Key
developments since March 1999: Landmine casualties continued to decline. An
estimated five to ten people were injured or killed by mines every day in 1999,
compared to an estimated ten to twelve people in 1998 and an estimated twenty to
twenty-four people in 1993. In 1999, 110 square kilometers of land were cleared
of mines and UXO, which constitutes 24% of the total of 465 square kilometers
cleared since 1990. In 1999, 21,871 antipersonnel mines, 1,114 antitank mines,
and 254,967 UXO were destroyed. Donors contributed US$22 million to mine action
in 1999. A total of 979,640 people received mine awareness education in 1999,
and about 6 million since 1990. The opposition Northern Alliance continued to
use antipersonnel mines.
Mine Ban Policy
At least in part because of its unusual
international political status and situation, Afghanistan is not a party to the
1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, or Taliban authority,
now controls over 90% of country, but Afghanistan’s seat at the United
Nations is still occupied by the government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, known as the
Islamic State of Afghanistan or Northern Alliance, which was ousted by the
Taliban in September 1996. Northern Alliance forces are currently engaged in
continued fighting with Taliban forces in the north of Afghanistan.
In October 1998, the supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Muhammed Omer,
issued a lengthy, detailed statement from Kandahar proclaiming a comprehensive
ban on antipersonnel mines.[1]
In 1999 and 2000, the Taliban has reaffirmed its support for the ban on
landmines on a number of occasions. On 1 March 2000, the Afghan Campaign to Ban
Landmines (ACBL) and member organizations organized an event in Kabul to
commemorate the anniversary of the entry into force of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
Several high-ranking officials of the Taliban participated as well as UN
officials and representatives of international agencies and NGOs.
The head of the Taliban’s Office of Disaster Response, which includes a
Department of Mine Clearance, Mohammed Yousef, used the occasion to confirm the
October 1998 declaration condemning the use, production, trafficking, and
stockpiling of antipersonnel
landmines.[2] He said “if
someone uses a mine in a Taliban-controlled area they will be punished according
to Islamic Shariat” and went on to state that the Taliban had not used
landmines since the 1998 policy declaration. The deputy head of the Ministry of
Information and Culture, Abdul Rhman Hotak, said that “prevention of the
use of this weapon which kills without discrimination is necessary and its use
is irrational.” He called on all countries of the world to join the ban
on landmines. Both officials closed by describing the Taliban’s strong
support for mine clearance.
For its part, the Rabbani government declared its support for an immediate
and comprehensive ban on antipersonnel mines in a statement to the UN Human
Rights Commission in March 1996. However, the Northern Alliance forces admit to
continued use of mines since that time. The Rabbani government was absent from
voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54B in support of the Mine Ban
Treaty in December 1999, just as it had been absent on similar resolutions in
1997 and 1998.
Production
There is no evidence of antipersonnel mine
production in Afghanistan, past or current, by any government, warring faction
or private enterprise.
Transfer
Large numbers of mines from many sources were sent
to Afghanistan during the many years of fighting. With regard to recent
practice, Taliban authorities have by their 1998 statement denounced import and
export of landmines, and Landmine Monitor has no evidence to the contrary.
Landmine Monitor Report 1999 reported that the Northern Alliance
acknowledged still using and importing antipersonnel
mines.[3] Taliban has often
accused Iran of supplying mines to the opposition forces. In a 5 July 2000
letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Taliban’s Foreign Minister
asked the UN to stop the flow of landmines from “hostile” countries
to resistance commander Ahmad Shah
Masood.[4]
Landmine Monitor has received unconfirmed reports of small-scale smuggling of
landmines left over from the conflict by private dealers to sources in Pakistan
and Sri Lanka but the quantity and value of such trade cannot be estimated.
Stockpiling
It is obvious that both sides to the current
conflict have stockpiled landmines but because the conflict continues it is
difficult to obtain details on the numbers, types, or country of origin of
stockpiled mines. Landmine Monitor is not aware of any systematic destruction of
AP mine stockpiles by either party to the conflict.
In September 1999, Taliban authorities asked the United Nations Mine Action
Programme for Afghanistan for assistance to undertake the clearance of the
“most dangerous museum of the unexploded ordnance in the world” in
Zendajan, Herat province. Over 465 different UXO including aircraft bombs and
other types of ammunition were safely destroyed by a special bomb disposal team
of a demining organization in November
1999.[5]
Use
Landmine Monitor has not been able to obtain any
firsthand evidence of new use of antipersonnel mines because the areas in which
the fighting is taking place are inaccessible and there are no mine action NGOs
operating there.
The Taliban and the Northern Alliance continue to accuse each other of
on-going use of antipersonnel
mines.[6] The Northern Alliance
admits to use,[7] and in
November 1999 the Associated Press reported that “U.N. landmine officials
said most of the new mines are being laid by the
opposition.”[8] The NGO
Save the Children’s Northern Regional Office in Taloquen (Takhar Province)
reported in August 1999 that landmines had been planted from Kunduz to Takhar
provinces, through Imam Sahib and Archi districts. They also reported new mine
casualties, noting that health centers in Kunduz and Takhar had cared for many
landmine casualties in 1999.[9]
In 1999, the Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines sent a letter to the leader of the
Northern Alliance urging him to take the necessary action to ensure that his
followers refrain from importing and using of landmines in the
territories.[10]
Mine Action Funding
The humanitarian mine action program in Afghanistan
is funded by various donor countries that channel funds through the UN
Coordination Office for Humanitarian Assistance in Afghanistan (UNOCHA). The
program is coordinated by the Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA).
MAPA’s activities includes surveys of mined areas, mine clearance and mine
awareness education, implemented by various national and international NGOs
working in Afghanistan. Funding for NGOs engaged in mine action accounts for
about 63% of all NGO activity in
Afghanistan.[11]
Funding for MAPA has totaled U.S. $153 million from 1991 through 1999. The
total budget for 1999 was U.S. $21.9 million. This was a significant decrease
from the 1998 total of U.S. $27 million, but still represented a higher total
than any other year besides 1998. By comparison, funding in 1995 totaled $15.6
million, in 1996 $17.8 million, and in 1997 $20.2 million.
Countries that have contributed to the program since 1991 are shown in Table
I. The biggest donors in 1999 were the U.S. ($3.0 million), European Community
($2.6 million), Sweden ($2.5 million) and Germany ($2.5 million). The biggest
donors since 1991 are the European Community ($17.1 million), Sweden ($16,9
million), U.S. ($15.9 million), UK ($13.1 million), Japan ($11.6 million), and
Norway ($11.2 million).
Funding for MAPA has generally been sufficient in 1999, but several times in
the past it has faced severe shortages that affected field operations.
None of the above figures include funding for victim assistance programs;
MAPA does not have a victim assistance component in its structure.
Table I. Details of funds received by MAPA from 1991 through 1999 in
U.S.$[12]
Country
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Total
Contributions B/F from last year
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4,817,433
3,890,841
8,708,274
Australia
0
658,868
138,279
274,800
306,000
293,600
748,380
335,550
0
2,755,477
Austria
0
180,000
0
315,725
159,982
203,030
16,667
10,000
127,992
1,013,396
Belgium
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
273,224
0
273,224
Canada
0
0
562,559
716,874
355,540
737,419
777,940
705,937
659,659
4,515,928
CEC
0
0
0
0
2,785,321
5,077,730
3,624,437
3,027,613
2,634,534
17,149,635
Cyprus
0
0
0
0
10,000
0
0
0
0
10,000
Denmark
0
400,000
0
202,823
900,000
900,000
598,802
729,639
0
3,731,264
Finland
235,294
227,635
175,991
756,559
242,825
423,191
380,952
0
512,540
2,954,987
France
0
0
0
0
0
0
167,000
0
100,000
267,000
Germany
0
0
0
0
374,232
2,388,041
2,000,000
2,373,000
2,500,000
9,635,273
Greece
0
16,365
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16,365
Italy
100,000
100,000
Japan
5,000,000
2,000,00
2,000,000
0
2,000,000
0
1,000,000
300,268
1,300,000
11,602,268
Korea
0
0
75,000
0
0
0
0
50,000
0
125,000
Netherlands
0
586,281
780,457
341,591
789,345
1,363,527
2,530,993
1,482,945
1,454,525
9,329,664
Norway
765,004
1,126,877
1,819,103
631,606
562,375
886,163
1,508,107
2,398,649
1,477,044
11,174,928
Sweden
894,457
872,600
1,148,494
1,894,524
2,218,743
2,535,812
2,500,000
2,278,481
2,510,488
16,853,599
Switzerland
0
0
709,220
0
344,828
344,828
0
135,135
0
1,534,011
UK
904,350
954,350
1,494,000
1,085,840
1,970,728
1,183,088
1,209,678
3,346,000
979,800
13,127,834
U.S.
123,000
1,105,023
1,500,000
3,227,405
2,564,089
1,308,507
2,000,000
1,073,442
3,021,000
15,922,466
Direct/ in -kind
0
2,955,000
6,972,428
7,521,244
0
115,328
1,111,111
3,121,990
315,147
22,112,248
Total
7,922,106
11,082,999
17,375,531
16,967,991
15,584,008
17,760,264
20,174,057
26,984,087
21,931,072
153,830,424
Landmine Problem
A total of about 717 square kilometers of land
remains contaminated by mines and UXO. This includes 337 square kilometers of
affected land classified as high
priority.[13] A major
socio-economic impact study conducted by the Mine Clearance Planning Agency
(MCPA) under the auspices of the Mine Action Programme in Afghanistan (MAPA),
and published in December 1999, revealed that affected land consisted of 61%
grazing land, 26% agricultural land, 7% roads, 4% residential areas, and 1%
irrigation systems.[14] The
survey was conducted in eighteen out of Afghanistan’s twenty-nine
provinces and covered a total number of 3,656 minefields and 20,645 villages. It
indicated about 1,600 villages were affected by mines and UXO.
Refugees and internally displaced persons are still reluctant to return home,
in part due to fear of mines. A total of 12,216 families were repatriated in
1999, including 72,098
individuals.[15]
See Landmine Monitor Report 1999 for a list of fifty antipersonnel
mines found in Afghanistan and their countries of
origin.[16] Two more
antipersonnel mines have since been added to the list: the YM-I mine from Iran
and the RAP-2 mine from Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
Mine Clearance
From 1990 to April 2000, a total of 465 square
kilometers of contaminated area has been cleared in Afghanistan. That includes
207 square kilometers of mined land and 258 square kilometers of mostly
unexploded ordnance (UXO) from
battlefields.[17] In the same
period, 205,842 antipersonnel mines, 9,199 antitank mines and 1,054,738 UXO were
cleared.[18]
In 1999, 110 square kilometers of land were cleared, including 34 square
kilometers of mined land and 76 square kilometers of mostly UXO from
battlefields.[19] In 1999,
21,871 AP mines, 1,114 AT mines and 254,967 UXO were
cleared.[20]
In February 2000, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR)
stated that fourteen national and international NGOs employed approximately
5,000 people to implement mine action projects in
Afghanistan.[21] This is a
significant increase over the 3,900 employees reported in Landmine Monitor
Report 1999. The majority of employees are Afghan, but there are also a
number of Pakistanis and a few international workers.
A list of eight organizations directly involved in mine clearance follows.
The other six are mine action implementing partners who work in other types of
mine action-related assistance: META, AMMA, SCF/US, HI, ARI, BBC.
Organizations directly involved in mine
clearance.[22]
Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC). ATC is Afghanistan’s oldest
Mine/UXO clearance NGO, established in 1989 by its present director Kefayatullah
Eblagh. It has 1,299 employees. Its 1999 budget was $4,792,386. In year 2000,
in accordance with policy changes of the EU in relation to funding of NGOs, the
EU has agreed to the provision of about two million Euro per annum to ATC
through UNOCHA. ATC has cleared approximately 40% of overall MAPA Program
Operation. In 1999, ATC cleared 6.6 square kilometers of mined land and 24
square kilometers of mostly UXO from battlefields, and destroyed 9,028 mines and
62,712 UXO.
Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA). DAFA has 689 employees. Its
1999 budget was $3,326,497. In 1999 DAFA cleared 2.9 square kilometers of mined
land and 0.06 square kilometers of mostly UXO from battlefields, and destroyed
2,807 mines and 44,196 UXO.
Mine Clearance Planning Agency (MCPA). MCPA has 297 employees. Its
1999 budget was $2,331,000. In 1999 MCPA cleared 0.3 square kilometers of mined
land and 0.2 square kilometers of mostly UXO from battlefield and destroyed 19
AP mines and 645 UXO.
Mine Detection Dog Center (MDC). MDC has 707 employees. Its 1999
budget was $5,531,000. In 1999 MDC cleared 16.9 square kilometers of mined
land, and destroyed 1,171 mines and 2,102 UXO.
Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation(OMAR). OMAR has 431 employees. Its 1999 budget was $2,321,500. In 1999
OMAR cleared 3.5 square kilometers of mined land, and destroyed 2,193 mines and
2,525 UXO.
HALO Trust. HALO has 1,210 employees. It conducts clearance
independent of MAPA. Its 1998 budget was $2,000,000, but figures for 1999 were
not available (UNOCHA provided $1,375,600). In 1999 HALO cleared 3.6 square
kilometers of mined land and 52 square kilometers of mostly UXO from
battlefields, and destroyed 7,001 mines and 143,428 UXO.
Agency for Rehabilitation and Energy Conservation in Afghanistan
(AREA). AREA has 731 employees, of which 114 are engaged in mine action.
Its 1999 budget for landmines was $115,928 (36 percent of AREA’s total
budget). In 1999, AREA cleared 0.3 square kilometers of mined land, and
destroyed 79 AP mines.[23]
Danish Demining Group (DDG). This Danish mine clearance NGO
established an office in Pakistan to undertake mine clearance activities in
Afghanistan. Due to differences with the Governor of Kandahar on recruitment
policy, DDG moved out and shifted its main operational office to Kabul. The
agency has so far established two mine clearance teams with a staff capacity of
60 persons.
Apart from Kabul-based HALO, all the mine clearance organizations were based
in Pakistan, but in the course of 1999 and 2000 they have moved or are moving
their base of operations to Kabul while maintaining liaison offices in Pakistan
for logistical purposes. The move to Afghanistan should be completed by
September 2000 and reflects the better operating environment within the
country.
While there is no MAPA “standard” for demining team composition,
most of the demining agencies have a similar structure in which each demining
team consists of thirty people plus support staff. MAPA has clear criteria for
employment in demining. Most importantly, all employees (such as deminers,
surveyors, dog handlers) must pass independently conducted courses before they
are licensed. A few organizations have a policy of hiring local staff while
others recruit staff who work outside of their own province.
Work in the field is monitored and evaluated by the Monitoring, Evaluation
and Training Agency (META), funded and reporting to MAPA. META is based in
Jalalabad. META has sixty-six employees who are undertaking monitoring and
training of the mine action staff. In 1999 META had a budget of
$625,800.[24]
From 1990 until April 2000, a total of 40,658 students (employees of mine
clearance agencies) were trained through 1,139 courses on mine recognition,
revision, team leaders in battle areas and clearance
courses.[25] In 1999 alone,
4,270 were trained in 186 courses.
Coordination and Planning
The Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA) is
coordinated by the UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (MACA). Tasks are given
to the mine action agencies by a coordinated plan of action by MAPA who may act
in regards to a regular work plan or on ad hoc basis if communities or
organizations request it on an emergency basis. In 1999 and 2000 mine action is
divided into five regions:
Central region: Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Bamiyan, Wardak, Logar, and
Ghazni provinces
Southern region: Urozgan, Zabul, Kandahar, Helmand, and Nimroz
provinces
Western region: Badghis, Ghor, Herat, Farah provinces
Eastern region: Nengerhar, Kunar, Laghaman, Paktia, Paktika
provinces
MAPA has offices in each region with both expatriate and
national regional coordinators looking after the program and reporting to the
main office of MAPA in UNOCHA Islamabad. MAPA maintains the MAPA mine action
management information system, a database containing a wide range of information
and data including records of mined areas, cleared areas and data on landmine
incidents and injuries. MAPA prioritizes both the area needing clearance and the
area needing marking into high and low priority categories.
Mine Awareness
There is a continued need for mine awareness
education programs. Some challenges include the very low literacy rate, the
location of the majority of the population in remote and sometimes isolated
areas and inadequate education facilities, especially in rural areas.
From 1990 to April 2000, some six million people received mine awareness
education, including 979,640 in
1999.[26] While these numbers
are impressive, MCPA reported thatonly 0.64% of mine victims it surveyed
had received mine awareness education prior to their
injury.[27]
Mine awareness organizations use a curriculum that has been developed over
the last ten years. In 1999, MAPA conducted two workshops to review and
streamline the curriculum. Mine action organizations undertake mine awareness
activities in communities where they work. Demining is done in the mornings
while mine awareness is carried out in the afternoons. They use wooden models
in real size and shape so the audience can grasp the actual volume and danger of
the devices also demonstrated by videos and printed material.
Organizations involved in mine awareness
include:[28]
Afghan Mine Awareness Agency(AMAA). AMAA established mine
awareness programs in communities in Herat province in
1998.[29] AMAA sends its master
trainers to live in a village for one month and train a selected couple.
Christian Aid UK and UNOCHA have financially supported AMAA in 1998/99 but the
NGO has not been able to secure funding for its activities during the second
half of 1999 and year 2000.
Handicap International (HI). In April 1996 HI started a mine awareness
program in the Kandahar province to complement its orthotic and prosthetic
activities. The guiding principle of was to develop a community-based mine
awareness project (CBMAP) aimed at the empowerment of Afghan communities and
ensuring sustainability. Most recently the project has expanded to Farah
province in May 2000. CBMAP trainers (Nomaindas) are recruited from the
community in which they live and in turn it is their responsibility to recruit,
train, equip and supervise volunteer trainers from the surrounding communities,
to continue training the population. By the end of May 2000, a total of thirty
Nomaindas were deployed in thirty districts of Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul, and
Farah provinces and 949 volunteer Mine Committees were operational. Since the
inception of the project a total of 833,551 villagers and nomads have been
directly and/or indirectly trained by CBMAP.
Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS). The ARCS was again funded by the
International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) for its mine awareness activities in
1999. Training was concentrated in Kabul and Wardak provinces.
Ansar Relief Institute (ARI). In Iran, twenty-three instructors
provided mine awareness training to Afghans at refugee centers in the country
and at border crossing points. In 1999, the ARI project was carried out in close
consultation with the Iranian Bureau of Aliens and Foreign International Affairs
(BAFIA), UNHCR and UNDP Tehran. ARI trained 125,000 people, achieving its target
for the year. Compulsory mine awareness training was given to returning Afghan
refugees through the UNHCR encashment process (returnees hand in their refugee
registration booklets in return for money and other items). It was supported by
the distribution of materials such as mine awareness silk screens, posters and
notebooks.
British Broadcasting Corporation, Afghan Education Projects (BBC/AEP).
BBC/AEP receivesfunding from UNOCHA (US$95,000) for the
dissemination of mine awareness messages through its highly successful radio
drama series “New Home, New Life” and in the illustrated magazine
that accompanies the program. The series, which is made in the Pakistani city,
Peshawar, is broadcast on the Pashto and Persian services of the BBC World
Service. The primary themes are to disseminate awareness and avoidance messages
and improve community relationships with the mine action agencies. There is
extensive consultation with MAPA to ensure the message and materials are
culturally appropriate and technically correct. BBC/AEP reinforcement programs
are broadcast on the Pashto and Persian services of BBC World Services. The
reinforcement output is accommodated in two special programs, entitled Village
Voice and Refugee File (Sada-e-Abadi and Khpala Khawara). The
BBC/AEP also published a monthly cartoon magazine based on “New Home, New
Life” to reinforce its soap opera.
Organisation for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation (OMAR).
OMAR achieved its 1999 target of training 570,000 people with a funding of
US$456,500. OMAR distributed mine awareness notebooks, posters, silk-screens,
identification books and storybooks. The materials were designed to assist
people who have received training to subsequently provide information and
education messages to friends and family members. Activities have been carried
out in Badakhshan, Ghazni, Helmand, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Khost, Logar,
Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika, Urozgan, Zabul, Nimroz and at UNHCR encashment
centers at border crossing points. The community-based mine awareness project
developed in 1997/98 by OMAR focused on the establishment of volunteer councils
to disseminate messages in their respective communities. The project has
established 117 volunteer councils in Kabul, Nangarhar, Paktia, Paktika,
Badakhshan, Ghazni, Logar and Herat provinces. These have trained 142,000
people. OMAR received funding from UNOCHA, the ICRC, the Netherlands
Organisation for International Development and Cooperation (NOVIB), and the
German government (all coordinated by the MACA).
Save the Children USA(SCF-US). In early 1996, SCF-US
commenced its Landmine Education Project (LEP) in Kabul, following fierce
fighting that left Kabul heavily contaminated with both mines and UXO. SCF also
works in the surrounding districts of Paghman, Khaki Jabar and Sarobi. SCF-US
has 26 facilitators, 236 community volunteers and 73 health promoters who all
carry out mine awareness education. The project operation was undertaken in
hospitals, clinics, mosques and Kuchi settlements following the political
changes in Kabul and a ban on girls attending schools, which had been the
original forum for the program.
SCF's activities were suspended at the beginning of 1999, due to negotiation
with the Ministry of Planning to allow SCF to resume its activities. Official
permission was given in February 1999 to SCF to resume activities in
sub-districts of Paghman, Khaki Jabar and Sarobi. In 1999, SCF reached 64,000
people, mainly children, with its landmine awareness sessions. Sessions were
run through a combination of direct implementation and indirect by training
community. The LEP teams continue to use the child-focused material and
methodology. This includes activity cards, board games, a memory game,
landmine/UXO pictures and LEP passports. SCF also trained 398 community
volunteers (239 male and 159 female) bringing the total number of committees
trained by SCF to 680.
SCF continued throughout 1999 to document the landmine and UXO accidents in
Kabul city. Staff were tasked to visit hospitals, clinics and other places to
gather accident information. SCF also encouraged local community leaders to
report mine/UXO incidents through the local government to higher authorities.
This information is collated by RMAC and the MACA and used for planning
purposes. As part of its ongoing activities SCF constructed four new safe
playgrounds throughout Kabul city in 1999. This part of SCF's project aims to
provide children with an alternative to playing in areas contaminated with mines
and UXO. The total UNOCHA funding for the SCF/US LEP in 1999 was US$247,584.
Comprehensive Disabled Afghan Program (CDAP). CDAP plans to train its
field workers in mine awareness in the year 2000, through class lectures. UNDP,
Norway, Sweden, Holland and Canada provide about US$2.2 million to CDAP.[30]
Mine Awareness by Other NGOs. In addition to activities undertaken by
the specialist mine awareness agencies, other NGOs included mine awareness
training in their operations as they carried out mine-related programs such as
demining and survey. The Monitoring, Training and Evaluation Agency (META) of
the MAPA also gave some awareness instruction.
Although all Afghan mine action organizations are members of the Afghan
Campaign to Ban Landmines (ACBL), advocacy in support of the ban is
sometimes not fully included in mine awareness education to some
communities.[31] The principle
arguments that underline the demand for a ban on landmines find strong support
in local culture and religion; once activated, this understanding can increase
the legitimacy of demining operations, and decrease the legitimacy of future
landmine use in the country.[32]
In 1999, the ACBL published bi-monthly newsletters and booklets in local
languages that it distributed for free to member organizations and NGOs working
in Afghanistan to pass them on to people in their contact and reach. A booklet
entitled “Stories of Mine Victims in Afghanistan” was published in
November 1999.[33]
Landmine Casualties
The number of landmine casualties in Afghanistan
continues to decline. It is estimated that in 1999, five to ten people were
injured or killed by mines every
day.[34] In 1998, there were an
estimated ten to twelve casualties each
day;[35] in 1993 an estimated
twenty to twenty-four casualties each
day.[36]
Data on mine casualties is not systematic but joint plans are underway for
comprehensive collection by the World Health Organization, ICRC, and MAPA. Some
problems with data collection include the ongoing fighting and the isolated and
remote areas where some incidents occur. Almost 50% of landmine victims are
still believed to die due to lack of medical facilities at an early stage of the
injury.[37]
MAPA recorded 1,771 landmine casualties (including injuries and deaths) in
the thirteen months from January 1999 through January
2000.[38] The Afghan Campaign
to Ban Landmines conducted a sixteen-month survey of landmine victims from
January 1999 through April 2000. It recorded 2,004 mine casualties (1,831
wounded and 173 deaths). Thus, similar results were found: MAPA data gives an
average of 136 mine casualties per month , while the ACBL survey gives an
average of 125 mine casualties per month, both in the 4 to 5 per day range.
However, these figures would not represent total casualties in the nation, since
some go unreported.
The ACBL survey was an intentionally simple sampling survey with two types of
questionnaires. It was sent to six provinces (Badakhshan, Balkh, Heart, Kabul,
Kandahar, Kundaz). Of the 173 deaths recorded: 110 were males aged between
15-60 years, 38 were males under 15 years, 22 were females aged between 15-60
years and 3 were females under 15 years. Of the 1,831 wounded: 1,349 were males
aged between 15-60 years, 295 were males under 15 years, 105 were females under
15 years, 82 were females aged between 15-60 years. The survey showed that 694
people lost one leg, 85 lost both legs, 187 lost one hand, 76 lost both hands,
and 87 were blinded.
Since 1991, more than 400,000 people have been killed or maimed by landmines
in Afghanistan.[39] According to
the Comprehensive Disabled Afghans' Programme (CDAP), as many as 800,000 people,
or 4% of Afghanistan's population, are disabled, including some 210,000
landmine-disabled.[40]
In December 1999, MCPA estimated that 12% of mine victims are above the age
of 40 years, 50% are between the ages of 18 and 40 years and 36% are children
under age of 18 years.[41] The
same survey estimated that 96% of casualties were male and 4% female.
In the month of December 1999, four deminers died and twenty-one were injured
due to mines. In January 2000, there was one recorded death of a deminer due to
mines.[42] According to a news
account, since 1990, 30 deminers have been killed and 534 have been
injured.[43]
Survivor Assistance
About thirty organizations and NGOs provide
services and assistance to landmine survivors in Afghanistan, including medical
care, surgical operations, orthopedic care, physical rehabilitation, technical
training and employment opportunities.
The main organizations providing services and assistance are:
Comprehensive Disabled Afghan Program (CDAP) operates a community
based rehabilitation program for Afghan disabled, including landmine victims, in
sixty-six districts of Afghanistan. 113 physiotherapists and 400 staff members
serve a community of 30,000 disabled (one-third of whom are female beneficiaries
served by female staff). Local Taliban commanders have cooperated with the
program and have encouraged CDAP to employ female physiotherapists and other
field staff. Over the past four years, CDAP has serviced an estimated 92,000
disabled but it claims that this is “just a fraction of the total number
of people' requiring
assistance.”[44] CDAP
offers micro-credit of up to $120 to disabled people to start small businesses
and also provides physiotherapy to the victims. CDAP’s implementing
partners include Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) in Ghazni, Wardak and
Logar provinces in south and in Badakhshan, Takhar and Balkh provinces in the
north; Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) in Herat and Farah
provinces; and Guardians in Kandahar province. Other organizations supported by
or working in collaboration with CDAP include: Afghan Association for Blind
(AAB), HIFA, SERVE, IAM and Rädda Barnen as well as the Afghan Ministry of
the Disabled. In April 2000, CDAP called on the international community to
contribute another U.S. $1 million to the program, which has an annual budget of
US$1.6 million.[45]
International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC provides
assistance directly and through the Afghan Red Crescent (ARC) in districts and
villages. ICRC also has medical and physical rehabilitation centers. In 1999,
86% of the prostheses produced by ICRC in Afghanistan were for mine victims
(3,929 out of 4,565).[46]
Afghan Amputees Bicyclists for Rehabilitation (AABRAR). Basedin Ningerhar, a city in the eastern of the country, AABRAR provides social
rehabilitation and assistance to landmine survivors. It teaches amputees to ride
bicycles and to encourage them to hold cycle races and volleyball tournaments.
Guardians. Guardians works with the disabled, including mine victims,
in Kandahar and the south west of the country, with funding and Japan and
assistance from CDAP and Handicap International. It provides orthopedic and
physiotherapy services to disabled, including mine survivors.
Other organizations involved in assistance to mine victims include the World
Health Organization, Afghan Disabled Society, Handicap International, Save the
Children Fund (U.S.), Sandy Gall Afghanistan and Agency for Rehabilitation and
Energy Conservation in Afghanistan (AREA).
In terms of availability of services to mine victims, the ACBL Survey found
that between 1999 and April 2000, 1,950 mine survivors received assistance in a
variety of facilities in the provinces surveyed.
Note to Readers: A much longer, more detailed country report on
Afghanistan is available on request. Also, please contact MAPA or MCPA direct
for the report: Mine Clearance Planning Agency (MCPA), Socio-economic Impact
Study of Landmines and Mine Action Operations in Afghanistan, Study and Report
by MCPA, December 1999.
[1] For text, see Landmine Monitor Report
1999, pp. 433-434. [2] Transcript
provided by the Afghan Campaign to Ban
Landmines. [3] Landmine Monitor Report
1999, p. 435. [4] “Afghan Taliban
accuse opposition of using landmines,” Agence France-Presse, Kabul, 5 July
2000. [5] UNOCHA Mine Action Programme
for Afghanistan, Richard Daniel Kelly, Programme Manager, email Response to
Landmine Monitor (Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch), regarding draft Landmine
Monitor report, 19 July 2000. [6] See,
for example, “Afghan Taliban accuse opposition of using landmines,”
Agence France-Presse, Kabul, 5 July 2000; “Taleban calls for action on
landmines,” BBC World Service, 14:29 GMT, 5 July
2000. [7] Ibid. See also Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, p. 436. [8]
“Land mines prevent delivery of food to Afghani refugees,”
Associated Press, Kabul, 27 November
1999. [9] Letter from Save the
Children/USA to Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines, 17 August 1999. See also ACBL
Newsletter, BAN, no. 19, August
1999. [10] Letter from ACBL to
Burhanuddin Rabbani, dated 21 June 1999. Reprinted in ACBL Newsletter, BAN, vol.
4, no. 20, October 1999. [11] Agency
Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), Directory,
1999. [12] MAPA, monthly report for
December 1999. Note: MAPA does not have a Victim Assistance component in its
structure. Therefore funds received for Victim Assistance by other NGOs and aid
agencies are not included here. [13]
UNOCHA Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan, Richard Daniel Kelly, Programme
Manager, email Response to Landmine Monitor (Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch),
regarding draft Landmine Monitor report, 19 July
2000. [14] United Nations Mine Action
Programme for Afghanistan, Socio-economic Impact Study of Landmines and Mine
Action Operations in Afghanistan, Study and Report by Mine Clearance Planning
Agency, December 1999. The information in the report is as of 31 December
1998. [15] UNHCR Peshawar Report,
December 1999. Fewer refugees from Pakistan repatriated in 1999 than
1998. [16] See Landmine Monitor Report
1999, p. 436. [17] UN MAPA Monthly
Report, April 2000. The precise totals are 207,200,317 square meters of mined
land and 257,839, 994 square meters of
battlefields. [18]
Ibid. [19] MAPA Monthly Report, December
1999. The precise totals are 34,173,911 square meters of mined land and 75,680,
090 square meters of battlefields. [20]
Ibid. [21] MAPA, Richard Daniel Kelly,
Programme Manager, Response to Landmine Monitor, 19 July
2000. [22] Staff data from MAPA Monthly
Report October 1999. Funding data from ACBAR Directory 1998-1999, February
2000. Clearance data from MAPA Monthly Report December 1999 and MAPA e-mail to
Landmine Monitor, 19 July 2000. [23]
AREA is the only mine clearance organization that recruits deminers from the
mine-affected community and is community based. See Kristian Berg Harpviken,
Assistance to Mine-Affected Communities (AMAC), PRIO, “Towards Community
Based De-Mining? AREA’s project in Nangrahar province, Afghanistan,”
Landmines Memo no. 3, Peshawar, 24 May
1999. [24] MAPA Response to Landmine
Monitor, 19 July 2000. [25] Mine
Technical Training MAPA Report, December
1999. [26] MAPA Monthly Report, December
1999; and MCPA Monthly Report April, 2000, p.
2. [27] MAPA, Socio-economic Impact
Study of Landmines and Mine Action Operations in Afghanistan, December 1999, p.
25. [28] Unless otherwise indicated,
information in this section came from UNOCHA Mine Action Programme for
Afghanistan, Richard Daniel Kelly, Programme Manager, e-mail Response to
Landmine Monitor, 19 July 2000. [29] For
a detailed analysis of AMAA see Kristian Berg Harpviken, Assistance to
Mine-Affected Communities (AMAC), PRIO, “Community Based Mine Awareness:
AMAA’s project in Heart province, Afghanistan,” Landmines Memo no.
4, Peshawar, 24 May 1999. [30] Interview
with Hayatullah Wahdat, Information and Communications Officer, CDAP, Peshawar,
21 December 1999. [31] Kristian Berg
Harpviken, Assistance to Mine-Affected Communities (AMAC), PRIO,
“Community Based Mine Awareness: AMAA’s project in Heart province,
Afghanistan,” Landmines Memo no. 4, Peshawar, 24 May
1999. [32] MCPA is researching the use
of landmines under principles of Islam. A parallel work that emphasizes the
Christian ethics of war is Kristian Berg Harpviken & Mona Fixdal,
“Landmines: Just Means of War?” Security Dialogue, vol. 28, no. 3.,
September 1997. [33] Frontier Post, 16
November 1999. [34] MAPA Response to
Landmine Monitor, 19 July 2000. [35]
MCPA, “Socio-Economic Impact Study,” Interim Report, October
1998. [36] MAPA, Socio-economic Impact
Study of Landmines..., December 1999, p.
20. [37] MAPA Response to Landmine
Monitor, 19 July 2000. [38] MAPA Report,
January 2000. [39] MAPA, Socio-economic
Impact Study of Landmines..., December 1999, p. 20. Data from UNIDATA,
UNDP/OPS, UNHCR 1990/1991 Afghanistan Wardak and Bamayan province socio-economic
profiles, Islamabad. [40] Comprehensive
Disabled Afghan Program, “CDAP in Brief,” 24 November 1999. Also,
Peter Coleridge, manager of Comprehensive Disabled Afghans' Programme, quoted in
Tahir Ikram, “UN steps up appeals to help Afghan mine survivors,”
Reuters (Islamabad), 28 April 2000. [41]
MAPA, Socio-economic Impact Study of Landmines..., December 1999, p.
21. [42] UNOCHA Report, January
2000. [43] Dexter Filkins, “Where
War's Legacy Is Just a Step Away,” Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2000, p.
1. [44] Peter Coleridge, manager of
Comprehensive Disabled Afghans' Programme, quoted in Tahir Ikram, “UN
steps up appeals to help Afghan mine survivors,” Reuters (Islamabad), 28
April 2000. [45]
Ibid. [46] See ICRC Contribution to
Landmine Monitor Report 2000.
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