For the Nairobi Summit, ICBL will work to ensure States Parties:
- Present the status of development or implementation of their plan of action to address the needs and rights of mine survivors using specific actions and quantifiable objectives.
- Put in place adequate and effective data collection systems.
- Improve emergency and continuing medical care for survivors.
- Allow mine survivors and other persons with disability expanded access to sustainable rehabilitation programs.
- Facilitate access to vocation training and opportunities for income generation for survivors and other persons with disability.
- Work to adopt and/or fully implement disability legislation
- Institutionalize participation of landmine survivors in the work of the Convention (i.e. intersessional work, Meetings of States Parties, national planning, etc.).
Below is a list of 20 mine affected countries which were identified by the SC on VA as the most “victim assistance needy” countries.
- AFRICA - Angola, Burundi, Chad, DR Congo, Eritrea, Mozambique, Senegal, Sudan and Uganda
- AMERICAS - Colombia and Nicaragua
- ASIA - Afghanistan, Cambodia and Thailand
- EUROPE - Albania, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia
- CIS - Tajikistan
- MENA - Yemen
Message:
I) For mine-affected states, encourage the government:
- To elaborate national planning for victim assistance, including survivors as a resourc
- To set up a national disability coordination body if it hasn't done so already
- To assure victim assistance to ALL landmine survivors within state boundaries
- To set up a National Mine Information System that provides among others:
- Focal point for VA in the country
- Location of existing orthopaedic centres.- are mine-affected areas covered?
- Information as to the reach and quality of services for landmine survivors--are they of good quality and free or low cost to survivors?
- To use Form J to report on victim assistance
- To address the issue of compensation for landmine survivors
- To support and participate in the process toward a new UN Convention on the Human Rights of People with Disabilities.
II) For donor States, encourage your government to:
- Earmark part of all mine action funding for victim assistance. (An excellent example is Norway, which earmarks 25% for victim assistance.)
- Fund a range of VA activities based on the national priorities for people with disabilities, among which landmine survivors will be included.
- Urge mine-affected countries, where they provide assistance, to include landmine victim assistance programmes in their national development and health plans and priorities.
- Support the human rights for people with Disability Convention process currently underway within the UN system.
For more information see:
