Casualties Overview

In 2010, the Monitor identified 35 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties reported in Thailand. Four casualties were women, two were girls, and the rest were men. Eleven were security personnel from the military or police. The total number of casualties for 2010 represented an increase from 18 casualties in 2009 and 26 casualties in 2008.[1] The Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC) reported 23 of the casualties in 2010; 13 in 2009, and 18 for 2008.[2]

In 2010, 19 casualties occurred on the Thai-Cambodian border and four on the Thai- Myanmar/Burma border. Another 12 casualties of improvised mines or similar improvised explosive devices were recorded in southern Thailand in 2010.

The most comprehensive casualty data collection for Thailand, including casualties both killed and injured, remains the Landmine Impact Survey, which identified at least 3,468 casualties to May 2001 (1,497 killed; 1,971 injured).[3]

From June 1998 to the end of 2010, the Monitor recorded 608 mine/ERW casualties in Thailand: 29 people killed, 219 injured, and 360 of unknown status.[4]

Victim Assistance

The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Thailand at the end of 2010 was estimated to be about 1,302.[5]

Assessing victim assistance needs

In early 2011, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) conducted a survey of survivor needs in Sakaeo province using an in-depth interview method. One key finding was that survivors needed to receive more information and wanted to have strengthened self-help groups.[6] This and other key findings confirmed the results of the retrospective survivor survey completed in 2009 and the follow-up survey with UNDP support in late 2009. In 2010, UNDP used its 2009 focus-group survey findings from Sa Kaeo province by establishing two prostheses repair centers with co-support from sub-district administrative offices in 2010.[7]

Victim assistance coordination[8]

The National Sub-Committee on Victim Assistance met twice in 2010. The main point of discussion was developing the Master Plan for Mine Victim Assistance 2012–2016.[9]

Thailand strongly connected its work on victim assistance with the implementation of its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).[10]

Thailand provided updates on victim assistance activities in its Article 7 reporting and statements at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in November–December 2010 and the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2011.[11]

Survivor inclusion

A mine survivor and community leader of persons with disabilities participated in the discussions to create the Master Plan for Mine Victim Assistance 2012–2016.[12]

At the national level, the President of the Association of Persons with Disabilities International, who is a mine survivor, participated in disability-related activities and meetings organized by government agencies. The association also provided some consultations with persons with disabilities who live in remote areas.[13]

Survivors participated in a variety of victim assistance activities at the community, local, and provincial levels. In Sakaeo province, survivors were consulted on the creation of a prostheses workshop. In Aranyapratet district, survivors also participated in service provision and data collection. A survivor organization representative in Pan-suk sub-district, Aranyapratet, Sakaeo Province participated at the sub-district meetings to plan and develop budget allocations for social support.[14] Survivors in Chanthaburi province were included in meetings related to disabilities and development at a provincial level. Also, a survivors’ micro-credit and social welfare group in Pong Nam Ron district, supported by Chanthaburi provincial administration, participated in an evaluation process and regular coordination meetings.[15]

Service accessibility and effectiveness in 2010[16]

In 2010, continued improvements in the quality and quantity of services to survivors were reported in Thailand. In 2010 the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand under the MoPH, in cooperation with TMAC, provided a unified response plan for emergency evacuation and medical care in the most mine-affected areas, Si Sa Ket, Sakaeo, and Nan provinces. It also organized a series of simulation exercises with different agencies. The simulation was to integrate the varying responses. The Emergency Medical Institute also formulated a comprehensive operations manual to be distributed to all relevant agencies in mine-affected provinces on how different agencies respond to a mine accident to ensure the effectiveness of rescue missions.[17]

Mine survivors from Myanmar seeking assistance in Thailand received medical care and rehabilitation at hospitals in refugee camps and public district hospitals in the Thai-Myanmar border provinces.[18]

The MSDHS continued the community-based rehabilitation program into its seventh year of operations, offering links to physical rehabilitation and psychological and economic support. The CBR network also raises awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities and promotes attitudinal change within communities.[19]

Continuing a trend over the past several years, the role of the Sirindhorn Center in providing mobility devices decreased significantly.[20] In 2010, the Sirindhorn Center focused on research and development (innovation) of devices with more advanced technology, while the NHSO was responsible for providing funding for rehabilitation and devices.[21]

The NHSO significantly increased its capacity to provide rehabilitation and different kinds of assistive devices (especially mobility assistive devices) for persons with disabilities, having put its resource allocating and reporting systems in place in 2009. Overall, persons with disabilities received one-and-a-half times more assistive devices in the 2009 Thai fiscal year than in the 2008 fiscal year. These were the last periods for which full reporting was available. The number of persons with disabilities who received other services from NHSO and the number of services provided also increased significantly.[22]

There was no reported improvement in employment opportunities for survivors. Most survivors live in rural areas and work in the agricultural sector and generally did not benefit from existing employment and training programs.[23]

In 2011, a new labor regulation was being developed to ensure that public agencies and private employers plan their workforce to include at least 1% of persons with disabilities, doubling the previous legal quota.[24] Persons with disabilities were made exempt from personal income tax for Thai fiscal year 2010.[25]

Following the plan to register all persons with disabilities launched in November 2009, the registration process was in place in 2010.[26] Most mine survivors were registered by the end of 2010.[27] Persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors, who are registered with the government are entitled to pensions, free medical examinations, and assistive devices. The government provided five-year, interest-free, small business loans for persons with disabilities.[28]

Thailand has legislation protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and its constitution prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities and provides for access to services. The constitution also requires newly constructed buildings to have facilities for persons with disabilities, but this was not consistently enforced. Disability rights activists continued to work to amend laws that allow employment discrimination against persons with disabilities.[29] Due to policy changes, by 2011 disabled persons’ organizations, including mine/ERW survivors’ self-help groups, could provide services such as peer counseling with the financial support of the NHSO.[30]

Thailand ratified the CRPD on 29 July 2008.