Summary points based on 2013 findings

·         Complete survey of survivors’ needs to ensure an effective revision of the existing victim assistance action plan.

·         Create a sustainable funding strategy for the physical rehabilitation sector, which relies on international funding and national donations.

·         Ensure that all survivors in the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC) database have received a healthcare card to facilitate their access to care.

Victim assistance commitments

The Lebanese Republic is responsible for significant numbers of cluster munition victims and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW), as well as landmine survivors, who are in need. Lebanon has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2013, LMAC identified 24 mine/ERW casualties. The majority, some 67% (16), were children including 12 boys and four girls. Among the eight adult casualties, five were men (1 was killed) and the other three were women.[1]

The 24 casualties identified in 2013 represented a significant increase from 2012 (nine casualties)[2] and 2011 (six casualties) and was similar to the 24 casualties reported by LMAC in 2010.[3] Annual mine/ERW casualty rates have declined significantly from the 98 casualties in the year 2000, except for a spike in casualties between August and December 2006 immediately following the July 2006 bombing of southern Lebanon.[4]

The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Lebanon recorded from 1975 to December 2013 was 3,707 mine/ERW casualties (904 killed; 2,803 injured). Of these casualties, 80% were males and 20% were females; 27% were children. Of the casualties, 87% are survivors and 13% were killed by cluster munitions (see section on cluster munition casualties).[5]

The total number of recorded mine/ERW casualties was reduced following a database review, which removed duplicate entries of survivors.[6]

Cluster munition casualties

LMAC data to December 2013 indicated 664 casualties (155 killed; 509 injured) from unexploded submunitions, of which 18% (120) were children at the time of the incident.[7]The Monitor has identified 712 cluster munition casualties for the same time period, including those recorded by LMAC. Little data is available on casualties that occurred during cluster munition strikes; only 16 (three people killed; 13 injured) were identified.[8]

Victim Assistance

There were at least 2,803 mine/ERW survivors in Lebanon as of December 2013.[9]

Victim assistance since 1999

Since Monitor reporting began in 1999, the number of national and international actors involved in providing a range of victim assistance services to mine/ERW survivors throughout the country has grown, most especially following the bombing in 2006. Medical care was provided through public health facilities with other victim assistance services made available through national and international organizations dependent on international funding sources. NGO members of the National Victim Assistance Steering Committee (approximately 12, hereafter “Steering Committee”) implemented programs for physical rehabilitation and for economic and social inclusion, including sports programs and some peer support. Almost no psychological support was available to survivors during this period.

Barriers to accessing victim assistance services, particularly for those living in southern Lebanon, included the cost of services, the lack of affordable transportation, and/or a lack of awareness of availability. A decline in funding, which reportedly began in 2008, forced some service providers to reduce their numbers of beneficiaries; however, most reported continuing activities at similar levels despite declining funding.

Since 2001, victim assistance was coordinated through regular meetings of the Steering Committee hosted by the national mine action center. Throughout most of the period, Lebanon lacked a comprehensive victim assistance plan; coordination mainly consisted of information sharing among service providers. While LMAC was mostly seen to be effective in coordinating victim assistance activities, NGO service providers found that reduced funding affected the quality of coordination and fewer coordination meetings were held. A national victim assistance strategy began being developed for the first time in 2011. It established targets for comprehensive victim assistance by 2020.

An overall ongoing decrease in the availability of victim assistance services began in 2012, exacerbated by the crisis in Syria and the diversion of healthcare resources and other services to assist incoming refugees from that country.

Victim assistance in 2013

Services available through national NGOs continued to decrease due to a lack of funding. The recent influx of large numbers of refugees from Syria continued to exacerbate the situation. In particular Lebanon noted that resources remained scarce while international assistance to Lebanon remained “relatively insignificant compared to the size of the crisis.”[10]

Assessing victim assistance needs

In 2013, the Steering Committee was awaiting the results of the victim assistance survey, planned by LMAC, launched in July 2013, and supported by both Austria and South Korea, which was to be finalized by the end of 2013. The survey focused on 690 victims (survivors and deceased) and their families. It assessed medical, economic, social, psychological, and educational/training needs, opportunities, and challenges.[11] A software developer company was hired in November 2013 in order to customize an Arabic language application to track the landmine/ERW victims recorded in the survey and facilitate the provision of services.[12]

In 2012, a detailed victim-assistance needs assessment was conducted by a Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) consultant to enable a longer-term victim assistance strategy to be developed in Lebanon.[13] The NPA and LMAC jointly initiated assessment was carried out in line with the Lebanon National Strategy 2011–2020 that requires a regular needs assessment of the situation of, and services available to, cluster munitions victims.[14]

Following Israel’s large-scale use of cluster munitions in Lebanon during 2006, various government agencies and NGOs collected data on the needs of mine/ERW survivors and cluster munition victims, their family members, and on communities impacted by cluster submunitions and other ERW.

Victim assistance coordination[15]

LMAC manages and coordinates the implementation of victim assistance in Lebanon through the National Steering Committee on Victim Assistance. The committee includes representatives of the following organizations:

·         The Injured and Victims of War association

·         The Islamic Al Rissala Scouts Association

·         The Islamic Health Council

·         The Landmines Resource Center

·         The Lebanese Association for Health and Social Care

·         The Lebanese Welfare Association for the Handicapped

·         The Ministry of Social Affairs

·         The National Rehabilitation and Development Center

·         NPA

·         The Philanthropic Association for the Handicapped in Nabatiyeh

·         The Vision Association for Development, Rehabilitation and Care

·         The World Rehabilitation Fund

The committee is responsible for implementing the victim assistance strategy in addition to ensuring coordination between the different stakeholders. In 2013, it was beginning to return to previous levels of activity after having met infrequently in 2012 due to the major decrease in funds for victim assistance activities.[16] Most victim activities occurred with the input and collaboration of the Steering Committee. In May 2013, the Steering Committee organized a workshop titled “Victim Assistance; Needs, Gaps, and Priorities.”[17] Facilitated by Global Technology and Management Consultancy, the workshop was attended by representatives from the LMAC, NPA, UNDP, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and 12 local organizations. Objectives included reviewing the results of NPA’s 2012 victim assistance needs assessment; mapping existing services; discussing needs, priorities, and challenges; and formulating recommendations and a draft implementation plan.[18]

The Lebanon Mine Action Strategy 2011–2020 includes a commitment to the “full realization of the rights of mine victims guaranteed” where “all victims are provided with medical, social, psychological, and economic support as part of the fulfillment of their full legal rights as stated in the law 220/2000.” The strategy has a specific reference to victim assistance in the context of the Article 5 obligation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions obligations and “the spirit of the Mine Ban Treaty…and in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (CRPD).”[19]

Lebanon provided an update on its progress and challenges in implementing victim assistance at the Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties held in Lusaka in September 2013, the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San Jose in September 2014, and through its Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report.[20]

Survivor inclusion and participation

Survivors were reported to have been included in the Steering Committee as representatives of NGO service providers.[21] No update was made on the state of survivor participation in 2013.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[22]

Lebanese healthcare services and facilities were placed under additional pressure in 2013 as a result of internal violence and the arrival of hundreds of war-wounded Syrians seeking medical assistance. In response to this situation, the ICRC provided medical supplies and medicines for hospitals and dispensaries (in north Lebanon and the Bekaa) and covered the cost of treatment in Bekaa hospitals for seriously injured patients. The ICRC maintained its support for its main operational partner, the Lebanese Red Cross, to carry out medical evacuations of Syrian war casualties crossing into Lebanon in 2013.

The ICRC also supported a new five-year strategy (2013–2017) to improve medical services throughout Lebanon by upgrading Lebanese Red Cross emergency medical services, equipping them with computers and communication equipment, and providing logistics support and training for volunteers. It also helped the Lebanese Red Cross blood bank keep pace with increased demand caused by the influx of Syrian war casualties.[23]

In 2013, China provided financial support for medical equipment to improve care for survivors of cluster munitions, mines, and unexploded ordnance.[24]

Rehabilitation including prosthetics

Physical rehabilitation was largely dependent on funding from external donors and national charities.[25]

Lebanon reported that 18 mine survivors, chosen according to priorities set by the Steering Committee, received “20 customized below the knee prostheses with dynamic foot and liner” through a collaborative partnership between the LMAC, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the UNDP.[26]

Economic inclusion and psychosocial assistance

No changes were identified in the availability of economic inclusion projects or social support, both of which were very limited compared with the level of need. Psychological support was the least developed area of assistance in Lebanon.

Laws and policies

In 2013, further steps were taken to establish a coordination mechanism between the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Steering Committee to ensure that all eligible survivors will be granted a disability card by 2016.[27] Lebanon was in the process of reviewing the eligibility requirements for persons with disabilities, including survivors, to receive disability cards to entitle them to some free health services. To this end, the Ministry of Social Affairs compared the characteristics of survivors registered with the LMAC casualty database to find out why some survivors had not received a card.[28]

Discrimination against persons with disabilities is prohibited by law, but continued to exist. The National Disability Law stipulates a 3% quota to hire persons with disabilities for all employers. However, there was no evidence the law was enforced and there was little to no impact. The law required that buildings be made accessible to persons with disabilities, but the building code still required amendments in 2013.[29]

The Law on the “Access and Rights of People with Disability” 220/2000 addresses the rights of persons with disabilities to have access to adequate education, rehabilitation services, employment, medical services, sports, and access to public transport and other facilities. However, it also reported that the law had yet to be comprehensively put into practice, due in part to a lack of sufficient resource allocation within the national budget.[30] Lebanon reported that it is looking to integrate the implementation of Convention on Cluster Munition victim assistance provisions in existing coordination mechanisms such as the ones created for the CRPD and the Law 220/2000.[31] In 2013, terms of reference were prepared for the design of a booklet to raise awareness among survivors on their rights under Law 220/2000.[32]

Lebanon signed the CRPD on 14 June 2007.