Summary action points based on findings

• Expand programs in line with significant unmet needs.
• Improve economic inclusion opportunities for mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors and other persons with disabilities, which have remained low since 2012.
• Adapt mainstream economic inclusion programs to include survivors and persons with disabilities.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of South Sudan is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other ERW who are in need. South Sudan has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Casualties Overview

In 2014, the Monitor identified 38 mine/ERW casualties in South Sudan.[1] All casualties whose status was recorded were civilians (22). Children constituted 55% of all casualties for whom the age was known, including eight girls and 13 boys.[2] At least two casualties were women. There were no casualties among deminers in 2014.

The 38 casualties identified in 2014 were a decrease from the 46 casualties reported in 2013, and a significant decrease compared with the 206 mine/ERW casualties reported in 2011.[3] South Sudan attributed the decreased number of casualties, as compared with 2011, to the greater role played by mine risk education and increased marking of surveyed suspected hazard areas.[4] The high number of casualties in 2011 was specifically attributed to the movement of people (affected by conflicts in South Kordofan state and Abyei in Sudan) into South Sudan and also by the laying of new mines near South Sudan’s northern border.[5] In addition, it was believed that not all incidents in 2013 and 2014 were reported or identified, due to poor communications infrastructure, ongoing armed conflict, and related movements of populations within the country.[6]

A total of 4,824 mine/ERW casualties (1,337 killed; 3,487 injured) were reported in South Sudan from 1964 through the end of December 2014.[7]

Casualties continued to be reported in 2015. Between January and May 2015, an additional 30 new casualties were reported, including 16 people killed.[8]

Cluster munition casualties

As of December 2014, 88 casualties from cluster munitions were reported in South Sudan. Of the total, 72 casualties were caused by unexploded submunitions. In 2014, one casualty was reported from an unexploded submunition in Jonglei.[9] In 2013, a single unexploded submunition incident that occurred in Juba caused six casualties.[10] The remaining 65 unexploded submunition casualties all occurred in 2009 or before.[11] Another 16 casualties that occurred during cluster munition strikes in South Sudan have been reported.[12]

Victim Assistance

As of the end of 2014, 3,487 mine/ERW survivors were identified in South Sudan.[13] In 2011, the Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare (MGCSW) estimated that there were a total of some 50,000 mine/ERW victims, including survivors, their families, and the immediate family members of people killed.[14]

Victim assistance since 1999[15]

As a result of decades of conflict, since 1999 mine/ERW survivors in South Sudan have lacked basic services of all kinds. The limited services available have been almost entirely provided by international organizations. Throughout the period, emergency medical care has been inadequate to address the needs of mine/ERW survivors and others wounded as a result of the armed conflict, a situation worsened by the high number of casualties caused by the outbreak of violence at the end of 2013. Ongoing medical care reaches just a fraction of the population.

Despite the very challenging security situation, there have been some improvements in the availability of physical rehabilitation for mine/ERW survivors. In 1999, South Sudan had just one physical rehabilitation center, in the capital Juba. In 2003, an additional rehabilitation center at the Rumbek Regional Hospital was opened with support from an international organization. By the end of 2010, the regional government assumed full management of the center. In 2008, the ICRC introduced a physical rehabilitation training program at the Juba rehabilitation center and by 2009 it had been upgraded to a Rehabilitation Referral Center.

From 1999, there were little to no economic inclusion initiatives for mine/ERW survivors, a situation that improved somewhat with increased international funding for victim assistance from 2007 to mid-2012. These programs were implemented by national organizations, including survivor associations and disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs), and coordinated by the national mine action center with support from the UN within the framework of the National Victim Assistance Strategic Framework 2007–2011. However, these programs were insufficient to meet demand and they ended in mid-2012 when international funding through UNMAS ceased. Psychological support for mine/ERW survivors is entirely absent in South Sudan. This significantly reduced, among other things, economic inclusion opportunities for mine/ERW survivors. The South Sudan Landmine Victims Association (SSLMVA) reported a decline in availability of services across all pillars of victim assistance in 2013.[16]

In June 2012, the government of South Sudan approved the South Sudan National Mine Action Strategic Plan 2012–2016, which included victim assistance. The Victim Assistance Coordination Group changed its name to the Victim Assistance and Disability Working Group and steps were taken to integrate victim assistance and disability into the work of all relevant government ministries.

In December 2013, violent conflict began that was still ongoing in 2015, causing a protracted crisis and disrupting victim assistance efforts.

Victim assistance in 2014

In 2014, ongoing conflict caused widespread displacement and prevented the provision of services to survivors. There was limited to no progress identified toward the victim assistance objectives of South Sudan’s Mine Action Strategic Plan. As in previous years, a lack of transportation, the cost of transportation where it existed, insecurity including attacks on healthcare centers, and poor road infrastructure proved to be the obstacles to accessing all services for survivors.[17] Funding for nearly all victim assistance projects supported through UNMAS had ceased in 2012.[18]

Assessing victim assistance needs

No assessments of the needs of survivors were carried out by the government of South Sudan in 2014. Both Handicap International (HI) and the SSLMVA had carried out surveys that included landmine survivors in 2013, with the SSLMVA survey continuing into 2014. The organization identified the need for increased funding to expand the survey throughout the country.[19]

In 2013, HI surveyed persons with disabilities and landmine survivors living in Yei County to inform HI’s victim assistance program in this county of South Sudan.[20] HI also shared information about survivors and their needs for assistance with the UN Mine Action Cluster’s sub-cluster on victim assistance.[21]

In 2013 and into 2014, the SSLMVA carried out an ongoing survey of the needs of its members, including family members of mine victims and affected communities, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of service provision.

Previously, needs assessments had been carried out in other areas of the country by the National Mine Action Authority (NMAA) and the MGCSW, with support from the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC), and by the South Sudan Disabled Persons Association (SSDPA). Information from survey in Wau, Torit, and Bor was used to develop a national disability policy.[22] Data collected in Juba and in Upper Nile state in October and November 2010 were included in the national casualty database, maintained by the UNMACC.[23] The SSDPA needs assessment in Juba collected data on 238 survivors. The SSDPA collected data on 1,188 survivors in Upper Nile state.[24]

Victim assistance coordination[25]

The VADWG only held one meeting between September 2014 and June 2015 due to funding difficulties.[26] The 19 participating bodies included government ministries, DPOs, SSLMVA, NGO service providers, UNMAS, the ICRC, and other stakeholders.[27]

In the UN mine action cluster strategy for 2014–2016 (developed in 2013),[28] the priority activities for victim assistance were to be a focus on community awareness and provision or development of:

• Basic rehabilitation services;
• Psychosocial support;
• Income-generating activities; and
• Referral systems.

The strategy proposed that the sub-cluster “prioritize states where survivor assistance needs are of highest concern, including Central Equatoria, Jonglei, [and] Unity.”[29]

Participants also used meetings to share information about activities implemented, avoid overlap in efforts, and refer survivors in need of assistance.[30] According to the SSLMVA, the meetings were also an opportunity to share information about resources needed for various organizations’ activities.[31] The 2014 meetings highlighted the need for further support to victim assistance and to integrate victim assistance into broader development plans and policies at the national and international level.[32] The VADWG also appointed focal points within government ministries and commissions to mainstream victim assistance and disability issues throughout government structures.[33]

There has been some concerns about capacity and institutional memory being lost within the government due to frequent changes in the designated focal point. The national victim assistance focal point has been on medical leave since early 2013. Meanwhile, the acting national victim assistance focal point passed away in 2014 and was replaced by another person in the role of acting focal point in September 2014.[34]

In 2014, some progress was made toward the first two victim assistance objectives of the Mine Action Strategic Plan 2012–2016. The three victim assistance objectives were:

• Establish an information system for persons with disabilities to provide reliable, systematic, and comprehensive information on persons with disabilities, including landmine and ERW victims;
• Accede to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the end of 2013[35] and adopt the necessary national laws to protect the rights of landmine/ERW survivors and persons with disabilities; and
• Ensure equal access to rehabilitation, psychosocial (including peer support), and socio-economic inclusion services for all landmine and ERW victims, as well as women, girls, boys, and men with disabilities.[36]

Implementing partners shared progress toward the third objective during VADWG meetings.[37] The national disability policies entered parliament for ratification in 2014, resulting in some progress toward the objective of joining the CRPD as well.[38]

The limited progress toward the implementation of the strategic plan was attributed to the decrease in donor funds for victim assistance activities.[39] One source also saw it as being due to the “constant lack of transparency amongst the national NGOs that implemented VA [victim assistance] projects in past.”[40]

The MGCSW, with support from HI, held bi-monthly disability coordination meetings in Yei County, inviting representatives of UNMACC, the Union of Persons with Disabilities (UPD), the Landmine Survivor Association (LSA), War Wounded Hero (WWH, an organization of disabled veterans), and other relevant disability-related stakeholders.[41]

Coordination between the MGCSW and the NMAC was seen to be limited due to a lack of resources that limited the activity of both entities.[42] The MGCSW shared information on the needs of mine/ERW survivors with the National Steering Committee of Disability and the Victim Assistance Technical Working Group in 2014.[43]

As of July 2015, South Sudan had not submitted its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for 2014. It did not make a statement at the Mine Ban Treaty Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in December 2013 in Geneva or at the Third Review Conference in Maputo, Mozambique in June 2014.

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

Representatives of the SSLMVA and other organizations of persons with disabilities were included in the meetings of the VADWG. Survivors and their representative organizations participated in the development of the National Disability and Inclusion Policy (2013), and in the review of the South Sudanese constitution. The National Disability and Inclusion Policy remained in draft form throughout 2014.[44] HI facilitated workshops in Yei County to collect feedback from UPD, LSA, and WWH to contribute towards the development of the national disability policy. All three groups were very actively represented in these workshops.[45]

Survivors employed within the government, especially the NMAA, were included in preparing government transparency reports and statements. In March 2014, survivors employed with the NMAA attended an AU-ICRC workshop held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to advance the implementation of victim assistance obligations arising from various weapons treaties.[46]

Due to a lack of funds, the SSLMVA was largely inactive in regards to the provision of direct assistance to mine/ERW survivors in 2013 and 2014;[47] however, the association collected information about the needs of survivors.[48]

The SSLMVA did coordinate with other DPOs through the VADWG,[49] though this coordination was limited.[50]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[51]

Emergency and continuing medical care

In 2014, the ongoing conflict, attacks on health facilities, and threats against medical personnel narrowed the population’s already limited access to healthcare. When security conditions permitted, the ICRC assisted hospitals in government- and opposition-controlled territory to respond to the influx of armed conflict casualties, including landmine/ERW survivors. The ICRC also supported  hospitals, clinics, and  first-aid posts with supplies, infrastructure improvements, and support from the four ICRC surgical teams.[52] Twenty-eight mine/ERW casualties were admitted to ICRC-supported health facilities.[53] Among survivors and other persons with disabilities surveyed by HI who were in need of disability-related surgery, the main reasons given for the lack of access to these services were costs and the lack of access where they lived.[54]

Physical rehabilitation including prosthetics

The overall rehabilitation capacity in the country was insufficient to meet the demand for these services, with many survivors either unaware of rehabilitation services or unable to access the two available centers because of their distance from survivors’ homes.[55] Indicating the limited extent of available assistance compared to the needs, MGCSW provided daily home visits to 96 survivors while referring 11 survivors to health services.[56]

From the outbreak of hostilities in December 2013 until April 2014, insecurity in Juba and other parts of South Sudan caused the ICRC to stop the Physical Rehabilitation Program or offer services at a reduced level.[57] The ICRC sustained its support for the Reference Center in Juba, for South Sudan’s other rehabilitation center in Rumbek, and also for the rehabilitation unit in Wau in northwestern South Sudan that is staffed by ICRC rehabilitation specialists and which operated one week of every month. Twenty-six mine/ERW survivors received prosthetic or orthotic services through ICRC-supported centers in 2014. This is a decrease of almost half (47%) from 2013 and 2012, when 55 survivors received prostheses each year. Overall, production of prosthetics remained steady.[58]

HI provided rehabilitation equipment to Yei Civil Hospital in 2014 to support basic rehabilitation services. Additionally, HI also provided mobility aids and rehabilitation devices to be used on hospital wards to support early rehabilitation and inpatient care.[59] In October 2014, health and rehabilitation workers based in Yei Civil Hospital completed a short training on basic rehabilitation and provision of mobility devices. HI continued to support two rehabilitation workers with mobility devices and training.[60]

The South Sudan National Commission for War Disabled, Widows and Orphans facilitated physical rehabilitation and medical care for a small number of people who had disabilities due to armed conflict.[61]

Economic inclusion

In 2014, economic inclusion opportunities remained very limited compared with the demand for these programs and the number of survivors and other persons with disabilities in need of work and employment.[62] HI continued to provide training in small business skills to mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities in Yei County that began in 2013 and continued into 2015.[63]

The South Sudan National Commission for War Disabled, Widows and Orphans provided training and income-generating support to a limited number of people  with disabilities due to armed conflict.[64]

Psychological support and social inclusion

No change was reported in the availability or quality of psychological support in 2014; available facilities and trained professionals were very limited. Some survivor associations and DPOs offered peer support to their members.[65] The ICRC offers psychological support when possible to patients at ICRC-supported clinics and hospitals.[66]

In 2014, the International Organization for Migration began a psychosocial support program for civilians in Bor, Jonglei State, focusing on internally displaced persons. The program expanded to Unity State in 2015.[67]

Laws and Policies

The MGCSW began developing a national disability policy in 2011[68] that was scheduled to be reviewed by the cabinet in late December 2013; however, the outbreak of armed conflict on 15 December caused delays.[69] In 2013, South Sudan reported that the development of the policy was pending the ratification of the CRPD.[70] As of mid-2015, the policy was still in parliament awaiting ratification.[71]

Military veterans wounded in armed conflict had access to benefits that were not available to civilian victims of armed conflict, including mine/ERW victims.[72]

As of 15 July 2015, South Sudan had not signed the CRPD.