Contamination and Impact

Ethiopia is contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) resulting from internal and international armed conflicts dating back to 1935.[1]

Mines

The 2004 Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) in 2003–2004 identified 1,492 communities as impacted by mines and ERW in 1,916 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) across more than 2,000km². The Afar, Somali, and Tigray regions accounted for more than 80% of the impacted communities in the country.[2] The Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO) believed that the LIS had overestimated the number both of SHAs and impacted communities, citing a lack of military expertise among the survey teams as the major reason for the overestimation.[3] Subsequent resurvey confirmed 136 SHAs from the LIS and confirmed 60 other hazardous areas that were previously unrecorded, covering a total of 37.87km². Of this area, EMAO had cleared 37.31km² by June 2012; this left 560,000m² to clear.

There was a total of 1,199,636,634m²(1,200km²) remaining to re-survey from the LIS data, most of which is located in the Somali region. EMAO, however, has claimed that only some 5.9km² of this area remains to be cleared. Prior to being disbanded, EMAO was planning to clear about 3km² per year, and conclude clearance operations by the end of 2013.[4] A quality assurance and quality control process will help to ensure the requisite transparency that will allow Ethiopia to declare completion of its Article 5 survey and clearance obligations. It is not known what the Ministry of National Defense, which has taken over responsibility for mine survey and clearance, plans to do.

Ethiopia’s development plans include construction of roads, railroads, power lines, schools and other infrastructure. With the extent of the residual risk unknown but potentially significant, an appropriate mine action capacity will have to remain in place in the ministry.[5] As a result of land release, local residents have gained increased access to drinking water, firewood, and roads. New small roads and bridges were constructed in rural areas, and areas in parts of Somali region have allowed displaced persons and refugees to resettle in the areas confirmed as safe.[6]

Cluster munition remnants

It is not known if the ERW threat includes a residual threat from cluster munition remnants. In 2004, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission concluded that Eritrea had conducted four cluster munition strikes on 5 June 1998 in the vicinity of a school in Ayder, and at the airport surrounding a neighborhood in Mekele town, both in Tigray region.[7] In June 2012, the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the UN in Geneva informed Cluster Munition Monitor that cluster munition remnants “are still found in the area” around the elementary school in Ayder.[8]

Other explosive remnants of war

Ethiopia does not report on the number of recorded ERW-contaminated areas, but ERW are reported to be found throughout Ethiopia as a result of five different conflicts. In early 2011, a construction crew leveling land for a new road near Gonder discovered a stockpile of abandoned explosive ordnance in a cave dating back to the Italian occupation in the 1930s. EMAO explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams cleared the area.[9]

Mine Action Program

To address its mine and ERW contamination, in 1995 the Ethiopian government established the Ethiopian demining project as a non-combatant unit of the Ministry of National Defense. After a truce ended the conflict with Eritrea in 2000, the Council of Ministers established the civilian EMAO in February 2001 as an autonomous statutory body responsible for mine clearance and mine risk education.[10]

As of August 2012, EMAO was transferring its assets and operations to the Ministry of National Defense, which will assume responsibility for clearing the remaining mined area.[11] In 2011, the EMAO board decided that the ministry was in a better position to finish clearing the remaining mines because Ethiopia had made sufficient progress in meeting its Mine Ban Treaty obligations and the foreseeable residual problem did not warrant a structure and organization the size of EMAO. It further asserted that a civilian entity such as EMAO had difficulty accessing the unstable Somali region.[12] The ICBL believes that civilian management of mine action is typically more efficient and more transparent than military management. Furthermore, according to Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), the capacity needed to address the residual threat should not be underestimated.[13]

A 2011 GICHD study on mine action programs transitioning to national ownership had concluded that EMAO’s mandate as a mine action program was too limited because it did not include victim assistance and was not even the official focal point for mine action nationally, though it was the face of mine action in Ethiopia at international forums.[14] Despite these limitations, internal evaluations and studies have concluded EMAO was an effective operational entity for mine clearance. External evaluations have highlighted EMAO’s professionalism and approaches to problems as well as the steady progress in meeting its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 obligations.[15] At its peak, EMAO operated with six demining companies and more than 700 staff. However, as the need for manual deminers gradually diminished, by the end of 2011 there were three demining companies and 350 staff.[16] It is unknown how many demining teams the Ministry of National Defense will deploy.

EMAO, which has been nationally managed from the beginning, developed its operational capacities with technical assistance from NPA, UNDP, and UNICEF. NPA has provided technical support to EMAO since 2005.[17] EMAO developed its own quality management system and deployed quality assurance officers to each demining company to report directly to the director general of EMAO.[18]

On 31 May 2012, NPA ended its direct funding support to EMAO. It also ended its role and support of mine detection dogs (MDDs) at the Entoto Training Centre (ETC) at the end of June 2012.[19] NPA funded 52 EMAO surveys and developed an MDD capacity and has strengthened EMAO’s operational capabilities through the development of a technical survey component of a land release methodology.[20] In April 2012, NPA transferred the MDD capacity to EMAO, which in turn transferred it to the federal police.[21]

NPA also provided funding for the construction of the ETC in Oromia region near Addis Ababa, were the MDDs were sited. It is estimated that donors and NPA contributed €2.3 million (approximately $3.2 million).[22] NPA trained national MDD instructors and puppy activators (trainers), as well as accredited dog handlers. NPA also developed training manuals. In addition to the construction costs, NPA also supported operational costs, maintenance, salaries and administrative costs, as well as all costs related to MDDs.[23]

In 2011, the UNDP program advisor position was not renewed because EMAO considered it unnecessary for the projected two to three years that were thought necessary to clear the remaining mines.

Transition to the Ministry of National Defense

In June 2012, EMAO was scheduled to be closed down and the ministry was due to assume responsibility for clearing the remaining mines.[24] As of late August 2012, however, the transfer from EMAO to the Ministry of National Defense was not complete.[25] No reasons were apparent for the delay.

The Army Combat Engineers had, however, assumed management of the ETC and conducted demining training there in early 2012. On 26 April 2012, NPA transferred 49 surviving MDDs to EMAO and in June 2012 some of the MDD handlers and support staff were transferred to the federal police.[26] The MDD assets are available for quality control but it is unclear how the federal police will use the assets.

Land Release

In 2002–2011, Ethiopia cleared almost 60km², destroying in the process 9,278 antipersonnel mines and 1,266 antivehicle mines,[27] considerably less than the estimate of two million mines frequently used to describe the level of contamination at the beginning of the mine action program.[28] EMAO also canceled or released almost 597km² of land by survey.[29] According to a GICHD study on national ownership, Ethiopia has canceled or released more than 700km² through technical surveys since 2005.[30]

Despite these survey achievements, some areas have not yet been re-surveyed. For example, the 315 SHAs, representing approximately 5.9km², located mostly in the Somali region, remain to be verified.[31] Additionally, as noted above, some 1,200km² of SHAs from the LIS had not been re-surveyed as of August 2012. The Ministry of National Defense has given no indication of whether it will re-survey this area.[32]

Summary of mine clearance in 2002–2011[33]

Mine clearance in 2011

In 2011 through September, EMAO reportedly cleared 0.84km² of mined area and found 508 antipersonnel mines, 57 antivehicle mines, and 1,087 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO).[34] EMAO ended clearance operations in September 2011.[35]

As of August, Ethiopia had not reported any mine clearance for the year 2012.[36] Since the transition of the mine action program to the Ministry of National Defense, there has been no information on mine action activities; it is not clear how this information would be requested or released because the person in charge in not known.

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Ethiopia is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 June 2015.

In June 2010, at the intersessional Standing Committee meetings, Ethiopia said it would clear all mines by 2013, two years ahead of its deadline, if sufficient funding were available.[37] In December 2010, at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Ethiopia repeated this goal.[38] In May 2012, EMAO reported it needed $10 million to clear the remaining mined area; but the fact that mine action was moving to the Ministry of National Defense[39] has impeded funding because donors that support humanitarian demining through their foreign aid programs are generally constrained from providing funds to the army.

Quality management

EMAO was responsible for all quality management of demining operations.[40] The Ministry of National Defense assumed this responsibility in June 2012.

Risk Education

Risk education (RE) in Ethiopia has been carried out by different organizations. UNICEF, EMAO, the Rehabilitation and Development Organization (RADO), the Office of Rehabilitation and Social Affairs in Tigray, and the regional administrations of Afar, Somali, and Tigray have either coordinated and/or conducted RE in recent years.[41] Only EMAO conducted RE in conjunction with demining.[42]

In 2011, more than 26,000 people received RE in the Tigre, Somali and Dire Dawa regions.[43]

Casualties

Casualties Overview

The Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO) reported that there were no mine/explosive remnants of war casualties in 2011.[1] Two deminers were injured in 2010.[2]

The Addis Ababa Prosthetic Orthotic Center (POC) reported that it provided prostheses to 21 newly registered landmine survivors in 2011, but did not have information on when they were injured.[3]

There were at least 16,849 casualties (9,431 persons killed, 7,401 injured and 17 for whom the outcome was unknown) through the end of 2011. Between 2004 and the end of 2011, the Monitor identified 233 casualties (90 killed; 126 injured; 17 unknown).[4] The most complete single data source remains the Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) completed in 2004, which recorded 16,616 mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (9,341 killed; 7,275 injured).[5]

Cluster munition casualties

At least 272 casualties occurred during the use of cluster munitions in Mekele and Adigrate, Ethiopia in 1998.[6] No unexploded submunitions casualties were recorded.

Victim Assistance

Ethiopia is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims and survivors of other ERW. Ethiopia has made a commitment to victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

There are at least 7,401 known mine survivors.[7] The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Ethiopia is unknown as there is no centralized data collection; many survivors, particularly veterans, live in urban locations and in the capital which were not surveyed by the LIS.[8]

Victim assistance since 1999[9]

There was an overall gradual increase of the availability of services in rural and remote areas since 1999. However, many survivors and other persons with disabilities continued to live in poverty and far from existing facilities, which prevented them from accessing these services.

Improvements were made in health care coverage and emergency response through long-term health sector development plans linked to Ethiopia’s poverty reduction strategy. Throughout the period of victim assistance monitoring, physical rehabilitation services were limited and services were concentrated in urban areas. Most service users, particularly people with disabilities living in rural areas, had difficulty in getting to physical rehabilitation centers and had hardly any access to services. Improvements in the quality and accessibility of physical rehabilitation services were reported since 2009, though challenges in accessibility remained.

Throughout the period, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) was responsible for national coordination of the physical rehabilitation sector and for issues concerning persons with disabilities more broadly, while services were coordinated by the regional Bureaus of Labor and Social Affairs offices (BoLSA) with extensive international support, particularly from the ICRC. MoLSA’s coordination of the disability sector, including victim assistance, improved markedly since 2009 and was prioritized in the development of strategies and plans. In the period before 2009, victim assistance and disability issues were not prioritized in Ethiopia because of critical development conditions overall, poor coordination among key actors, and a lack of capacity.

Psychosocial support and economic reintegration services, mostly operated by NGOs, remained limited and were inadequate to deal with the needs of mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities. The availability of economic inclusion services was significantly reduced since 2009 due to the closure of Landmine Survivors Network/Survivor Corps Ethiopia. Funding for the activities of some national NGOs also decreased following the introduction of strict regulations on the activities of organizations which received international contributions in 2009.

Victim assistance in 2011

In 2011, the quality and accessibility of medical care continued to gradually improve. Ethiopia was in the process of building two new rehabilitation centers to address the shortage of coverage for rehabilitation and prosthetic devices. ICRC-supported centers increased the production of prostheses for mine ERW survivors, whereas the national center decreased production significantly from the previous year. There were some very small improvements in the availability of economic inclusion projects.

Assessing victim assistance needs

There was no centralized systematic data collection on mine/ERW survivors in Ethiopia. There was also an overall lack of disability-specific data, which negatively affected the inclusion of disability issues in socioeconomic planning and the implementation of programs.[10] However, in 2011, MoLSA was reorganizing data on persons with disabilities to create a centralized database. BoLSA collected information on their beneficiaries, including persons with disabilities, and from prosthetic/orthotic centers.[11] In 2012, the MoLSA established a full time data analysis unit which is assigned to facilitate data collection and the dissemination of data. The Ministry of Information, the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation and the ICRC were coordinating to develop the system; the ICRC was developing the format. In addition, MoLSA developed a plan to introduce a separate data collection system for landmine survivors. [12]

Other actors collected data on their own beneficiaries, though many reported that they did not distinguish mine/ERW survivors in the data.[13] Data collection systems in prosthetic and rehabilitation systems were basic and records were often handwritten and could not be easily shared between service providers or with state institutions.[14] Throughout 2011, the Tigray Disabled Veterans Association (TDVA) was conducting an ongoing need assessment in most woredas (districts) in the Tigray region. The TDVA compiled data on its members, veterans with disability, and their families, in order to increase the availability, quality and coverage of its services.[15]

Victim assistance coordination[16]

MoLSA is responsible for issues relating to persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors, and is the international focal point for victim assistance in the government. However, there is no single point of contact for disability issues within MoLSA. BoLSAs in each region of the country managed disability-related issues in a regional context using the MoLSA policy framework.[17] BoLSAs are responsible for coordinating both public and private services for persons with disabilities. MoLSA developed national policies with the input of the BoLSAs.[18] Other relevant ministries also have disability departments.[19]

The National Council of Persons with Disabilities was responsible for coordinating, evaluating and monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Council members were drawn from relevant ministries, NGOs, disabled peoples organizations (DPOs) and other stakeholders. The Council, chaired by MoLSA was preparing Ethiopia’s initial report for the CRPD due in June 2012.[20]

The Federation of National Association of Persons with Disabilities (FENAPD) met frequently to improve planning and implementation of activities to fulfill the rights and needs of persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors. FENAPD also held capability-building and awareness-raising workshops throughout 2011[21] MoLSA regularly consulted FENAPD members on issues relating to the needs of persons with disabilities. [22]

There are three national strategic plans relevant to victim assistance: the Growth and Transformation Plan 2010/11–2014/15, the National Plan of Action on Disability 2010–2020, and a five-year National Physical Rehabilitation Strategy. During 2011, a plan of action for practical implementation of the National Physical Rehabilitation Strategy was drafted.[23] The National Physical Rehabilitation Strategy was included in the National Social Welfare Policy in 2010.[24] The National Social Welfare Policy was seen as a key overarching document to build sustainable services at local levels for persons with disabilities in the long term.[25]

Ethiopia provided updates with progressively more detail, as compared with previous years, on victim assistance activities within the national disability framework at the meeting of the Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration in May 2012, but not at the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in December 2011. As of 1 July 2012, Ethiopia had not submitted its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reporting for calendar year 2011.[26]

Participation and inclusion in victim assistance

Organizations representing persons with disabilities were included in coordination activities of the MoLSA and the newly formed National Council of Persons with Disabilities.[27] In 2011 there was some progress in the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations on issues relevant to them. It was still generally believed that not enough had been done to ensure active participation of persons with disabilities and that, in the future, persons with disabilities and their representative organizations need to be consulted more and be more actively involved in decision-making processes at all levels.[28]

Survivors and other persons with disabilities were included in the implementation of services by many NGOs and DPOs.[29] Mine/ERW survivors were not included on delegations at international meetings in 2011.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[30]

There continued to be gradual improvement in healthcare services in 2011. The medical service directorate of the Ministry of Health started planning to strengthen the basic level or key areas of rehabilitative care that could be feasible in the Ethiopian hospital setting.[31]

Ethiopia continued to lack enough physical rehabilitation centers to meet demand, though new centers were being developed. According to the country’s Growth and Transformation Plan (for the period 2010/11-2014/15) there was a need to increase the number of prosthetic and orthotic centers from 13 to 16 to expand coverage of services for persons with disabilities. Based on the plan, two new centers were being established in Benshanguel and Gambella in 2011. Another new center, which was not in the plan, was also established in Oromia. The government provided devices, parts, components and technical support to the nascent centers.[32] The ICRC continued its support for seven of 13 physical rehabilitation centers in Ethiopia. The ICRC donated materials and components to centers operated by national partners MoLSA/BoLSAs, TDVA, Arba Minch Rehabilitation Centre, and CSE.[33]

In 2011, the number of prostheses delivered for mine/ERW survivors by ICRC-supported rehabilitation centers increased by 20% compared to 2010; the centers continued to improve wheelchair production in cooperation with the NGO Motivation.[34] The Addis Ababa POC, the largest and the oldest center in the country, improved the quality of orthotic devices, wheelchair production, and physiotherapy for persons with disabilities, including mine survivors in 2011. However, prosthetic devices delivered to mine/ERW survivors decreased by two thirds compared to 2010 and overall supply decreased by 44%.[35] The coverage of the POC’s prosthetics service decreased since 2010 due to the establishment of additional orthopedic workshops in Ethiopia that also supply prosthetic appliances.[36]

The National Rehabilitation Center of Addis Ababa University, administrated by the Orthopedic Department of Tikur Anbessa (Black Lion) Hospital, provided surgical treatment as well as some prosthetic and physical rehabilitation services.[37] The ICRC, with MoLSA, continued to provide a state-accredited multi-year course in prosthetics and orthotics at the Tikur Anbessa Hospital.[38] Handicap International (HI) continued a project which began in December 2010 to improve rehabilitation by including physiotherapy in prosthetic-orthotic centers in five hospitals.[39]

Some improvements in the quality of economic inclusion and psychological assistance for mine/ERW survivors were reported. However, the need for services remained far greater than the support and assistance available. There were few employment or training opportunities for persons with disabilities or centers that offered physically accessible facilities. Mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities found loans and micro-credit services difficult to access as they were seen as a “high risk group” by the financial institutions providing loans.[40] The national NGO Recognize Our Disability continued to seek support in developing a work-skills training center for persons with disabilities on land allocated by the local government in Addis Ababa.[41] The Ethiopian Women with Disability National Association (EWDNA) completed the construction of a bakery as an income-generating project for its members.[42]

Ethiopia had at least nine community-based rehabilitation programs.[43] However, these programs provided very limited support to mine/ERW survivors due to lack of appropriate funding.[44]

The Charities and Societies Proclamation of February 2009 prohibited national NGOs from engaging in advocacy on human rights issues, including promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, if they registered to receive more than 10% of their funding from foreign sources. In 2011, DPOs which chose to continue advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities struggled to raise funds for basic activities. Due to a lack of finances, these organizations were often unable to continue services that they had previously provided directly to beneficiaries. Organizations adversely affected included EWDNA, the Ethiopian National Association of the Physically Handicapped, and the Ethiopian National Association for the Deaf and Blind.[45]

Some of these organizations left the national disability association umbrella body, FENAPD, choosing to not receive international funding in favor of maintaining their role in rights advocacy. The division created among DPOs had reportedly weakened FENAPD “which was only beginning to emerge as a strong disability voice in the country.”[46] FENAPD continued to promote the CRPD and work on disability rights issues without legal interference, despite the legislative changes.[47] MoLSA provided some funding for FENAPD and for the annual budgets of those national DPOs which can receive only 10% foreign funding.[48] The TDVA noted positive modifications made to the directives issued by the charities and societies agency in 2011.[49]

The Proclamation on the Right to Employment of Persons with Disabilities prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of disability and also makes employers responsible for providing appropriate working conditions. According to the legislation, if the conditions of reasonable accommodation are not met, that constitutes discrimination.[50]

People with disabilities often faced serious negative societal attitudes and were made to feel that they are not useful citizens. Such discrimination prevented people with disabilities from being considered as principal beneficiaries of basic social services at community or Kebele (district) level.[51] Women with disabilities were more disadvantaged than men in employment and education. Employment legislation specifically recognized the additional difficulties faced by women with disabilities.[52] Ethiopia has a good legal framework to promote the rights of persons with disabilities. However, appropriate structures, technical skills, and a budget for fulfilling the needs of persons with disabilities still needed to be created.[53]

Most buildings in Ethiopia were not accessible for persons with disabilities; physical barriers prevented people from accessing education, public offices, and many public services. Regulations exist which require that new public buildings have an accessible entrance and accessible bathroom facilities; it does not apply to buildings constructed before the introduction of the regulation.[54] In 2011, a memorandum of understanding was developed between MoLSA and the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction to create a mechanism and standards for implementation of the Building Proclamation, including physical accessibility and collaboration with national associations of persons with disabilities.[55] The two ministries also established a technical committee which developed terms of reference for the future implementation of activities throughout the country. [56]

Ethiopia ratified the CRPD on 7 July 2010.