Action points based on findings

·         Dedicate increased national and international funding to address the needs and promote the rights of mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors and other persons with disabilities. Over the last decade, there has been little progress overall in improving access and quality of assistance to survivors in the Republic of Guinea-Bissau due to lack of funds and of government support.

·         Ensure that broader programs, such as international cooperation for post-conflict reconstruction and political stabilization efforts, reach the most vulnerable members of society, including survivors and other persons with disabilities.

·         Empower mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities to advocate for equal opportunities and increased access to assistance.

Victim assistance commitments

Guinea-Bissau is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims and survivors of other ERW who are in need. Guinea-Bissau has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Conventional Weapons Protocol V; it also has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2013, 10 mine/ERW casualties were recorded in Guinea-Bissau, all within the Region of Oio. Two incidents were caused by ERW, resulting in a total of nine casualties, a man and eight children.[1] In April 2013, a 13-year-old boy was killed by a landmine. The number of casualties in 2013 was twice the number of mine/ERW casualties that occurred in 2012.

There were a total of 1,533 casualties from mines/ERW reported, dating from 1963 to December 2013.[2] However, this was not believed to be a comprehensive figure.[3] An estimated 80% of all casualties have been male, the majority of whom were farmers.[4] No information was available on whether the figure included both military and civilian casualties.

Cluster munition casualties

While the total number of casualties from cluster munitions is not known in Guinea-Bissau, there were 11 casualties in 1998 during an attack on a weapons depot; the explosion that caused the casualties involved cluster munitions.[5]

Victim Assistance

As of December 2013, there were more than 1,410 mine/ERW survivors recorded in Guinea-Bissau. Some of these may have already died, but it is likely there are many more unrecorded.[6]

Victim assistance coordination

In 2013, the National Mine Action Coordination Center (Centro Nacional de Coordenação da Accão Anti-Minas (CAAMI), the national focal point for victim assistance, found its efforts to coordinate victim assistance largely stymied due to a lack of national or international resources.[7] Mine/ERW survivors were included in a target of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy 2011–2015 that aims for the “equal opportunity for rehabilitation, and reintegration of all persons with disabilities (victim of armed dispute or conflict, included the mine/ERW injured people),” their full participation in the socio-economic reconstruction, and the re-establishment of their rights and dignity.[8]

At the end of 2013, Guinea-Bissau presented the objectives of the National Victim Assistance Strategy for the first time. The objectives included establishing a new coordination mechanism on victim assistance in the country, implementing a new national data collection system, strengthening current victim assistance programs, increasing mobilization of donor funds to such programs, and increasing employment levels of survivors in national and international organizations.[9]

Guinea-Bissau provided updates on its progress and challenges in assisting victims at the Fourth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Lusaka in September 2013.[10] At the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Guinea-Bissau presented the objectives of its national victim assistance plan and appealed to the international community for technical and financial assistance for its implementation.[11]

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

In 2013, mine/ERW survivors were included in the planning and provision of victim assistance through representative organizations such as the Persons with Disabilities’ Federation of Associations of Defense and Advocacy which represents 12 organizations of persons with disability, or the Persons with Disabilities’ Association for the Struggle for National Freedom.[12]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Aside from the opening of a new rehabilitation center in the capital in 2011, there has been little progress overall in improving access and quality of assistance to survivors in Guinea-Bissau in recent years due to lack of funds and of government support. There were few facilities near mine-affected areas, emergency transportation was almost non-existent, and services were further hampered by a lack of communication mechanisms and roads/transport.[13]

In March 2011, the Center for Physical Rehabilitation (Centro de Reabilitação Motora, CRM) under the Ministry of Health was officially inaugurated in Bissau to serve as the main physical rehabilitation center for the country and to provide free rehabilitation services for survivors with economic need.[14] In 2013, the CRM was staffed by 34 personnel, including one Category Two Prosthetist/Orthotist and three bench technicians. In 2013, the CRM, in cooperation with the ICRC, the Federation of the Association of Persons with Disabilities, and other national organizations, began an outreach service to provide services for people living in rural areas.[15] The ICRC covered the costs for those mine/ERW survivors who accessed services, provided equipment and materials, and supported on-site technical training programs to improve the quality of the service.[16] Since opening in March 2011, the CRM has provided prosthetic and physiotherapy services to more than 600 people with disabilities, including the provision of prostheses to 21 mine/ERW survivors.[17]

Article 5 of the constitution of Guinea-Bissau prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities, but implementation was weak. There was no law mandating access to public buildings and no efforts were made to ensure access to buildings or streets.[18] Some mine survivors were eligible to receive pensions for persons with disabilities from the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Poverty Reduction (MSSPR).[19] Disabled former military personnel received pensions from the Ministry of Defense and Ex-Combatants, but these programs did not adequately address health, housing, or food needs.[20]

In September 2013, Guinea-Bissau signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the Ministry of Social Solidarity is the focal point for the convention’s implementation.[21]