ICBL Statement on Victim Assistance, 30 November 2005

Delivered by Margareth Arach Orech, Co-Chair of the ICBL Working Group on Victim Assistance

Mr President, Thank you for the opportunity to speak today on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). During the last 2 days, we have had the opportunity to share experiences, explore progress and expose plans for assisting the numerous landmine victims in many countries. Since the first review conference, a lot of work and efforts have gone to assessing the current state of victim assistance programs and activities in many countries and in establishing concrete objectives for the coming 4
years. We would like to thank and congratulate for their efforts the co-chairs, Norway and Nicaragua, and the participating States, in particular the 24 States who identified themselves at the first review conference as having significant numbers of mine survivors, and the greatest need for and responsibility to provide survivor assistance. It is
encouraging to see that more and more attention and efforts are going towards improving access and quality of services for landmine survivors, in all areas that are necessary to enable their full participation in their communities.

Can we talk about numbers of new landmine victims every year ? We could say that there are x number of new victims, but what does that mean ? All we need to know is that the Mine Ban Treaty requires victim assistance and there is an ever increasing number of survivors who have the right to that assistance.

The responses received so far from State parties to the questionnaire on victim assistance are of varying quality. In some instances, the responses are well elaborated and integrated in overall national public health and social services systems and human rights frameworks, and allow for concrete actions to be described and planned. In other instances, objectives remain vague, show little interaction with national health services and other sectors such as education, labour, human rights, development or finance,
and need further clarification and prioritisation to serve as a basis for further action.

The ICBL encourages all State parties to make use of the expertise available in their country to develop and operationalize their national action plans. In particular, in line with the spirit of collaboration that has brought this Convention into life, we encourage State parties, governmental and non governmental organisations to get together regularly
with the survivors and to make use of the available necessary human and management resources to further refine the national objectives and develop them into SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound) national plans of action.

The ICBL is concerned that in 2004 the Landmine Monitor Report identified only $ 28.8 Million of funding as earmarked for victim assistance. More funding has been mainstreamed into health and development activities but could not be identified pecifically for VA. We request that State parties secure more funds for victim assistance and that mine action funding for victim assistance be earmarked. We also encourage mine affected states to attach activity budgets to their national plans of action and to report on the resources used. In fact, only with this type of transparency will donors and other partners see value in supporting victim assistance projects and programs.

We do not need to reiterate the items that have been identified in the victim assistance questionnaire. This document is of tremendous value, not only to the 24 States parties with most landmine victims, but also to all mine affected countries in developing a sustainable and fundable strategy to victim assistance.

To ensure sustainability and to avoid unnecessary segregation of survivors, assistance to landmine victims should be viewed as a part of a country's overall public health and social services system. At the same time, within those general systems, deliberate care must be built in to ensure that landmine survivors and other persons with disability receive the same opportunities in life as every other sector of a society. Sometimes,
levelling the playing field requires services or systems particular to people with disabilities. These two approaches - special services when obviously necessary and mainstreaming whenever possible - constitute the "twin track" toward disability espoused by the ICBL and its members.

We would like to remind the States Parties of our principle of inclusion. Landmine survivors too have a part to play. Do engage them as resource persons when it comes to planning interventions that concerns them as a sub group of people with disability.

Obviously, a lot remains to be done. It's encouraging to see efforts to produce concrete objectives and plans. We are now looking forward to see words changed into actions, and to start seeing the real impact it will have on landmine survivors, their families and of course their whole communities.

Thank you Mr. President.