The Republic of Mali is responsible for survivors of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) and has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Mali ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 7 April 2008.

Casualties

Casualties Overview

In 2014, there was an increase in casualties in Mali with 144 casualties identified.[1] A majority of these casualties, when status was known, were identified as security forces personnel (84) including UN peacekeepers, Malian and French military personnel. Of the 56 civilian casualties recorded at least 25 were children. As in 2013, the majority of incidents occurred in the region of Gao and Mopti.

In 2014, the significant increase of casualties as compared with 2012 and most especially other years,[2] continued the sharp rise in the number of casualties reported for 2013. This was due to new contamination with various explosive devices and ERW resulting from fighting between government forces and Tuareg rebels that began in January 2012. In 2013, the number of civilian casualties rose in northern Malian communities and also among the population displaced by the conflict.[3] In 2014, there was a dramatic increase in casualties among security forces, particularly UN peacekeepers. Peacekeeper casualties included personnel from Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Guinea, and other states.[4] The UN identified increased clearance and risk education activities as protection priorities for 2013 in order to respond to the numbers of casualties resulting from the increased levels of contamination from explosives.[5]

The Monitor identified a total of 290 mine/ERW casualties in Mali from 1999 to 2014, all of which occurred after 2006. Of that total, 89% of casualties have occurred since the conflict began in 2012.

Casualties continued into 2015 with at least 15 peacekeepers wounded in various incidents between January and April 2015.[6]

Victim Assistance

There is no coordination of victim assistance in Mali. The Ministry of Humanitarian Action, Solidarity, and the Elderly is responsible for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. While persons with disabilities have access to basic healthcare, the government did not place a priority on protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, and few resources were available.[7]

Most NGOs working with persons with disabilities suspended their programs during 2013 due to the conflict in the north between government forces and armed groups.[8] Handicap International (HI), however, was able to resume some operations in 2014.[9] In 2013 in response to the fighting and other situations of violence in Mali, the ICRC opened a delegation in Mali.[10] Wounded and sick people, including at least 13 mine/ERW survivors, received medical services at the Gao regional hospital, which maintained and enhanced its services with substantial ICRC support, including a team of ICRC specialists. The ICRC provided 13 prosthesis to mine/ERW survivors. Patients with specific needs were evacuated to other facilities, including physical rehabilitation centers in Bamako.[11]

In 2014, the ICRC did not provide direct support to the Centre d’Appareillage Orthopédique Père Bernard Verspieren in Bamako, a rehabilitation center based in Bamako and run by the Malian association PROPHETE, but it subsidized the cost of services. The ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) provided technical support to the end of 2014. The ICRC covered the costs of treatment for persons with disabilities who were casualties of conflict from the northern area in 2014.[12]

There was no specific law protecting the rights of persons with disabilities or mandating their access to public buildings.[13]