Casualties Overview

In 2010, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine Action Center (BHMAC) reported 14 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). All casualties were adult men. Three accidents caused four deminer casualties (two killed; two injured). This represented a continuing decrease in annual casualties from 2009 and 2008, although the number of accidents was the same (three) in 2009. The 14 mine/ERW casualties in 2010 was half the 28 casualties reported for 2009.[1]

BHMAC recorded 7,957 mine/ERW casualties for the period 1992–2010 (1,653 killed; 6,304 survivors).[2]   From 1997 to the end of 2010, BHMAC recorded 107 deminer casualties (43 killed; 64 injured).[3]

BiH reported having registered 225 cluster munition casualties (44 killed; 181 injured) for the period 1992–June 2011. The number was based on preliminary data that still required verification. BiH did not report how many of these casualties occurred during strikes or from unexploded submunitions.[4] At least 86 casualties during cluster munitions strikes were identified in BiH in 1995.[5]

Victim Assistance

There were at least 6,304 mine/ERW survivors in BiH by the end of 2010.

Assessing victim assistance needs

The BMAC national database, including needs assessments compiled in 2009, was available for use in providing services on request. The database had been distributed to all key actors.[6]

Victim assistance coordination[7]

Coordination through the LMVA Working Group primarily consisted of briefings by victim assistance actors and information sharing. Four meetings were held in 2010. Most key actors in victim assistance were involved.[8]

BiH reported on changes in victim assistance in the areas of legislation and services at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in December 2010 and at intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva in 2011, as well as in its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reporting for calendar year 2010.[9]

Survivor Inclusion

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.[10] BiH reported that it was “standard practice” to include persons with disabilities in forming all policies which relate to their needs.[11]

A mine/ERW survivor was included in the delegation of BiH at the intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty in June 2011, but survivors were not on the delegations at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties of the Mine Ban Treaty in 2010 or the intersessional meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva in June 2011.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities in 2010[12]

In 2010 there was some improvement in the availability and quality of victim assistance services through training, particularly in peer support.

It was reported that very little progress was made in improving conditions people with disabilities overall in 2010.[13]

The entity-level Ministries of Health were involved in the implementation of a project by the NGO Hope 87 to increase skills training of medical staff in CBR centers throughout BiH.[14]

LSI peer support staff was reduced from 12 to 10, and the number of people receiving peer-support visits services also decreased accordingly. However LSI increased the peer support capacity of other organizations through training and introduced peer support in one state-run rehabilitation center.[15]

In February 2010, a law was passed on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities in the Federation of BiH that allows for a specific Fund to support the law’s implementation. The Fund was in the process of being established by June 2011.[16]

There were some policy changes made in 2010. Both the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska adopted legislative frameworks to reform social protection systems towards a needs-based approach for social benefits, including veterans’ benefits. However, during 2010 there remained a clear discrimination between different categories of persons with disabilities, although the vast majority of such persons were unemployed. Persons with disabilities resulting from service during the 1992–1995 conflict were given a privileged status above civilian war victims and persons who were born with disabilities. [17] Civilians with disabilities often lacked access to health protection and the labor market. Entity-level disability strategies were adopted in the Federation of BiH (2010–2014) and Republika Srpska (2010–2015).[18]

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, and new buildings must also be accessible. However, buildings were rarely accessible to persons with disabilities in practice, including several government buildings. The Republika Srpska had comparable laws for public access, but few older public buildings were accessible. [19]

BiH ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 12 March 2010.