Action points based on findings

• Increase the number of prosthetic and orthotic centers to cover all regions and meet the need for affordable mobility devices.
• Fund the sustainable capacity of national disability umbrella organizations to represent the rights of persons with disabilities, including survivors.
• Create economic inclusion opportunities for mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors, as well as other persons with disabilities, in physically accessible facilities.

Victim assistance commitments

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is responsible for landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other ERW. Ethiopia has made a commitment to victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Ethiopia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 7 July 2010.

Casualties

Casualties Overview

No mine/ERW casualties were identified in 2015.[1]

The last identified (mine) casualties were in 2010, when two deminers were injured.[2]

There were at least 16,849 casualties (9,431 killed; 7,401 injured; and 17 for whom the outcome was unknown) through the end of 2013. Between 2004 and the end of 2014, the Monitor identified 233 casualties (90 killed; 126 injured; 17 unknown).[3] The most complete single data source remains the Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) completed in 2004, which recorded 16,616 mine/ERW casualties (9,341 killed; 7,275 injured).[4]

Cluster munition casualties

At least 272 casualties occurred during the use of cluster munitions in Mekele and Adigrat in 1998.[5] No unexploded submunition casualties were recorded.

Victim Assistance

There are at least 7,401 known mine survivors.[6] The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Ethiopia is unknown as there is no centralized data collection; many survivors, particularly veterans, live in urban locations, including the capital, which were not surveyed by the LIS.[7]

Victim assistance under the Cartagena Action Plan 2010–2014

There was an overall gradual increase of the availability of services in rural and remote areas, however, many survivors and other persons with disabilities continued to live in poverty and far from existing facilities, which prevented them from accessing these services.

Improvements were made in healthcare coverage and emergency response through long-term health sector development plans linked to Ethiopia’s poverty reduction strategy. Throughout the period of victim assistance monitoring, physical rehabilitation was limited and services were concentrated in urban areas. Improvements in the quality and accessibility of physical rehabilitation services were reported since 2009, though challenges in accessibility remained. Most service users, particularly people with disabilities living in rural areas, had difficulty in getting to physical rehabilitation centers and had hardly any access to services.

Throughout the period, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) was responsible for national coordination of the physical rehabilitation sector and for issues concerning persons with disabilities more broadly, while services were coordinated by the regional Bureaus of Labor and Social Affairs offices (BoLSA) with support from the ICRC. MoLSA’s coordination of the disability sector, including victim assistance, improved markedly since 2009 and was prioritized in the development of strategies and plans. In the period before 2009, victim assistance and disability issues were not prioritized in Ethiopia because of critical development conditions overall, poor coordination among key actors, and a lack of capacity. The adoption of the National Plan of Action on Disability 2012–2021 was a critical step in increasing progress in victim assistance and upholding the rights of persons with disabilities more generally.

Psychosocial support and economic reintegration services, mostly operated by NGOs, remained limited and were inadequate to deal with the needs of mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities. The availability of economic inclusion services was significantly reduced from 2009 due to the closure of Landmine Survivors Network/Survivor Corps Ethiopia. In 2014, former Landmine Survivors Network staff established the Survivors Recovery and Rehabilitation Organization (SRaRO) to provide limited psychosocial support to landmine survivors and amputees.[8]

Victim assistance in 2015

In 2015, three new government-run prosthetic and orthopedic centers opened to provide more services to mine and ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities. Those gains in service provision were matched by a decline in the availability of similar services being offered by NGOs. Service quality is less than ideal due to a shortage of staffing for all centers.

Assessing victim assistance needs

No national assessment activities took place in 2015. The Ethiopian Center for Disability and Development (ECDD) conducted a survey of the inclusiveness of family planning and reproductive health services to assess the current level of usage of such services by persons with disabilities and identify the barriers encountered. The survey was limited to three areas.[9] There is also a Baseline Survey on the Status of Inclusive Education Practice in the Educational System in Addis Ababa that is under way.[10]

SRaRO along with Strategic Partner Group (SPG) joined the survey on the availability and usage of inclusive education in Addis Ababa.[11]

Victim assistance coordination[12]

Ethiopia has reported that there is no specific victim assistance program and that the needs of mine/ERW survivors are addressed through programs for persons with disabilities more generally.[13]

MoLSA is responsible for issues relating to persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors, and is the international focal point for victim assistance. However, there is no single point of contact for disability issues within MoLSA. BoLSAs in each region of the country managed disability-related issues in a regional context using a MoLSA policy framework.[14] BoLSAs are responsible for coordinating both public and private services for persons with disabilities in their respective regions. MoLSA developed national policies with the input of the BoLSAs. Other relevant ministries also have disability departments. MoLSA is the focal point for implementation of the CRPD and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission is tasked with the supervision of MoLSA’s implementation, just as the commission is responsible for supervision of other human rights treaties. To assist with implementation of the convention, MoLSA established a committee with representatives from relevant ministries and members of civil society. Ethiopia’s federal model of government has meant that each region of the country is also involved in implementation and in the South Nations, Nationalities and Peoples State, a region-specific task force of 14 government agencies and six disabled people’s organization (DPOs) has been established. DPOs are also able to participate in the implementation process through the National Council of Persons with Disabilities both as individual organizations and through the Federation of Ethiopian National Associations of People with Disabilities (FENAPD), an umbrella organization.[15]

The National Council of Persons with Disabilities was responsible for coordinating, evaluating, and monitoring the implementation of the CRPD. Council members were drawn from relevant ministries, NGOs, DPOs, and other stakeholders.[16]

There are three national strategic plans relevant to victim assistance: the second Growth and Transformation Plan, 2015/16–2019/20; the National Plan of Action on Disability, 2012–2021; and a five-year National Physical Rehabilitation Strategy. The National Physical Rehabilitation Strategy was included in the National Social Welfare Policy in 2010 and a plan of action for the practical implementation of the National Physical Rehabilitation Strategy was drafted and under discussion in 2012.[17] Under the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II), availability of physical rehabilitation services is expected to increase such that the number of people receiving services will triple by the conclusion of the plan.[18]

Ethiopia did not provide any updates on victim assistance within the national disability framework at the Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties of the Mine Ban Treaty or its intersessional meetings in 2015. Ethiopia has not reported on victim assistance in Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reporting since 2009.[19]

Participation and inclusion in victim assistance

Representatives of DPOs were included in coordination activities of MoLSA and the National Council of Persons with Disabilities and as members of various technical committees.[20] In January 2014, MoLSA and a national NGO, Yitawekilgn Yeakal Gudatagnoch Mehiber (YYGM), held consultations about the development of a proposal for establishing a national landmine survivors association, and in June 2016, YYGM obtained formal registration as a charity.[21] However, since Landmine Survivors Network/Survivor Corps closed down in 2009, survivors were not specifically represented in coordination.[22] Mine/ERW survivors were active members of DPOs operating in the country.[23]

Persons with disabilities were included among the staff and volunteers and in the implementation of services of many NGOs and DPOs. There was progress and improvement in the participation of persons with disabilities and DPOs in coordination, but it was still generally believed that not enough had been done to ensure the active involvement of persons with disabilities. More consultation with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations was needed, as well as their more active involvement in relevant decision-making processes at all levels.[24]

Mine/ERW survivors were not included on delegations at international meetings in 2015.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[25]

Medical care and rehabilitation

Many hospitals in Addis Ababa, including Zewditu Hospital, the city’s largest public facility, are inaccessible to persons with physical disabilities.[26]

Physical rehabilitation including prosthetics

Ethiopia lacks enough physical rehabilitation centers to meet demand. There were at least 14 functioning centers, the four government-run prosthetic and orthotic centers, four centers run by CSE (three of which provide prosthetic and orthopedic services), and nine ICRC-supported facilities. MoLSA also has plans for the construction of two more facilities.[27] The physical rehabilitation services available in the country were limited and remain concentrated in the urban areas. Owing to their isolated geographical situation, most persons with disabilities living in rural areas had hardly any access to physical rehabilitation services and those in most need had great difficulty in getting to the rehabilitation centers.[28] CSE operates a mobile rehabilitation clinic from each of its four facilities and mobile services are available up to 100 kilometers from the home facility. MoLSA, with technical advice from the ICRC, continued to work on plans to implement the national physical rehabilitation strategy. These included establishing a training structure for prosthetic/orthotic technicians at an existing college and developing a national supply chain for orthotic and prosthetic materials.[29] 

In 2015, three new prosthetic and orthopedic production centers came online in Oromia, Gambela, and Benshangul-Gumuz states. Plans are in place for facilities to open in Somalia and Affar. According to MoLSA, 80% of the planned services for 2015—including physical rehabilitation services, prosthetics, wheelchairs, and repairs—were provided, an increase from 2014 when MoLSA only met 40% of its targets.[30]

To improve the quality of rehabilitation services, MoLSA is training orthopedic technologists and physiotherapists and developing supply chains to ensure the availability of imported materials.[31] CSE reported a significant decrease in victim assistance services due to a reduction of funds that limited the range of the mobile outreach teams from a 350-kilometer radius of operations (700 kilometers for CSE’s main facility at Menagesha Rehabilitation Center) to a 100-kilometer radius from all facilities.[32]

HI continued its national rehabilitation project assisting nine hospitals. HI closed down operations in the Dollo Ado camps for Somali refugees in the Ethiopia Somali region and started new operations in three camps in the Gambella region, which serve refugees from Sudan and South Sudan.[33]

The ICRC’s priority areas for implementation of the National Physical Rehabilitation Strategy included the development of a national supply chain for importing orthopedic components and raw materials as well as establishing a permanent training structure for prosthetic and orthotic technicians. In 2015, negotiations and planning with Addis Ababa University progressed significantly towards the establishment of a degree program in prosthetics and orthotics that would meet the need.[34]

Economic and social inclusion

Some improvements in the quality of economic inclusion and psychological assistance for mine/ERW survivors were reported. However, the need for services remained far greater than the support and assistance available. There were few employment or training opportunities for persons with disabilities and few centers that offered physically-accessible facilities.[35]

The ECDD launched the Threshold Project with support from the Threshold Association of Finland to make higher education in Ethiopia inclusive. Working with Addis Ababa University, Hawasa University, and Mekele University, the project raises awareness about disability and provides peer support and assistance for students with disabilities.[36]

Economic opportunities for landmine survivors and persons with disabilities remained limited. ECDD’s Threshold Project provides job searching and entrepreneurship training for graduating university students with disabilities. ECDD also ran six projects focusing on skills training and improving access to formal and self-employment.[37] Some BoLSAs provide credit schemes and revolving funds to persons with disabilities to help income-generating activities.[38] In Dire Dawa, HI supported landmine survivors and persons with disabilities through a livelihoods program.[39]

Ethiopia has at least nine community-based rehabilitation programs.[40] However, the support that these programs offered to mine/ERW survivors continued to be limited due to funding constraints.[41] The ICRC hosted wheelchair basketball camps for players and coaches from five regions.[42]

MoLSA partnered with SRaRO to host an event on the International Day for Mine Action and Awareness in order to highlight the importance of partnerships between NGOs and the government to provide survivor assistance and reduce landmine casualties to zero.[43]

Psychological support

The Survivors Rehabilitation and Recovery Organization provides peer support counseling in hospitals and homes of clients who have been affected by all forms of trauma.[44] MoLSA reported 4,300 persons with disabilities received some form of counseling, including peer support.[45] As part of the package of services offered in the Gambella refugee camps, HI is planning to provide psychological support, but those activities have not yet begun.[46]

Laws and policies

The Charities and Societies Proclamation of February 2009 forbids international and Ethiopian Resident Charity NGOs operating on disabilities from engaging in advocacy on human rights issues, including promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, if they receive more than 10% of their funding from foreign sources. During the June 2014 meetings of the CRPD, the executive director of the Ethiopian Center for Disabilities and Development, Yetnebersh Nigussie, pointed out that because of the law, there is no mechanism for ensuring accountability for Ethiopia’s laws that mandate inclusion of persons with disabilities. Nigussie described the “checklist” devised by Ethiopia’s parliament to hold decision-makers accountable for inclusion of persons with disabilities, but noted that without a civil society to use that checklist, the government’s actions are ineffective for promoting inclusion.[47]

Ethiopian law mandates building-accessibility and accessible toilet facilities for persons with physical disabilities, although specific regulations that define the standards were not adopted.  During the May 2015 national elections, election observers from the African Union noted that most polling stations were physically accessible and voters requiring assistance always received such assistance, either from a person of the voter’s choosing or a member of the polling center staff.[48]