Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2012, the Monitor identified 78 casualties from mines, including victim-activated improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the Republic of India. Of the total casualties for which the age and sex were known,[1] 18 were men; including 10 military/security personnel. There were 69 civilian casualties including 41 child casualties, or 72% of civilian casualties for which the age was known, compared to 51% in 2011. Another 13 female casualties were recorded, including at least nine girls.[2]

The 78 mine/IED and ERW casualties identified in 2012 represented an increase from recent years. Such fluctuations in annual casualty figures are not necessarily indicative of trends and can be attributed to the challenges in collecting consistent and accurate data from media and local sources, since India lacks a systematic data collection system.

The cumulative number of casualties in India is not known. Between 1999 and 2012, the Monitor identified 3,143 victim-activated mine/IED and ERW casualties in India (1,074 killed; 2,068 injured; 1 unknown). Nearly half of these casualties were civilians.

Victim Assistance

The total number of survivors is unknown but was at least 2,068 through the end of 2012.

Assessing victim assistance needs

No efforts were made to assess the needs of mine/ERW survivors in 2012.

Victim assistance coordination

India does not have any specific coordination mechanisms or national plans for mine/ERW victim assistance.

The MSJE coordinates assistance for all persons with disabilities by regulating physical rehabilitation services and various disability funds, and developing and implementing India’s legal framework as it relates to disability.[3] A new Department of Disability Affairs within the MSJE went into effect from May 2012. The government established the department to increase its focus on disability policy issues. The MSJE formed a committee in 2011 to draft new legislation for persons with disabilities to replace the present Persons with Disabilities Act (1995). In September 2012, the committee proposed a draft of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill 2012 to the ministry.[4]

India’s Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Amended Protocol II Article 13 report for the period from April 2012 to March 2013 did not include details of victim assistance provided, and India marked that the situation had remained unchanged since 2006.[5] As in past years, India stated that reporting on the protection of the civilian population from the effects of ERW was not applicable for India in its CCW Protocol V Article 10 report.[6] In 2010, India reported that “mine victims are assisted with rehabilitation inter alia through financial compensation employment and health care including by providing prosthetics.”[7]

Survivor Inclusion

Associations of mine survivors were included in the consultative process to draft the national Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill.[8]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[9]

In 2012, the ICRC continued to provide support for three prosthetic and orthotic centers in Jammu and Kashmir: the Artificial Limb Centre at the Bone and Joint Hospital, Srinagar, the Artificial Limb Centre at the Governmental Medical College, Jammu, and the Voluntary Medicare Society. The ICRC-supported centers assisted 23 mine/ERW survivors to obtain prosthetic limbs in 2012, compared to 50 survivors in 2011. Yet this was still a significant increase in contrast with the period 2000 to 2010, when just 95 survivors were served all together. The ICRC also supported a center in Nagaland and another in Chhattisgarh. Overall, the number of people receiving services at ICRC-supported centers in 2012 increased by 30% compared to 2011.[10]

The MSJE reported that the government had established 215 district disability rehabilitation centers throughout India. These services were concentrated in urban areas. The MSJE identified 100 more underserved districts in need of similar centers. The centers provide comprehensive rehabilitation services such as medical care, corrective surgery, prosthetics, educational, vocational training, and community awareness.[11]

However, access to rehabilitation remained difficult for the poorest people with disabilities due to a range of factors, including the lack of facilities in rural areas; most facilities not being fully operational because of insufficient equipment, materials, and professional staff; a lack of awareness of existing services and rights among potential beneficiaries; the need to cover costs for transportation as well as for accommodation and food during treatment.[12] The distribution of prosthetic limbs in mine-affected areas was reported to be “haphazard” and lacking planning to replace worn and damaged prostheses.[13]

There was reported to be an urgent need for a long-term rehabilitation policy addressing the needs of child survivors and children with disabilities in Jammu and Kashmir.[14]

While many survivors were reported to be receiving a monthly disability allowance, this was considered insufficient to live on.[15]

The government has stated at international meetings that mine survivors and families of those killed by mines are entitled to compensation.[16] Monetary compensation to landmine survivors and family members of people killed is distributed by the Ministry of Defence. However, many survivors have not been successful in applying for compensation.[17] A local activist was quoted as saying that a concrete rehabilitation policy for survivors was needed because, “The process of compensation is quite tedious. By the time it is complete, people are tired, insane or dead and only a handful of people have actually benefited.”[18]

The standard one-time compensation payment from the government is US$1,500, which is inadequate to cover treatment and the future needs of survivors.[19] To pay for medical expenses, families often have to sell their land or livestock, resulting is worsening economic situations overall with no support for livelihoods.[20] In 2012, a local government official was reported as saying women rarely file compensation claims because they “are very shy and are not allowed to come so far,” and also that people in remote areas may not be aware of the compensation program.[21]

The government program for the universalization of elementary school education, the Education for All Movement (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, SSA), has provisions for paying special attention to children with disabilities.[22] However, SSA was not addressing the needs of child mine/ERW survivors in Poonch district.[23] There were no known economic inclusion initiatives such as livelihoods training or employment measures targeting, or inclusive of, mine/ERW survivors in 2012.

Psychosocial support for survivors continued to be limited, and declined in 2012. MSF provided psychosocial care, particularly for conflict and weapons victims in Kashmir.[24] However, MSF services in the Kupwara district of Kashmir ended in May 2012.[25]

India’s Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 protects the rights of persons with disabilities. However, discrimination remained pervasive, especially in rural areas. Legislation requires that all public buildings and transportation be accessible for persons with disabilities, though accessibility remained limited with few exceptions.[26]

India ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 1 October 2007.