Summary action points

·         Form a regular coordination body and develop realistic planning for victim assistance, including health and disability services, for mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors and others in need in their communities.

·         Support local organizations to build a survivors’ network to create sustainable services and outreach given the security situation that has significantly hampered existing efforts to implement assistance.

·         Find ways to address the extensive economic inclusion needs of survivors identified in the 2013 survey in Mogadishu, by providing work and training opportunities.

Victim assistance commitments

The Somali Republic is responsible for significant numbers of mine/ERW survivors and cluster munition victims, although the total number is unknown. Somalia has commitments to victim assistance as a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Casualties

Casualties Overview

All known casualties by end 2013	3,010 mine/ERW casualties (1,119 killed; 1,464 injured; and 347 unknown)
Casualties in 2013	43 (2012: 66)
2013 casualties by outcome	28 injured;15 killed (2012: 21 killed; 45 injured)
2013casualties by device type	2 antivehicle mine; 14 other ERW; 27 unknown device

At least 43 mine/ERW casualties were recorded by UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Somalia (excluding Somaliland) in 2013. All were civilians. Of the total casualties reported, over two thirds (29; 67%) were children, including 24 boys and five girls; seven were men, and six were women. Ten casualties in 2013 were internally displaced persons (IDPs).[1]

The 43 casualties recorded for 2013 represented a decrease from the 66 casualties recorded by UNMAS for 2012.[2]

Differences between annual reported casualty statistics cannot be seen as an accurate indication of change, due to the lack of accurate and consistent casualty data across the years. According to UNMAS, the significant underreporting of casualties and the absence of a comprehensive national casualty monitoring mechanism were some of the greatest challenges to reducing death and injury; also, the lack of baseline data made monitoring of trends impossible.[3]

The Monitor identified 3,010 mine/ERW casualties in Somalia (excluding Somaliland) between 1999 and the end of 2013. Of these, 1,119 people were killed, 1,464 were injured, and for the remaining 347 casualties it was unknown if they survived their injuries.

Cluster munition casualties

The number of cluster munition casualties in Somalia is not known. In a 2014 statement to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Somalia recognized that there are cluster munition victims in Somalia living in severe conditions with mostly unmet needs.[4]

Victim Assistance

The Monitor identified at least 1,464 mine/ERW survivors from 1999 to the end of 2013.

Assessing victim assistance needs

The Somalia Coalition to Ban Landmines (SOCBAL) conducted a survey of mine/ERW survivors in Mogadishu in collaboration with the Institute for Education for Disabled People (IEDP) in July 2013.[5] The majority of survivors and their families in Mogadishu are in camps for IDPs. The SOCBAL survey team visited eight such camps and also observed the living conditions of the mine/ERW survivors, recognizing their extreme vulnerability as survivors and as IDPs. The overall purpose of the survey was to better understand the number of survivors who live in the city, the extent of survivors’ needs, and if any form of assistance had been provided to them. In total, 850 survivors were surveyed, 719 males and 131 females (including 83 boys and 14 girls all under 15 years old).[6]

Survivors interviewed during the 2013 SOCBAL survey often reported that they had already been surveyed several times, including having their contact details and photographs taken by international and local NGOs, but were frustrated that no assistance had followed.[7]

No baseline information exists in Somalia on the prevalence and circumstances of persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors. The Ministry of Social Development is responsible for compiling, storing, and managing information on disability, but it did not have an information system on persons with disabilities.[8] Following the collapse of the former central government of Somalia in 1991, no ministry has been managing or recording issues related to persons with disabilities in Somalia.[9]

In Puntland, the Puntland Mine Action Centre (PMAC) collected “victim data and mine/UXO [unexploded ordnance] accident reports” from various sources, including police stations, regional liaison officers, hospitals, and other government officials. The PMAC operations section regularly visited police stations and hospitals as follow-up.[10]

Coordination

The Ministry of Social Development is the leading agency for disability issues including victim assistance. At the beginning of 2013, it was reported that there was no specific victim assistance coordination in Somalia.[11]

In April 2013, the director of SOCBAL met with officials from UMMAS-Somalia to discuss victim assistance activities. Challenges to coordination included the lack of a fully functional national mine action center and the absence of a governmental focal point concerned with victim assistance. However, subject to funding availability, there was a will among mine action actors to start victim assistance programs in the near future.[12]

In May 2014, UNMAS held a Victim Assistance and Disability Working Group meeting in Mogadishu. It was the first such meeting ever held to discuss needs, the development of a plan, and possible support for persons with disabilities, including survivors. Participants included representatives of the Somali Federal Government, the UN, SOCBAL, the International Education Development Program (IEDP), the National Disability Council, and the Somali Union for the Blind. The recommendations made in the workshop included: strengthening national mechanisms and the provision of an integrated support to mine/ERW survivors and persons with disabilities through coordination and the development of a national strategy and a work plan; provision of technical support for the socioeconomic reintegration of mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities; and awareness-raising for persons with disabilities and advocacy for disability rights.[13] Disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) attending the meeting “demanded with strong voice” to be part of the victim assistance decision making process and working groups.[14]

Overall disability coordination was lacking in 2013 and into 2014. A meeting of persons with disabilities held by IEDP in January 2014 called for a forum to meet on disability issues on a quarterly basis that would work to increase the participation of persons with disabilities, establish guidelines and principles for implementing disability rights, strengthen the capacity of the DPOs and service providers, and establish channels of communication with the government and aid agencies which could provide support.[15]

As of 15 October 2014, Somalia had not submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for calendar year 2013. It had provided detailed information on victim assistance and the existing lack of planning and services in Form J of its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, covering the period to March 2013.[16] Somalia did not make statements on victim assistance at the Thirteenth meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in 2013, nor at the Mine Ban Treaty Third Review Conference in 2014.

Victim assistance in 2013

In 2013, survivors in Somalia continued to lack adequate emergency and ongoing healthcare, employment, and training and education opportunities, findings confirmed by the survey of 850 survivors in Mogadishu.[17] Survivors were also concerned about societal discrimination and fulfillment of basic rights.[18] There were not enough qualified medical practitioners, rehabilitation services and facilities, or social inclusion programs for persons with disabilities. There was a lack of mobility and other assistive devices; locations where they were available were often difficult to access due to conflict and poverty.[19]

In general, in 2013 persons with disabilities, including survivors and conflict amputees, continued to face a lack of accessibility, including physical access, to employment and to any of the basic social services provided to others in their communities.[20]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Emergency and continuing medical care

Ongoing armed violence and conflict continued to erode the minimal health resources available. The number of war-wounded patients requiring treatment in hospitals in Mogadishu in 2013 remained similar compared to 2012, though the number of mine/ERW survivors among the total more than doubled.[21] In 2013, the ICRC supported eight hospitals that provided data to the organization; in total, these hospitals registered 2,424 weapon-wounded patients, including 149 patients injured by mines or ERW.[22] Most of these patients were treated at the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS)-run Keysaney Hospital and the community-run Medina Hospital, both situated in Mogadishu.[23] In 2012, 68 people injured by mines/ERW among 2,503 weapon-wounded patients were treated at 11 ICRC-supported hospitals.[24]

Violence against healthcare workers, health facilities, and patients posed a serious challenge to healthcare activities and emergency assistance services.[25] In June 2014, a car bomb detonated at Keysaney Hospital injuring seven people including two SRCS nurses.[26]

The ICRC continued to provide medical supplies, equipment, funds, staff training, and supervision, along with infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, to the two hospitals in Mogadishu where most weapon-wounded casualties were treated: Keysaney and Medina (community-run). In October 2013, similar support began to be provided to Kismayo Hospital. In addition, a surgical team from the Keysaney and Medinac hospitals in Mogaishu assisted staff in Galkayo in treating casualties transferred from Kismayo.[27]

 

In August 2013, Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) closed all its medical programs in Somalia citing “abuse and manipulation of humanitarian action” following attacks by armed groups against MSF that undermined minimum security guarantees needed to maintain assistance.[28]

Physical rehabilitation including prosthetics

SRCS-run rehabilitation and orthopedic centers in Mogadishu and Galkayo (in Puntland) continued “against all odds” to provide physical rehabilitation services including prosthetics for amputees and people with other physical disabilities resulting from conflict. In 2013, the Norwegian Red Cross Society continued to support the SRCS centers, which received additional technical support from the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD).[29]

Social and economic inclusion

In 2013, the ICRC supported livelihood projects for conflict-affected families and vulnerable households, including some households headed by women, and also addressed basic needs through contributions of cash, food, and household items, which allowed families to preserve livelihood assets. ICRC interventions strived to use a multidisciplinary response combining emergency supplies and medical services with long-term livelihood support.[30]

The IEDP provided basic education and skills for persons with disabilities, and sometimes for their children, including literacy and numeracy, computer skills, carpentry and machinery, and career skills. In 2013, IEDP sought to assist survivors in Mogadishu identified in the SOCBAL survey.[31]

Psychological assistance

There is almost no psychosocial support in Somalia due to the impact of the ongoing conflict, despite the significant need for such services.[32]

In August 2014, SOCBAL held victim assistance and peer support training for an emerging landmine and ERW survivor’s network, with the participation of IEDP.[33]

Laws and policies

The provisional federal constitution provides equal rights before the law for persons with disabilities and prohibits the state from discriminating against persons with disabilities. This provision was not enforced and does not address discrimination by private or non-governmental actors.[34]

There are no laws requiring access to buildings for persons with disabilities. In 2012, it was reported that Somalia “did not have, and never had, accessible public services for persons with disabilities.” Three-quarters of all public buildings in Somalia were not accessible for wheelchair users, and there were no public transportation facilities with wheelchair access. Schools throughout the country did not accept the majority of children with disabilities as pupils.[35]

As of October 2014, Somalia had not signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).