Rwanda
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Victim assistance commitments
The Republic of Rwanda is responsible for significant numbers of survivors of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need. It has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.
Casualties
Casualties Overview
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All known casualties by end 2013 |
707 mine/ERW casualties (300 killed; 407 injured) |
No new mine/ERW casualties were identified in Rwanda in 2013. The last casualties reported in Rwanda occurred in 2011, when five ERW casualties were identified.[1]
The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Rwanda is not known, and estimates vary. Between 1991 and 2013, 707 casualties were identified in Rwanda (300 killed, 407 injured).[2]
Victim Assistance
The Association of Landmine Survivors and Amputees of Rwanda (ALSAR) estimated there were more than 2,000 survivors in the country.[3]
Victim assistance in Rwanda is incorporated into the broader disability framework, as part as the overall plan for all persons with disabilities that guides the work of the National Council on Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), the National Programme for Mainstreaming Disability in Rwanda (2010–2019) and laws relating to the protection of persons with disabilities (civilians and formers combatants) from 2007. The NCPD, established in 2010, includes mine/ERW survivors as members.[4] Its Strategic Plan for 2013–2018 explicitly mentions persons with disabilities as a result of landmines and includes an operational plan for its implementation.[5]
Handicap International (HI) worked at a national level to improve care management for people with physical disabilities by providing a training program for ortho-prosthetic technicians and physiotherapists in existing positions. HI was also developing community-based rehabilitation in five districts of Rwanda.[6]
The National Union of Disability Organizations in Rwanda was established in September 2010 as a national umbrella organization of persons with disabilities.
Rwanda ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 15 December 2008. However, in 2013, landmines survivors and other persons with disabilities were still facing social exclusion, discrimination, and other issues in their everyday life.[7]
[1] “Rwanda: Grenade Injures Two Children,” AllAfrica, 4 March 2011, accessed on 19 September 2012; “One killed as grenade explodes near Kigali,” People’s Daily Online, 29 July 2011, accessed on 19 September 2012; and “Rwanda: 1 mort et deux blessés dans l'explosion d'une grenade” (“Rwanda: 1 killed and two injured due to grenade explosion”), Panapress, 27 July 2011, accessed on 26 September 2013.
[2] In addition to the five casualties from 2011, the Rwandan National Demining Office (NDO) recorded 702 casualties between 1991 and 2008. Email from Maj. Ukwishaka, NDO, 10 May 2009.
[3] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Rose Kanyamfura, Vice President, ALSAR, 30 March 2010.
[4] Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), “Norad Report 6/2012 Review: Organisational Performance Review of the Norwegian People’s Aid,” September 2011.
[5] National Council of Persons with Disabilities, NCPD Strategic Plan and Its Operational Plan for the Implementation July 2013–June 2018, 31 May 2013.
[6] HI, “Rwanda, Ensuring people with disabilities are not forgotten,” undated; and HI, “Rwanda: Our Actions,” undated.
[7] Jean-Christophe Nsanzimana, “Rwanda: Disability Often Still Carries a Stigma,” AllAfrica, 13 January 2013, quoted in “The Month in Mines: January 2013,” Landmines in Africa, 9 February 2013.