Casualties Overview

HALO Trust reported 12 mine/ERW casualties in Somaliland in 2015 and revised their 2014 report from 19 casualties to 18. Of the 2015 total, eight casualties were civilians, the other four were soldiers who struck and antitank mine, killing one and injuring the others. In 2015, just under half (five) of the casualties were children, four boys and one girl; all four of the boys were killed, the girl was injured. Of the adult casualties, all but one were male. The one adult woman was injured in the same accident that killed her son.

The 12 casualties in 2015 represented a 33% decrease from the 18 mine/ERW casualties reported by HALO in Somaliland in 2014.[1] It is part of a trend of declining casualties that began in 2007. Since 2012, detailed casualty data has not been available from the Somaliland Mine Action Centre (SMAC), which had reported on annual casualties occurring from 2000–2011.

Between 2000 and the end of 2015, the Monitor identified 959 casualties in Somaliland (242 killed; 691 injured; 26 unknown).[2]

Victim Assistance

The number of mine/ERW survivors in Somaliland is not known, but there were at least 691 as of the end of 2015.

Handicap International (HI) and its partners carried out an assessment to determine the barriers faced by persons with disabilities, including landmine survivors, to participation in elections and voting. This was part of a broad campaign to make Somaliland’s elections inclusive. The campaign has allowed persons with disabilities to register to vote and encouraged them to be stakeholders in the election process—the National Electoral Commission, political parties, and civil society organizations, to make their work inclusive and several public buildings were made accessible as voter registration centers. Inclusion or mainstreaming activities in 2015 included coordination meetings among disabled peoples’ organizations, government ministries, and civil society organizations, as well as directed trainings on mainstreaming hosted by Handicap International and the Disability Action Network (DAN).[3]

The public health sector is very limited in Somaliland. Less than 4% of the annual US$150 million Somaliland budget is allocated for the health sector; the majority of funds cover staff salaries. The majority of healthcare services are provided by the private sector, but with little or no oversight.[4]

The rehabilitation sector was managed by two organizations, the Somaliland Red Crescent Society (SRCS) and DAN. Each used their own network of partners and providers to deliver rehabilitation services. Each ran one of two rehabilitation centers in Hargeisa.[5] DAN also operates regional units in Burao, Borama, and Erigavo. Funding constraints severely restricted DAN’s ability to provide services. Half of DAN’s staff was furloughed, which led to several pursuing other job opportunities; purchases of raw materials were also limited. As a result, DAN focused its resources on providing services to children, at the expense of adults.[6] HI’s support to DAN ended in July 2014.[7] DAN reported that its strategic objectives for 2015–2019 included exploring creative and innovative ways of mobilizing resources for sustainable operations.[8]

The SRCS continued to provide prosthetics and rehabilitation supported by the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) and the Norwegian Red Cross. A tri-partite agreement among SRCS, the Norwegian Red Cross, and the SFD was signed to commit the parties to a three-year capacity-building plan for the SRCS facility in Hargeisa.[9] SRCS Hargeisa staff participated in trainings hosted by the Iranian Red Crescent Society to increase the prosthetic capacity and the physical rehabilitation capacity of the center. Funding for the SRCS facility in Hargeisa has been constant and the SRCS was able to slightly increase the number of people assisted over 2014.

In addition to the services provided by the private sector, the Somaliland government distributes wheelchairs to persons with disabilities.[10] Mental health and psychosocial services are almost non-existent in Somaliland.[11]

In 2013, HI completed its support of a project to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities in Somaliland by increasing the participation of persons with disabilities in rights advocacy and democratic activities implemented by DAN and Somaliland National Disability Forum (SNDF). From April 2013, the project was being supported by the foreign ministry of Germany as part of a wider program to promote the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly women and children.[12]

The Somaliland constitution stipulates that the state is responsible for the health, care, development, and education of persons with disabilities. However, persons with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty and are routinely excluded from education, formal employment, and health services. Persons with physical disabilities are barred from the civil service and the stigma against disability remains strong in Somaliland.[13]

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the Somaliland National Disability Policy in October 2015.[14] The Policy protects the rights of persons with disabilities and builds upon the 2014 presidential decree mandating that all buildings in Somaliland, public and private, make accommodations to enable accessibility for all.[15] Disabled peoples’ organizations used the 2014 decree as the basis for advocacy for physical accessibility and more buildings now have ramps to enable persons in wheelchairs to enter them.[16] The newly adopted policy calls for equal opportunity in employment for persons with disabilities,[17] but implementation of the policy is not clear. In the past, the government has run media awareness campaigns, but the messaging of those campaigns was not consistent with a social model of disability: calling for citizens to “care” for persons with disability rather than empowering them.[18] Since 2008, the Ministry of Education has had guidelines for inclusive education, but these remained unimplemented. Children with disabilities, if they received any education, attended specialized schools.[19]