Casualties Overview

In 2013, the Azerbaijan Campaign to Ban Landmines (AzCBL) recorded 13 landmine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties. Eight casualties were civilians and the other five were military personnel. All the casualties were adult men. Of the total, four civilians were killed, and four civilians and five soldiers were injured. The mine/ERW casualties in 2013 occurred in the regions of Gazakh, Terter, Tovuz, and Absheron, as well as at a military training area in Baku.[1]

The 2013 total represented a decrease from the 19 casualties AzCBL identified in 2012,[2] but was similar to the 12 casualties recorded for 2011.[3]

The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) registered eight casualties for 2013; four people were killed and another four were injured, also a decrease compared to the 17 casualties ANAMA recorded in 2012 (four killed and 13 injured).[4]

Variation in past annual casualty data reported by key actors is due to differing collection methodologies. ANAMA collects casualty data through a network of district representatives and from media reports. Only incidents that occur in mine/ERW hazard areas and can be verified are recorded in the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA). AzCBL gathers information in affected districts (except the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic) from its regional coordinators, civil and military hospitals, and rehabilitation centers, as well as from the local media.[5]

The total number of casualties from mines/ERW in the Republic of Azerbaijan is unknown. From 1999 when it first started recording casualty data to the end of 2013, AzCBL identified 451 casualties (100 killed; 338 injured; 13 unknown). According to the informal information available to AzCBL, there have been some 3,000 mines/ERW casualties in Azerbaijan, including almost 500 people killed. Most of the mines/ERW casualties occurred in 1991–1994 during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.[6]

ANAMA reported a total of 2,415 mine/ERW casualties (378 killed; 2,037 injured) in Azerbaijan from the early 1990s to the end of 2013.[7]

Victim Assistance

At least 1,843 mine/ERW survivors were known to be still living in Azerbaijan as of the end of 2010, when data was last cross-checked.[8]

Victim assistance coordination

ANAMA is the government focal point for victim assistance. Implementation of the Mine Victim Assistance (MVA) Strategy of the Azerbaijan Mine Action Program was coordinated through the MVA Working Group, led by ANAMA, which included national NGOs, the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society (AzRCS), and other relevant organizations.[9] Victim assistance was carried out within the broader UNDP- and ANAMA-agreed project “Further expansion of mine action capacity in Azerbaijan” (2011–2015).[10]

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population (MLSPP) and the Ministry of Health are responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities more generally.[11]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Regional centers for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities existed in 14 municipalities of Azerbaijan.[12] The MLSPP provided rehabilitation and prostheses through these regional rehabilitation centers and through the Rehabilitation Center of Invalids of the Republic in Baku.

From August 2013, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in partnership with ANAMA and the NGO Chirag, implemented a community-based socioeconomic inclusion project that provided small business training and a revolving micro-credit fund for mine survivors in Azerbaijan, with financial support from the UNDP.[13] The project builds on the previous project Socio-economic Reintegration Programme for Mine Survivors 2008–2012 that was implemented by the IOM, ANAMA, and Chirag, with the support of the International Trust Fund Enhancing Human Security (ITF).[14]

From the last quarter of 2013, AzCBL started a new project to raise awareness among survivors and persons with disabilities about their rights and current relevant legislation. It also assisted mine/ERW survivors in the Fizuli, Beylaqan, and Imishli regions directly by providing professional legal assistance and supporting survivors’ through the legal processes necessary to access ongoing benefits and support. This legal assistance had not previously been available in those regions. Eighteen people with disabilities received legal advice organized in the frame of the project. The beneficiaries included landmine survivors, disabled people of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and veterans (former Soviet Union) with disabilities from armed conflict in Afghanistan.[15]

In 2013, the AzRCS continued to implement its program for supporting landmine victims and families that have lost household members as a result of mine incidents within the framework of its Assistance to Mine Victims strategy. The program, which operates with the support of the ICRC, also provided immediate needs assessment and responses in the case of mine incidents that occurred in 2013 and gave lump-sum payments to the families of people killed.[16]

National legislation prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. In 2013, there was no legislation mandating access to public or other buildings, information, or communications for persons with disabilities, and most buildings were not accessible.[17] In order to bring national legislation in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), a new draft Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was prepared by the MLSPP.[18] The draft law was also submitted to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by Azerbaijan in 2014.[19] The Committee recommended that Azerbaijan review and harmonize the whole of the state’s legislative legal order, as well as ensure that the new draft law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities strictly complies with the provisions of the CRPD by adopting the human rights-based, rather than medical model to disability.[20]

Azerbaijan ratified the CRPD and its Optional Protocol on 28 January 2009.