Casualties Overview

Details and trends

In 2011, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Center (BHMAC) reported 22 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).[1] The 2011 casualties represented a significant increase from the 14 mine/ERW casualties recorded for 2010. As in 2010, all casualties were adults; one was a woman and the others were men including four casualties among deminers in three accidents. There were also four deminer casualties in three demining accidents in 2010 and three accidents in 2009.[2] Most casualties in recent years were reported to have occurred in marked areas, though several were not in 2011.

Included in the 2011 total was a Slovenian tourist injured after accidently paragliding into a minefield with his companions, near the former Olympic ski resort Jahorina.[3] Six railway workers were injured near Doboj, in a part of the railway thought to be safe, in a single incident by a mine or unknown explosive item.[4]

A man was killed by an antipersonnel mine while working on his land in Modriča municipality, where he had already been injured in a mine incident in 2009. On both occasions the area was reported to have been marked with warning signs.[5] It was not reported if demining had taken place on the parcel of land since the first incident, however a demining team was required to clear the way to remove the body.[6]

Although the 22 casualties recorded in 2011 was 57% higher than in 2010, it represented a continuing decrease in annual casualties from all other years including 2009 (28 casualties) and 2008 (62 casualties).[7]

BHMAC recorded a total of 7,981 mine/ERW casualties (1,662 killed; 6,317 survivors; two unknown) for the period 1992–2011. From 1997 to the end of 2011, BMAC recorded 113 casualties among humanitarian deminers.[8]

Cluster munition casualties

BiH reported having identified 231 cluster munition casualties (43 killed; 188 injured) for the period 1992–April 2012. Most of these casualties were killed or injured during the war, but it was not reported how many of these casualties occurred during strikes or from unexploded submunitions. [9] At least 86 casualties during cluster munitions strikes were identified in BiH in 1995.[10]

Victim Assistance

BiH is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims and survivors of other ERW. BiH has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Conventional Weapons Amended Protocol II and Protocol V, and has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

There were at least 6,317 mine/ERW survivors in BiH by the end of 2011.[11]

Victim assistance since 1999[12]

From 1999-2004, most victim assistance targeting mine/ERW survivors was provided by international NGOs without adequate coordination, often resulting in unsystematic service provision. As post-conflict funding for NGO efforts began to wane after 2004, so did the international support for victim assistance. In 2009, a centralized database on survivors was developed from data provided by national and international NGOs, but the final database was found to be incomplete and inconsistent.

Medical assistance has been adequate since 2004 despite a dependence on international aid as a result of the conflict. Improvements have mainly been made in emergency response services, again due to international donor contributions. During the period, the quality of physical rehabilitation services remained variable, but overall satisfactory, despite incomplete rehabilitation teams, a lack of personnel trained to international standards, and a complex bureaucracy.

Government capacity to finance rehabilitation services has improved since 1999. State-run social centers and a network of community-based rehabilitation (CBR) centers created since 1998 provided psychosocial support as well as physical rehabilitation. These continued to endure a lack of capacity and community awareness. NGOs also provided this type of support.

Persistent gaps in economic reintegration remained during the entire period, partly due to high unemployment in general and unemployment of persons with disabilities at around 85%. Almost all of the economic reintegration activities were carried out by NGOs. However, the two entity governments introduced specific funds for persons with disabilities in 2007 and in 2011. Disability legislation existed but was not sufficiently enforced. Services for disabled military persons and pensioners were better than those for civilians.  

Victim assistance in 2011

A decrease in all services provided by NGOs continued in 2011, mainly linked with the ongoing decline in international funding.

Assessing victim assistance needs

The national database maintained by BHMAC includes a survivor needs assessment compiled in 2009. Data was available for use by victim assistance service providers on request.[13] Some data on cluster munitions victims is lacking detailed information on aid received, their age and sex, their needs, as well as their education, occupation, employment, and family members.[14]

Victim assistance coordination[15]

Coordination through the Landmine Victim Assistance (LMVA) Working Group, hosted by BHMAC, primarily consisted of briefings by victim assistance actors and information sharing. The main tasks of the LMVA Working Group were to promote the needs of survivors and to coordinate the implementation of those victim assistance projects which received international donor funding. Three meetings were held in 2011, as well as several bilateral meetings.[16] The Victim Assistance Sub-Strategy 2009–2019 did not contain measurable or time-bound goals and objectives for monitoring.[17]

BiH reported on victim assistance at the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Lebanon in September 2011 and at intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva in 2012, as well as in its Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 reporting for calendar year 2011.[18] BiH did not attend the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties of the Mine Ban Treaty in 2011.

Participation and inclusion in victim assistance

Mine/ERW survivors and their representative organizations were included in the LMVA Working Group and survivors were included in the implementation of services through NGOs.[19]

A survivor was included in the delegation of BiH at the intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty in June 2012, and at the second meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in September 2011, but not at the intersessional meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva in June 2012.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[20]

The national NGO Landmine Survivors Initiatives (LSI) reached all newly injured survivors and the families of those killed in mine incidents in 2011, assessed their needs, and provided assistance.[21] No change was reported in the availability or quality of physical rehabilitation or the supply of prostheses during the year.

A law entitled Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities in the Federation of BiH was passed in February 2010 that allows for a specific fund to support the law’s implementation. The fund was in the process of being established in 2011.[22] Implementation of legislation ensuring the right to employment for persons with disabilities in the Federation of BiH was slow.[23] Implementation of the legislation entitled Republika Srpska Law on Professional Rehabilitation, Training and Employment, established in 2005, remained limited; only a small number of persons with disabilities were employed in 2011.[24]

During 2011, as in past years, there remained clear discrimination between different categories of persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities resulting from military service during the 1992–1995 conflict were given a privileged status above civilian war victims and persons who were born with disabilities.[25] The Federation of BiH adopted a strategy for people with disabilities (2010–2014) and Republika Srpska implemented a strategy for persons with disabilities (2010–2015). However, entitlements to rights and benefits for disabled persons were not based on needs and some persons with disabilities did not receive adequate financial benefits.[26]

BiH has legislation to ensure physical access to persons with disabilities. In the Federation of BiH, the law mandated that all public buildings must be retrofitted to provide access by mid-2011 and new buildings must also be accessible. In practice, however, buildings were rarely accessible to persons with disabilities, including several government buildings. Republika Srpska had comparable laws for public accessibility, but few older public buildings were accessible.[27] Persons with disabilities faced poor recognition of their rights and needs for accessibility. In late 2011, authorities organized a workshop proposing strategies and projects on employment for persons with disabilities, which was held in a venue that was not accessible to wheelchair users.[28]

BiH ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 12 March 2010. Implementation of the CRPD was weak during 2011.[29]