Egypt

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Last updated: 08 December 2015

Casualties Overview

All known casualties by end 2014	Estimated to be over 8,000
Casualties in 2014	22 (2013: 69)
2014 casualties by outcome	1 killed; 21 injured (2013: 20 killed; 49 injured)
2014 casualties by device type	12 antivehicle mine; 3 undefined mine types; 6 explosive remnants of war (ERW)

In 2014, the Monitor identified 22 mine/ERW casualties in Egypt. All except one of the casualties were civilians, including four women. Five of the casualties were boys, no girls were reported among casualties in 2014.[1]

The 22 casualties in 2014 represent a significant decrease from 2013, when 69 mine/ERW casualties were reported. In 2013, 32 of the reported casualties were military, while only one military casualty was identified in 2014.[2] The casualty total for 2014 is also a decrease from the 46 mine/ERW casualties recorded in Egypt in 2012 (only one military casualty was also recorded).[3]

Several sources have estimated the total number of known casualties to be around 8,000. However, the period of data collection for these statistics is not reported. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in 2006 that there had been 8,313 mine casualties (696 people killed; 7,617 injured; 5,017 were civilians) in the Western Desert since 1982.[4] Almost identical statistics were reported in 1998, but for the period 1945–1996.[5]

Victim Assistance

In 2010, there were estimated to be at least 900 mine/ERW survivors in Egypt.[6] By May 2015, detailed information had been collected on 761 survivors in the Matruh governorate.[7] This database was believed to include information on 91–95% of all mine/ERW survivors in the governorate.[8] No data was available on survivors based outside of Matruh.

Victim assistance coordination[9]

Government coordinating body/focal point	Executive Secretariat (for Matruh governorate)
Coordinating mechanism	National Committee for Supervising the Demining of the North West Coast (National Committee): supervisory role for Executive Secretariat
Plan	None; project strategy for Executive Secretariat includes victim assistance objectives

The National Committee technically provides oversight for all mine action activities undertaken by the Executive Secretariat, including victim assistance. These activities are restricted to the Matruh governorate; there is no victim assistance coordination for the rest of Egypt. The committee is comprised of representatives from 20 ministries, local officials from four governorates, and from several NGOs. Among the objectives of the Executive Secretariat’s activities, are establishing a regularly updated database on mine/ERW victims, regularly conducting field visits to victims, and providing rehabilitation and prosthetics and economic inclusion activities[10]

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Solidarity shared responsibility for protecting the rights of all persons with disabilities in Egypt.[11]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[12]

Name of organization	Type of organization	Type of activity
Matruh Health and Solidarity Department	Local government	Financial support for ongoing maintenance of mobility devices
Ministry of Social Solidarity	National government	Coverage for all registered survivors in national pension system
Executive Secretariat	UNDP/government project	Emergency evacuation procedures for explosion incidents; physical rehabilitation and prosthetics at the army-run Al-Agouza Center for Rehabilitation; income-generating projects
Association of Landmines Survivors for Economic Development—Marsa Matruh	Local Survivors’ Association	Facilitating access to physical rehabilitation services and income-generating activities in Matruh governorate
Protection	National NGO	Facilitating access to social benefits or employment for mine/ERW survivors; data collection on mine/ERW casualties
Arab Doctors Union	Regional NGO	Physical rehabilitation for survivors in Matruh governorate

In 2015, the UNDP, in partnership with the Ministry of International Cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defense, launched the second phase of “Support to the North West Coast Development Plan and Relevant Mine Action,” which included victim assistance activities. The UNDP reported that in a previous pilot project, all loan installments for income-generation activities due to date had been successfully repaid by beneficiaries.[13] Based on information from local consultations, the project also launched a microcredit loan program focusing on women, benefiting a total number of a 100 female mine victims and female relatives of mine victims.[14] In 2015, the Executive Secretariat reported that 259 survivors received prostheses under these projects.[15]

No information was available on psychological or social support for mine/ERW survivors in 2014. However, in 2013, the UNDP noted the need for ongoing participatory dialogue and for building and maintaining relationships with the Bedouin community to develop the capacities of survivors in identifying and resolving grievances by negotiation. It also asserted the need for the mine action program to develop flexibility in recognizing the concerns of the community “in a manner which still allows effective implementation of project activities.”[16]

Egypt had no legislation prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in education, access to healthcare, or the provision of other state services, nor are there laws mandating access to buildings or transportation; discrimination remained widespread. While the constitutions states that all citizens are equal there is no explicit prohibition on discrimination.[17]

Egypt ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 14 April 2008.

[1] “Information collected by Protection and Mine Action and Human Rights Foundation in Egypt,” provided by email from Ayman Sorour, Director, Protection, 8 October 2015.

[2] Ibid., 2 May 2014.

[3] Ibid., 4 October 2013.

[4] Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, “A paper on the problem of Landmines in Egypt,” 27 July 2006.

[5] Notes taken by the Monitor, Beirut Conference, 11 February 1999; Ministry of Defense, “The Iron Killers,” undated, pp. 3–4; and Amb. Dr. Mahmoud Karem, “Explanation of Vote by the Delegation of the Arab Republic of Egypt on the Resolution on Anti-Personal Landmines,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Policy Document, November 1998. Similar figures cited in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs paper on the Mine Ban Treaty, obtained 5 September 2004, were at the time believed to only apply to casualties occurring in the Western Desert since 1982.

[6] This estimate is not for a specified time period, though the implication is that it is for all time to the present. Mohamed Abdel Salam, “Egypt Seeks Cooperation in De-Mining Efforts,” Bikya Masr, 29 December 2019 ; and “Egypt intensifies demining efforts,” Bikya Masr, 4 February 2010.

[7] Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “Victim Assistance,” undated.

[8] Executive Secretariat, “Victim Assistance Strategy Paper,” Cairo, 2010, p. 28.

[9] Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “Who We Are,” undated.

[10] Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “Victim Assistance,” undated.

[11] United States (US) Department of State, “2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Egypt,” Washington, DC, 8 April 2011.

[12] Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “VA Strategy,” undated. Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “Protocol of Cooperation in the field of Victim Assistance,” 24 January 2011; email from Ayman Sorour, Protection, 11 April 2011; Executive Secretariat, “Victim Assistance Strategy Paper,” Cairo, 2010, p. 14; and see Arab Doctors Union.

[13] UNDP, “Egypt - Mine Action Project Quarterly Progress Report,” 1 January 2013–31 March 2013; UNDP, “Support to the North West Coast Development and Mine Action Plan - What is the project about?,” undated; and UNDP, “From Victims to Activists,” undated.

[14] UNDP, “From Victims to Activists,” undated.

[15] Egypt Mine Action Project North West Coast, “Victim Assistance,” undated.

[16] UNDP, “Egypt - Mine Action Project Quarterly Progress Report,” 1 January 2013–31 March 2013.

[17] US Department of State, “2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Egypt,” Washington, DC, 25 June 2015.