Egypt

Last Updated: 29 October 2014

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Casualties Overview

All known casualties by end 2013	Estimated to be over 8,000
Casualties in 2013	69 (2012: 46)
2013 casualties by outcome	20 killed; 49 injured (2011: 41 killed; 5 injured)
2013 casualties by device type	21 antipersonnel mine; 36 undefined mine types; 12 ERW

In 2013, the Monitor identified 69 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in Egypt. All of the casualties were male; civilian casualties included 28 men and nine boys. Of the total, 37 casualties were civilians and 32 were military.[1]

The 69 casualties identified in 2013 represented a significant increase from the 46 mine/ERW casualties recorded in Egypt in 2012, when only one military casualty was recorded.[2]

In 2013, at least two incidents took place near the Libyan border in the Matruh governorate and involved migrants, one person from Syria and a Sudanese national, having crossed the border illegally.[3] Furthermore, the number of casualties having occurred in the Sinai region (North and South Sinai) has greatly increased compared to previous years, with 33 casualties in 2013 as opposed to five in 2012 and two in 2011. Most of these casualties were military and 69% of all military casualties occurred in the Sinai region.

Several sources have estimated the total number of known casualties to be around 8,000. However, the period of data collection for these statistics is not reported. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in 2006 that there had been 8,313 mine casualties (696 people killed; 7,617 injured; 5,017 were civilians) in the Western Desert since 1982.[4] Almost identical statistics were reported in 1998, but for the period 1945–1996.[5]

Victim Assistance

In 2010, there were estimated to be at least 900 mine/ERW survivors in Egypt.[6] By the end of 2010, detailed information had been collected on 686 survivors in the Matruh governorate.[7] This database was believed to include information on 91–95% of all mine/ERW survivors in the governorate.[8] No data was available on survivors based outside of Matruh.

Victim assistance coordination[9]

Government coordinating body/focal point	Executive Secretariat (for Matruh governorate)
Coordinating mechanism	National Committee for Supervising the Demining of the North West Coast (National Committee): supervisory role for Executive Secretariat
Plan	None; project strategy for Executive Secretariat includes victim assistance objectives

The National Committee technically provides oversight for all mine action activities undertaken by the Executive Secretariat, including victim assistance. These activities are restricted to the Matruh governorate; there is no victim assistance coordination for the rest of Egypt. The committee is comprised of representatives from 20 ministries, local officials from four governorates, and from several NGOs. Among the objectives of the Executive Secretariat’s second phase of its activities, which started in 2010, are to “support landmine victims of the north west coast,” to “complete and consistently update Victims Database [sic]” and to “mobilize more resources and expand victim assistance activities.”[10] The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Solidarity shared responsibility for protecting the rights of all persons with disabilities in Egypt.[11]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[12]

Name of organization	Type of organization	Type of activity
Matruh Health and Solidarity Department	Local government	Financial support for ongoing maintenance of mobility devices
Ministry of Social Solidarity	National government	Coverage for all registered survivors in national pension system
Executive Secretariat	UNDP/government project	Emergency evacuation procedures for explosion incidents; physical rehabilitation and prosthetics at the army-run Al-Agouza Center for Rehabilitation; income-generating projects
Association of Landmines Survivors for Economic Development—Marsa Matruh	Local Survivors’ Association	Facilitating access to physical rehabilitation services and income-generating activities in Matruh governorate
Protection	National NGO	Facilitating access to social benefits or employment for mine/ERW survivors; data collection on mine/ERW casualties
Arab Doctors Union	Regional NGO	Physical rehabilitation for survivors in Matruh governorate

There were no reported changes in the accessibility or quality of victim assistance services for mine/ERW survivors in 2013.[13]

In 2013, the ITF Enhancing Human Security did not continue its national rehabilitation sector capacity-building project launched in 2011 which had provided rehabilitation for Egyptian victims of conflict at facilities in Slovenia.[14]

In 2013, UNDP, in partnership with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Defense, launched the second phase of its pilot project to support the development of the North West Coast and Inland Desert which included mine risk education and victim assistance activities. Through this project, technical assistance was provided to four NGOs targeting victims of mine incidents. The NGOs implemented income-generation activities as well as networking and advocacy activities, including financial management, project management, strategic planning, and managing volunteers. UNDP reported that all loan installments due to date were successfully repaid by beneficiaries.[15] Local consultation prompted the project to launch a microcredit loan program focusing on women, benefiting a total number of a 100 female mine victims and female relatives of mine victims.[16]

No information was available on psychological or social support for mine/ERW survivors in 2013. However, the UNDP discerned that survivors often expressed feelings publically, including through the media, that they “continue to pay the price of a war they were never party to;” the UNDP also noted the need for ongoing participatory dialogue and for building and maintaining relationships with the Bedouin community to develop the capacities of survivors in identifying and resolving grievances by negotiation. It also asserted the need for the mine action program to develop flexibility in recognizing the concerns of the community “in a manner which still allows effective implementation of project activities.”[17]

Egypt had no legislation prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in education, access to healthcare, or the provision of other state services, nor are there laws mandating access to buildings or transportation; discrimination remained widespread.[18]

Egypt ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 14 April 2008.

^{^[1]} “Information collected by Protection and Mine Action and Human Rights Foundation in Egypt,” by email from Ayman Sorour, Director, Protection, 2 May 2014.

^{^[2]} Ibid., 4 October 2013.

[3] Ibid., 2 May 2014.

^{^[4]} Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, “A paper on the problem of Landmines in Egypt,” 27 July 2006.

^{^[5]} Notes taken by the Monitor, Beirut Conference, 11 February 1999; Ministry of Defense, “The Iron Killers,” undated, pp. 3–4; and Amb. Dr. Mahmoud Karem, “Explanation of Vote by the Delegation of the Arab Republic of Egypt on the Resolution on Anti-Personal Landmines,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Policy Document, November 1998. Similar figures cited in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs paper on the Mine Ban Treaty, obtained 5 September 2004, were at the time believed to only apply to casualties occurring in the Western Desert since 1982.

^{^[6]} This estimate is not for a specified time period, though the implication is that it is for all time to the present. Mohamed Abdel Salam, “Egypt Seeks Cooperation in De-Mining Efforts,” Bikyamasr; and “Egypt intensifies demining efforts,” Bikyamasr, 4 February 2010.

^{^[7]} Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “What is victim assistance?,” undated.

[8] Executive Secretariat, “Victim Assistance Strategy Paper,” Cairo, 2010, p. 28.

[9] Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “About the Project,” undated.

^{^[10]} Ibid.

^{^[11]} United States (US) Department of State, “2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Egypt,” Washington, DC, 8 April 2011.

^{^[12]} Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “VA Strategy.” Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “Protocol of Cooperation in the field of Victim Assistance,” 24 January 2011; email from Ayman Sorour, Protection, 11 April 2011; Executive Secretariat, “Victim Assistance Strategy Paper,” Cairo, 2010, p. 14; and see Arab Doctors Union.

[13] Telephone interview with Ayman Sorour, Protection, 2 May 2014.

[14] ITF Enhancing Human Security, “Annual Report 2012,” Ljubljana, 2013, p. 142; and ITF Enhancing Human Security, “Annual Report 2013,” Ljubljana, 2014.

[15] UNDP, “Egypt - Mine Action Project Quarterly Progress Report,” 1 January 2013–31 March 2013; UNDP, “Support to the North West Coast Development and Mine Action Plan - What is the project about?,” accessed on 30 June 2014; and UNDP, “From Victims to Activists,” accessed on 30 June 2014.

[16] UNDP, “From Victims to Activists,” accessed on 30 June 2014.

[17] UNDP, “Egypt - Mine Action Project Quarterly Progress Report,” 1 January 2013–31 March 2013.

[18] US Department of State, “2013 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Egypt,” Washington, DC, 27 February 2014.