the completion of its destruction program and would be “destroyed accordingly.”[23]

Retention

In April 2012, BiH informed States Parties that the “Armed Forces of B-H [BiH] do not intend to keep any cluster munitions for training or research purposes.”[24]

 

Contamination and Impact

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is heavily contaminated with mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster munition remnants, primarily as a result of the 1992–1995 conflict related to the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Mines

The parties to the conflict placed mines extensively along confrontation lines to block troop movements and around strategic facilities, but because front lines moved frequently, contamination is extensive and generally of low density.[1]

Most minefields are in the zone of separation between BiH’s two political entities—the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS)—which is 1,100km long and up to 4km wide, but mines were placed throughout the country in all types of soil and vegetation. In southern and central BiH, mines were often used randomly, with few records kept. Some of the affected territory is mountainous or heavily forested, but the fertile agricultural belt in Brčko district is one of the most heavily contaminated areas.[2]

The BiH Mine Action Center (BHMAC) reported that at the end of 2011 BiH had some 1,340km² of suspected hazardous areas (SHAs), equivalent to 2.6% of BiH’s territory.[3] This is still significantly more than the level of contamination (1,183km²) projected in BiH’s Article 5 deadline extension request.[4] The total suspected area comprised 286km² of priority category I areas, 360km² of category II areas, and 694km² of category III areas.[5]

BHMAC’s database holds records of 19,181 minefields in 10,236 suspected locations and it estimates that this represents only 60% of the real number.[6] Most minefields have a small number of mines, often laid individually or without any pattern. Even where records exist, many do not show exact locations of either minefields or individual mines.[7] By the start of 2012, BHMAC estimated some 200,000 mines remained to be cleared, 10,000 less than in the end of 2010.[8]

A general assessment, completed by BHMAC in 2008 to prepare the request for an extension of BiH’s Article 5 deadline for clearance, identified 1,631 mine/ERW impacted communities, up from 1,366 in a 2003 Landmine Impact Survey (LIS). The assessment estimated that mines/ERW directly affect 921,513 people, including 154,538 in high-impacted communities, 342,550 in medium-impacted, and 424,425 in low-impacted communities. Of the total number of impacted communities, 122 or 8% were high-impacted; 625 or 38% medium-impacted; and 884 or 54% low-impacted. On this basis, BiH remains one of the world’s most mine-affected countries.[9]

BHMAC reports that BiH’s urban areas are relatively safe compared with rural areas where people depend economically on contaminated land. Two-thirds of those affected are returnees, most of whom are living in villages.[10]

BHMAC planned to conduct a new general assessment in 2012 to provide the basis for a revision of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Strategy 2009–2019 in accordance with its stated objectives.[11]

Cluster munition remnants

BiH is contaminated with cluster munition remnants, primarily as a result of the 1992–1995 conflict related to the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Former Yugoslav aircraft dropped BL 755 cluster bombs in the early stages of the war and there are indications NATO forces used them subsequently in Republika Srpska.[12]

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) completed the first phase of a general survey of the extent and impact of cluster munitions contamination in June 2011. The survey identified two main types of cluster munitions: the air-delivered BL 755 and R262 projectiles fired from Orkan M-87 multiple rocket launchers, which contained Mk-1, Mk-3, or KB-1 submunitions, and the contamination from improvised bombs using KB-1 submunitions.[13]

The survey identified 140 areas hit by air strikes and artillery with an estimated total of 3,774 submunitions, as well as additional contamination around a former ammunition factory at Pretis that was hit by a NATO air strike, scattering submunitions in the surrounding area. It identified 669 SHA polygons covering a total of 12.18km², of which 3.23km² is believed to be high risk. Some 5km² is contaminated by artillery-delivered submunitions and 3.9km² by BL 755s and 3.1km² by KB-1 submunition remnants. The survey found several previously unidentified areas affected by submunitions resulting in a significantly higher estimate of contamination.[14]

SHAs were found in 39 municipalities, but 43% of the total SHA was concentrated in just the seven municipalities of Bužim, Cazin, Gornji, Tešanj, Travnik, Vakuf, and Vareš, with a total population of more than 226,660 inhabitants. Total cluster munition casualties recorded in BiH between 1992 and 2010 amounted to 42 people killed and a further 181 injured. Agricultural land and forest make up more than 82% of the total SHA and land needed for housing and reconstruction for another 15%.[15]

Other explosive remnants of war

In addition to scattered unexploded ordnance (UXO) in suspected mined areas, BiH has an area of more than 1km² in the vicinity of Zunovica, Hadzici, where a Yugoslav National Army barracks and ammunition storage area was bombed in 1995. The type of contamination remaining had not been identified as of December 2011.[16]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The Demining Commission under the BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communication supervises the state-wide BHMAC and represents BiH in its relations with the international community on mine-related issues. The Demining Commission’s three members, representing BiH’s three ethnic groups, propose the appointment of BHMAC senior staff for approval by the Council of Ministers, report to the Council on mine action, approve the accreditation of demining organizations, and facilitate cooperation between the FBiH and RS. The Demining Commission mobilizes funds for mine action in cooperation with the Board of Donors, which includes the embassies of donor governments, the European Commission (EC), the UN, and the International Trust Fund to Enhance Human Security (ITF).[17] Members of the Demining Commission are from three ministries: Ministry of Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Internal Affairs.[18]

BHMAC, established by the Decree of the Council of Ministers in 2002, is responsible for regulating mine action and implementing BiH’s demining plan, including accreditation of all mine action organizations.[19] BHMAC operates from its headquarters in Sarajevo and through two entity mine action offices—formerly autonomous Entity Mine Action Centers—and eight regional offices. The two entity offices coordinate the activities of regional offices in planning, survey, and quality control/assurance. Quality assurance inspectors are based in the regional offices. In 2011, BHMAC coordinated the work of 36 accredited demining organizations.[20]

Strategic Mine Action Plan

BHMAC completed a general assessment of mine action in February 2008 and used the results, together with plans for finances, operations, and resources, as the basis for a new BiH Mine Action Strategy 2009–2019.[21]

The assessment called for a revision of national mine action legislation in order to:

^·          Establish stable and continuous funding of mine action from the government and local authority budgets;

^·          Develop responsibility in local governments for mine action with a focus on planning and prioritizing, risk education (RE), and measures prohibiting movement of ERW;

^·          Criminalize the destruction or removal of mine warning signs; and improve the status of deminers.[22]

However, a draft law prepared by the Ministry of Civil Affairs with support from BHMAC and UNDP and submitted to parliament in February 2010 had not been enacted by the end of 2011. Parliament did not pass the draft law in May 2010, as had been expected, but sent it back to the Legislation Commission for amendment.[23] However, a parliamentary election took place in October 2010 and a new government was not established until March 2011 and has yet to take action on the draft.[24]

The BiH Mine Action Strategy 2009–2019 sets the target of becoming free of mines by 2019 and identifies seven “strategic goals”, including “elimination” of the mine threat, funding, RE, victim assistance, technical development and research, and advocacy. It plans three revisions of the strategy in 2012, 2015, and 2017.[25]

BiH identifies three categories of hazard: (1) areas used by the local population, land that is used occasionally, and locations with resources required for economic development; (2) locations that are used occasionally or are located on the edge of first priority hazards; and (3) remote areas along former confrontation lines, without known minefields but with possible ERW, and unused by the local population.[26]

The first and second categories are to be released through clearance and general and technical survey, supported by permanent marking and RE. The third category of hazard will be dealt with by permanent marking, RE for local communities, and the introduction of a law imposing penalties for trespass on marked and fenced land.[27]

Under the Mine Action Strategy 2009–2019, plans for demining, prepared by demining organizations and endorsed by BHMAC, are then submitted to municipal authorities (instead of community authorities) for final approval. BHMAC also continues to prepare demining and technical survey tasks.[28] BiH Armed Forces and Civil Protection agencies submitted their strategies to BHMAC in February 2009, confirming they are in compliance with the national mine action strategy.[29]

In the first three years of implementing the Mine Action Strategy 2009−2019, humanitarian demining operators achieved only about 50% of plan targets. BHMAC identifies funding shortfalls as the main challenge, particularly funding from local government bodies, including municipalities and state-owned companies.[30]

Land Release

BiH reported releasing a total of 102.62km² of SHA during 2011, 70% of the target for the year. An area of 3.13km² was cleared through manual, machine, and dog-supported clearance by 22 demining organizations. A total of 99.5km² was cancelled as a result of general (6.79km²) or “systematic”[31] (83.14km²) surveys, or released by technical surveys (9.56km²). Even though clearance results in 2011 were 33% higher than in 2010, it still only represents 34% of that called for by the annual work plan.[32]

Five-year summary of clearance

Survey in 2011

BiH has conducted general, systematic, and technical survey since 1998 in order to improve the low quality of minefield records in BiH. The Mine Action Strategy 2009–2019 calls for completing general survey by 2012 in order to provide a basis for revising the mine action strategy.[33]

In 2011, BHMAC had 44 surveyors deployed in 22 survey teams and eight planning officers deployed in its regional offices for the operations of general and systematic survey and urgent marking.[34] NPA continues to be the only organization that supports BHMAC in land release through general survey and preparing tasks for technical survey and clearance (by defining the boundaries of risk areas). NPA had 16 surveyors in eight teams working from BHMAC offices in Banja Luka, Bihac, Brčko, Mostar, Pale, and Travnik.[35]

In 2011, BHMAC survey teams and NPA surveyed a total of 201.48km² through systematic and general survey. Out of this, 83.14km² were cancelled as a result of systematic survey. Within 118.34km² of general surveyed areas across 1,799 locations, 6.79km² or 419 locations were cancelled as areas without identified risk. The remaining 111.55km² has been earmarked for future technical survey and clearance. Of the total 93.8km² of land that was surveyed for the first time, 3.67km² was identified as hazardous area, leading to the preparation of 168 clearance tasks; 35.98km² was earmarked for technical survey in 484 projects. The area of 21.55km² with 108 projects is earmarked for the second phase of technical survey and 32.6km² is a subject to permanent marking.[36]

NPA conducted the first phase of a non-technical survey of cluster munition contaminated areas in the first half of 2011, identifying SHAs affecting 79 communities in 39 municipalities and covering a total of 12.18km². Further non-technical survey conducted in the municipalities of Ljubuški and Široki Brijeg in November–December resulted in the preparation for technical survey and clearance of three confirmed hazardous areas covering a total of 234,990m².[37]

Mine clearance in 2011

Demining operations by 22 organizations resulted in manual clearance of 3.13km² in 2011, more than the previous year but still only one-third of the year’s target. A further 9.56km² was released by technical survey in 2011, slightly more than in 2010 (9.39km²) but less than half (44%) the planned level. Operators conducted 276 tasks (145 technical survey and 131 clearance tasks) releasing a total area of 12.69km², 41% of the planned amount. In the process, they destroyed a total of 1,816 antipersonnel mines, 389 antivehicle mines and 5,346 items of UXO. Of the cleared area, 70% supported economic activity, 11% was infrastructure, and 10% was housing land.[38] The average number of mines found per acre was seven.[39]

 Although 22 demining organizations were active in 2011, BiH had 36 accredited demining operators at the end of the year, including five governmental organizations (Armed Forces, FBiH Civil Protection Agency, Republic Office for Civil Protection, Brčko District Civil Protection Agency, and the BiH Mine Detection Dog Center) as well as 18 NGOs and 13 commercial organizations.[40]

Accredited demining organizations at the end of 2011 had 1,350 deminers and management personnel with demining licenses (159 less than at the end of 2010), 58 mine detection dog teams with 72 dogs available, 1,311 metal detectors, and 39 demining machines, including 26 machines for soil digging, six machines for removing vegetation, and seven machines for removal of debris.[41]

Mine clearance in 2011[42]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the 10-year extension request granted in 2008), BiH is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2019.

BiH’s Mine Action Strategy 2009–2019 provides for completing clearance within BiH’s extended Article 5 deadline but it has consistently fallen behind the land release targets set out in its extension request (see table below). In 2011, although manual clearance accelerated, the gap widened between overall land release targets and results.

Article 5 land release targets and results

BHMAC informed Landmine Monitor in March 2012 that it was in the process of reviewing performance and revising the 2009–2019 strategy.[43] BHMAC attributes the gap between targets and achievement mainly to shortages of financing and slow tendering processes. It reported that funding by the state budget and international donors largely met or exceeded targets in 2011, but financing from local sources, including municipalities and state-owned companies, did not increase financial support for mine action as projected. BHMAC said demining operators had sufficient capacity to implement its plans but there was insufficient funding to employ them throughout the year.[44]

From the start of its mine action program in 1996 through 2011, BiH reduced its suspected area from 4,200km² to 1,340km², cancelling or releasing 2,860km². In its Article 5 extension request submitted in 2008, BiH estimated that by the start of the 2013 it would have 1,004km² of suspected contaminated land remaining.[45] BiH would need to release 336km² in 2012 to reach this target, more than three times the amount of land released in 2011.[46]

Clearance of cluster munition contaminated areas in 2011

No cluster munition clearance task was undertaken in 2011.[47] Three organizations – N&N IVSA, UXB Balkans and FBIH Civil Protection – cleared 59 submunitions from areas totaling 85,256m² in the course of mine clearance operations (see Mine clearance above).[48]

Compliance with Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, BiH is required to destroy all cluster munition remnants in areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2021. The government has not assigned responsibility for clearing cluster munitions, but NPA is supporting BHMAC in deciding how to address the problem.[49]

BHMAC has updated national standards for mines/UXO clearance, adding a chapter (No. 16) on cluster munitions clearance. It also developed standing operating procedures for general survey of areas affected by cluster munitions.[50]

Quality management

BHMAC has 12 quality assurance (QA) inspectors and 28 QA officers who are responsible for monitoring and quality control (QC) of the demining process.[51] BHMAC QA/QC inspectors performed 4,718 inspections in 2011, 59% of what was planned, including 4,524 inspections of 343 demining tasks and representing an average of 13 inspections per demining task. They issued 45 decisions, three forbidding further work on demining tasks, 12 suspending demining authorization, and 30 requiring operators to repeat the demining task.[52]

QC inspectors conducted quality control of 47 projects from the 2011 priority task list, and the first phase of general survey of suspected cluster-munition-contaminated areas.[53]

In the course of renewing accreditations or conducting annual checks on 14 accredited operators, inspectors tested 343 metal detectors, of which 26 were found to be not functioning correctly. Inspectors also tested 110 mine detection dog teams belonging to 13 organizations, passing 104 teams and failing six.[54]

Safety of demining personnel

Two deminers were killed and two injured in three incidents during 2011.[55] A deminer of the NGO Pazi Mine was killed by a PROM-1 mine during clearance in June 2011.[56] A deminer working for Stop Mines was killed in August 2011 when he fell from a cliff during a marking operation. Two Federal Civil Protection deminers were slightly injured in September 2011 when they unintentionally entered the minefield while turning their vehicle around and detonated a PMA-1 antivehicle mine. [57]

Since 1996, a total of 113 deminers have been involved in demining incidents, including 46 killed.[58]

Other Risk Reduction Measures

A total of 23 demining and RE organizations conducted 104 permanent marking projects, covering a total area of 24.63km² and representing 75% of the plan target. This was done in accordance with a prohibition imposed on entering land designated as category III, unused by local inhabitants and suspected as having residual mine contamination. Operators set up a total number of 2,349 individual mine warning signs in the course of these tasks, less than half (47%) the number planned, as well as 52 billboards with mine situation information.[59] Another 13,543 warning signs were put up by accredited RE organizations during mine RE activities and by BHMAC during systematic and general survey.[60]

In West-Herzegovina and Una-Sana Canton 42 urgent marking signs were placed by RE organizations during 2011 around suspected cluster-munition-contaminated areas. It is estimated that 12,530 people in BiH are directly affected by cluster munitions.[61]

Risk Education

Eight organizations implemented a total of 20 mine/cluster munition/other explosive remnants of war RE projects in 2011, reaching 26,307 persons.[62]

 

Casualties Overview

Details and trends

In 2011, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Center (BHMAC) reported 22 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).[1] The 2011 casualties represented a significant increase from the 14 mine/ERW casualties recorded for 2010. As in 2010, all casualties were adults; one was a woman and the others were men including four casualties among deminers in three accidents. There were also four deminer casualties in three demining accidents in 2010 and three accidents in 2009.[2] Most casualties in recent years were reported to have occurred in marked areas, though several were not in 2011.

Included in the 2011 total was a Slovenian tourist injured after accidently paragliding into a minefield with his companions, near the former Olympic ski resort Jahorina.[3] Six railway workers were injured near Doboj, in a part of the railway thought to be safe, in a single incident by a mine or unknown explosive item.[4]

A man was killed by an antipersonnel mine while working on his land in Modriča municipality, where he had already been injured in a mine incident in 2009. On both occasions the area was reported to have been marked with warning signs.[5] It was not reported if demining had taken place on the parcel of land since the first incident, however a demining team was required to clear the way to remove the body.[6]

Although the 22 casualties recorded in 2011 was 57% higher than in 2010, it represented a continuing decrease in annual casualties from all other years including 2009 (28 casualties) and 2008 (62 casualties).[7]

BHMAC recorded a total of 7,981 mine/ERW casualties (1,662 killed; 6,317 survivors; two unknown) for the period 1992–2011. From 1997 to the end of 2011, BMAC recorded 113 casualties among humanitarian deminers.[8]

Cluster munition casualties

BiH reported having identified 231 cluster munition casualties (43 killed; 188 injured) for the period 1992–April 2012. Most of these casualties were killed or injured during the war, but it was not reported how many of these casualties occurred during strikes or from unexploded submunitions. [9] At least 86 casualties during cluster munitions strikes were identified in BiH in 1995.[10]

Victim Assistance

BiH is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims and survivors of other ERW. BiH has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Conventional Weapons Amended Protocol II and Protocol V, and has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

There were at least 6,317 mine/ERW survivors in BiH by the end of 2011.[11]

Victim assistance since 1999[12]

From 1999-2004, most victim assistance targeting mine/ERW survivors was provided by international NGOs without adequate coordination, often resulting in unsystematic service provision. As post-conflict funding for NGO efforts began to wane after 2004, so did the international support for victim assistance. In 2009, a centralized database on survivors was developed from data provided by national and international NGOs, but the final database was found to be incomplete and inconsistent.

Medical assistance has been adequate since 2004 despite a dependence on international aid as a result of the conflict. Improvements have mainly been made in emergency response services, again due to international donor contributions. During the period, the quality of physical rehabilitation services remained variable, but overall satisfactory, despite incomplete rehabilitation teams, a lack of personnel trained to international standards, and a complex bureaucracy.

Government capacity to finance rehabilitation services has improved since 1999. State-run social centers and a network of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) centers created since 1998 provided psychosocial support as well as physical rehabilitation. These continued to endure a lack of capacity and community awareness. NGOs also provided this type of support.

Persistent gaps in economic reintegration remained during the entire period, partly due to high unemployment in general and unemployment of persons with disabilities at around 85%. Almost all of the economic reintegration activities were carried out by NGOs. However, the two entity governments introduced specific funds for persons with disabilities in 2007 and in 2011. Disability legislation existed but was not sufficiently enforced. Services for disabled military persons and pensioners were better than those for civilians.  

Victim assistance in 2011

A decrease in all services provided by NGOs continued in 2011, mainly linked with the ongoing decline in international funding.

Assessing victim assistance needs

The national database maintained by BHMAC includes a survivor needs assessment compiled in 2009. Data was available for use by victim assistance service providers on request.[13] Some data on cluster munitions victims is lacking detailed information on aid received, their age and sex, their needs, as well as their education, occupation, employment, and family members.[14]

Victim assistance coordination[15]

Coordination through the Landmine Victim Assistance (LMVA) Working Group, hosted by BHMAC, primarily consisted of briefings by victim assistance actors and information sharing. The main tasks of the LMVA Working Group were to promote the needs of survivors and to coordinate the implementation of those victim assistance projects which received international donor funding. Three meetings were held in 2011, as well as several bilateral meetings.[16] The Victim Assistance Sub-Strategy 2009–2019 did not contain measurable or time-bound goals and objectives for monitoring.[17]

BiH reported on victim assistance at the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Lebanon in September 2011 and at intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva in 2012, as well as in its Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 reporting for calendar year 2011.[18] BiH did not attend the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties of the Mine Ban Treaty in 2011.

Participation and inclusion in victim assistance

Mine/ERW survivors and their representative organizations were included in the LMVA Working Group and survivors were included in the implementation of services through NGOs.[19]

A survivor was included in the delegation of BiH at the intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty in June 2012, and at the second meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in September 2011, but not at the intersessional meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva in June 2012.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[20]

The national NGO Landmine Survivors Initiatives (LSI) reached all newly injured survivors and the families of those killed in mine incidents in 2011, assessed their needs, and provided assistance.[21] No change was reported in the availability or quality of physical rehabilitation or the supply of prostheses during the year.

A law entitled Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities in the Federation of BiH was passed in February 2010 that allows for a specific fund to support the law’s implementation. The fund was in the process of being established in 2011.[22] Implementation of legislation ensuring the right to employment for persons with disabilities in the Federation of BiH was slow.[23] Implementation of the legislation entitled Republika Srpska Law on Professional Rehabilitation, Training and Employment, established in 2005, remained limited; only a small number of persons with disabilities were employed in 2011.[24]

During 2011, as in past years, there remained clear discrimination between different categories of persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities resulting from military service during the 1992–1995 conflict were given a privileged status above civilian war victims and persons who were born with disabilities.[25] The Federation of BiH adopted a strategy for people with disabilities (2010–2014) and Republika Srpska implemented a strategy for persons with disabilities (2010–2015). However, entitlements to rights and benefits for disabled persons were not based on needs and some persons with disabilities did not receive adequate financial benefits.[26]

BiH has legislation to ensure physical access to persons with disabilities. In the Federation of BiH, the law mandated that all public buildings must be retrofitted to provide access by mid-2011 and new buildings must also be accessible. In practice, however, buildings were rarely accessible to persons with disabilities, including several government buildings. Republika Srpska had comparable laws for public accessibility, but few older public buildings were accessible.[27] Persons with disabilities faced poor recognition of their rights and needs for accessibility. In late 2011, authorities organized a workshop proposing strategies and projects on employment for persons with disabilities, which was held in a venue that was not accessible to wheelchair users.[28]

BiH ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 12 March 2010. Implementation of the CRPD was weak during 2011.[29]

 

Support for Mine Action

Since 2007, the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has contributed almost half (48%) of its mine action budget while international assistance has contributed just over half (52%). In 2011, it contributed BAM20.6 million (some US$14.7 million).[1] In its Article 5 deadline extension request in 2008, BiH committed to providing $20.6 million per year in 2009 and 2010 and raising another $33 million from other local sources.[2] It has not achieved these goals by a large margin.

National funding in BiH in 2011 came from 20 local sources including the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), the Ministry of Defense, the Bosnian Serb Republic (República Srpska, RS), the Brčko district, state utility companies, the state railway, and seven municipalities. The seven municipalities each provided funds to ITF Enhancing Human Security (formerly the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance; hereinafter, ITF) as matching funds against international contributions for projects in the respective municipality.[3] The FBiH budget allocates funds to the BiH Mine Action Center (BHMAC) and the army, while cantons contribute to Civil Protection Agency demining operations. In the Brčko district and the RS funding also goes through the local Civil Protection Agency.[4]

BiH reported that in January–September 2011 it allocated BAM18 million (more than US$12.8 million) to mine victims and other civilian victims of war according to the Law on Social Protection, Protection of Civilian Victims of War and Families with Children.[5]

National contributions: 2011[6]

Summary of national contributions in 2007–2011[7]

In 2011, international contributions towards mine action in BiH totaled US$12.6 million, a slight increase on the previous year.[8] The largest contributions were from Norway (NOK20.2 million/$3.6 million) and the United States (US) ($3.18 million). BHMAC reported receiving $1.97 million from the European Commission (EC) in Sarajevo.[9] The contributions from Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Norway, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, and the US all went through the ITF.[10]

International contributions: 2011[11]

Summary of contributions in 2007–2011 (US$)[12]