Action points based on findings

·         Re-dedicate funding to the Kenya Psychiatric Center and Ziguinchor Regional Hospital (CRAO) rehabilitation center to ensure the availability of mental health services for mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) victims.

·         Ensure the sustainability of physical rehabilitation for mine/ERW victims and other persons with disabilities in the Casamance region.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Senegal is responsible for a significant number of survivors of landmines and ERW who are in need. Senegal has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Casualties Overview

In 2013, the Monitor identified eight mine/ERW casualties in Senegal.[1] Of these eight mine/ERW casualties, six were recorded by the Senegalese National Mine Action Center (Centre national d’action antimines au Sénégal, CNAMS); the remaining two were reported in the media and by Handicap International (HI).[2] There were six civilian casualties reported in 2013, including one woman and her child who died when their cart rolled over a mine. In January 2014, one single incident resulted in four child casualties.[3]

Nearly all casualties in 2013 occurred in the north of Casamance, near the border with Gambia.

The eight casualties identified for 2013 represented a significant decrease from the 24 casualties reported in 2012. The rise in the annual casualty rates recorded in 2011 and 2012 was explained by the increase in mine casualties among combatants. In 2013, just two of the eight casualties were among combatants, indicating a changing dynamic in the conflict situation in the Casamance. Fluctuations in the security situation in Casamance have resulted in variable annual mine casualty rates in Senegal over the last several years.[4] Following an intensification of violence since 2011, violence decreased throughout 2013, explaining the decline in casualties among combatants in 2013.[5] The number of civilian casualties has remained at similar levels in recent years.[6]

In 2013, the Senegalese Association of Mine Victims (Association sénégalaise des victimes de mines, ASVM) also reported that continued mine risk education efforts in the Casamance region prevented even more significant numbers of civilian casualties during the year.[7]

The Monitor identified at least 832 casualties (180 killed; 639 injured; 13 unknown) between 1988 and the end of 2013.[8] This included 576 civilian casualties and 243 military casualties.[9] As of April 2014, CNAMS registered a total of 814 casualties (179 killed; 635 injured) of which 578 were civilians and 236 were military.[10] Since 2005, all reported casualties have been caused by mines.[11]

Victim Assistance

By the end of 2013, there were at least 639 mine/ERW survivors in Senegal, including 431 civilians and 208 military survivors.

Victim assistance since 1999[12]

Most mine/ERW survivors in Senegal live in the Casamance region where services are much more limited than elsewhere in the country. Senegal has reported on several occasions that it is committed to victim assistance, but at the same time has acknowledged that needs were not being met due to a lack of resources. The government relied on international and national NGOs, including the Senegalese Association of Mine Victims (Association sénégalaise des victimes de mines, ASVM) and HI to implement activities. Years of conflict and continued intermittent violence devastated infrastructure and prevented access to services.

Throughout 2013, emergency medical care was limited and response times depended on the location of the incident; the army provided assistance. NGOs continued to consider evacuation of injured victims as one of the biggest challenges in accessing appropriate emergency medical care.[13] Follow-up medical care was only available in the two regional hospitals, which had sufficient capacity but had equipment that only worked intermittently and experienced shortages of supplies. These two hospitals and their satellite centers also provided physical rehabilitation. Improvements in the availability of free follow-up medical care and physical rehabilitation were noted at the CRAO in 2013.[14]

Psychosocial support had been provided by the Kenya Psychiatric Center (Centre psychiatrique de Kenya) and ASVM, with the support of the CNAMS. However, financial support from CNAMS to the center to offer their services outside Ziguinchor was not provided in 2012[15] and this support was not reinstated in 2013.[16] The center was the only facility providing psychological support to mine survivors and other persons with disabilities for all regions of Casamance. In 2013, access to these services remained an issue as transportation in the region continued to be difficult.

Throughout the period, efforts were made for economic reintegration and education opportunities for survivors, but overall this assistance remained inadequate because there were few programs targeting survivors and they had difficulties accessing broader programs for all vulnerable groups. While different activities and services targeting survivors were implemented every year, the question of sustainability and the long-term social and economic inclusion of victims had yet to be tackled by authorities.[17] Military survivors received separate services provided exclusively by the Ministry of Armed Forces, which were mostly free of charge and superior to those offered to civilians, but still had gaps.[18]

Assessing victim assistance needs

In 2013, the CNAMS hired a consultant to work on the mid-term evaluation of the implementation of the National Victim Assistance Action Plan 2010–2014 (Plan d’action national pour l’assistance aux victimes, PANAV). This work included an assessment of victims and their needs. The results were to inform the revision of the PANAV or the drafting of a new action plan after 2014.[19]

During 2013, ASVM conducted a survey to identify mine/ERW victims survivors and assess their needs. All the data gathered was collected in a database which, in turn, informed the development of local action plans and adaptation of activities and services provided by the ASVM and its partners to better respond to the expressed needs of survivors.[20] In 2013, HI also conducted non-technical surveys in connection with its mine risk education activities.[21] These surveys targeted survivors, the families of victims, and affected communities and allowed HI to localize areas suspected to be mined, to identify mine/ERW victims, and to assess their needs, and to evaluate the impact of mines/ERW on the civilian population.[22] However, at least one organization noted that there was a lack of governmental coordination on data collection at the national level, which prevented the effective use of this data to address the needs of victims in Senegal.[23]

Victim assistance coordination[24]

In 2013, CNAMS held meetings of the CRC every three months.[25] The CRC, established in 2011, brings together CNAMS with local and international organizations working in the region under the chairmanship of the governor of the Casamance region.[26] However, the focus of the CRC is on mine action more broadly; international and national organizations noted that while victim assistance was discussed and debated during these meetings, no coordination meetings were organized in 2013 that focused specifically on victim assistance.[27] Regular coordination meetings took place in 2013 between representatives of CNAMS and of ASVM.[28]

Senegal’s PANAV included a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating progress in its implementation, though no reports had been made available that compared victim assistance progress against PANAV through the end of 2013. CNAMS launched a mid-term evaluation of the PANAV and its impact in 2013.[29] The results of this evaluation had yet to be finalized and made public as of May 2014.[30]

Senegal provided updates on mine casualties and on progress and challenges for victim assistance at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2013.[31] Senegal included an update on casualties and victim assistance in Form I of its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for the 2013 calendar year.[32]

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

Mine/ERW survivors were involved through ASVM and international organizations in the design of victim assistance programming.[33] In 2013, survivors participated in national and regional victim assistance coordination meetings through ASVM.[34]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities in 2013[35]

In 2013, there was increased availability of victim assistance services with efforts, largely by international and national organizations, to take into account the individual needs of survivors in different parts of Casamance.[36] Although the security situation in the northern part of Casamance improved throughout 2013, access to all services for survivors in this geographic area, as well as transportation, remained an issue. A number of initiatives focused on ensuring physical accessibility of schools[37] and other buildings.[38]

In 2013, CNAMS announced, in accordance with a new Social Orientation Law passed in 2012, the launching of a process to provide all victims with a “Card of equality of chances” (“Carte d’égalité des chances”) aimed at providing free medical care to all persons with disabilities.[39] CNAMS also signed agreements with four hospitals in Bigona, Oussouye, Goudomp, and Ziguinchor, as well as with two pharmacies (in Ziguinchor and Kolda), to ensure access to health services and medicine free of charge for victims.[40]

No new prosthetics were produced in the Casamance region in 2013. As of the end of 2012, CRAO, the only public provider of rehabilitation services in the region, ceased producing prosthetics following the transfer of one technician and the death of another, leaving the center with no trained technician. Meetings between the regional government, CNAMS and the ICRC SFD did not identify a solution to replace the technicians.[41] As a result, ICRC SFD’s partnership in Senegal was put on hold pending a renewed commitment from the authorities concerned.[42]

Funds that had been provided by the CNAMS to the CRAO rehabilitation center in 2012 to finance survivors’ physical rehabilitation and other medical services continued to be used in 2013. CRAO expressed concerns as this financial contribution has not been renewed in 2013 and was not expected to be in 2014.[43]

The Kenya Psychiatric Center continued providing psychological support to mine survivors in 2013. However, because of lack of funding by CNAMS since November 2011, services that were formerly provided through outreach visits in rural areas were not available in 2013. To address this issue, the center, in collaboration with ASVM, worked to create and train community groups in rural parts of Casamance to facilitate peer psychological support for survivors living in those areas.[44] The center continued therapy sessions through art for mine/ERW victims.[45]

During the period, the CAOSP of Ziguinchor continued to provide mine/ERW victims with educational and career advice specifically targeted and adapted to their needs. In addition, in 2013, the CNAMS funded activities to provide psychological support to student victims of mine/ERW in parallel to the CAOSP’s ongoing activities.[46]

A new project was established by HI focusing on access to HIV/AIDS care for persons with disabilities and mine/ERW victims.[47]

At least one organization noted an increased focus by both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders on age and gender specific issues.[48]

Senegalese law prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to healthcare, and the provision of other state services. The government did not enforce these provisions adequately in 2013. The law also mandates accessibility for persons with disabilities, but there remained a lack of infrastructure to assist them.[49]

Senegal ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 7 September 2010. Through to the end of 2013, national implementation mechanisms had not yet been approved.[50]