Summary action points based on findings

• Dedicate increased national and international funding to address the needs and promote the rights of mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors and other persons with disabilities.
• Ensure that broader programs, such as international cooperation for post-conflict reconstruction and poverty reduction, reach the most vulnerable members of society, including survivors and other persons with disabilities.
• Train mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities to advocate for equal opportunities and increased access to assistance.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other ERW who are in need. Guinea-Bissau has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Conventional Weapons Protocol V. It also has victim assistance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Guinea-Bissau ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 24 September 2014.

Victim Assistance

As of December 2016, there were more than 1,426 mine/ERW survivors recorded in Guinea-Bissau.

Victim assistance coordination

The National Mine Action Coordination Center (Centro Nacional de Coordenação da Accão Anti-Minas, CAAMI), the national focal point for victim assistance, continued to find its efforts to coordinate victim assistance largely stymied due to a lack of national or international resources.

As of October 2017, Guinea-Bissau had not reported on progress made towards the implementation of its National Victim Assistance Strategy. At the end of 2013, Guinea-Bissau presented the objectives of the strategy for the first time.[1]

Political instability in 2016 limited victim assistance coordination and planning.[2]

Guinea-Bissau did not make any statements regarding victim assistance at meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2016.

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

In 2016, the Federation for the Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in partnership with Handicap International (HI) started a three-year project supported by the European Union to strengthen the rights of persons with disabilities.[3] The National Assembly, various government ministries, and civil society organizations are participating.[4] Within the framework of this project, organizations of persons with disabilities in six regions of Guinea-Bissau were called upon to submit applications for technical and financial support in June 2017.[5]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Health services are not accessible to large parts of the population and medical personnel is lacking.[6]

Aside from the opening of the Center for Physical Rehabilitation (Centro de Reabilitação Motora, CRM) in the capital in 2011, there has been little progress overall in improving access and quality of assistance to survivors in Guinea-Bissau in recent years due to a lack of funds and of government support. There were few facilities near mine-affected areas, emergency transportation was almost non-existent, and services were further hampered by a lack of communication mechanisms and roads/transport.[7] Through 2016, the CRM remained the only physical rehabilitation center for the country, providing free rehabilitation services for survivors in economic need.[8]

In 2016, people continued to be referred to the CRM through field visits coordinated by the Guinea-Bissau Red Cross and associations of persons with disabilities.[9] The CRM reported increased geographic coverage and increases in numbers of persons served in 2015, including services for women and children.[10] In 2015, the ICRC signed an agreement with the Senegalese mine action authority to provide services to Senegalese mine/ERW survivors in Guinea-Bissau because the rehabilitation center in Ziguinchor has difficulties meeting demand. In 2016, 63 mine/ERW victims from Senegal received prosthetic devices from the CRM.[11]

The ICRC reimbursed the costs for patients, including for mine/ERW survivors who accessed services, provided equipment and materials, and supported on-site technical training programs to improve the quality of the service.[12] In 2016, the CRM treated more than 1,800 patients. It produced 165 prosthetic and orthotic devices for mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities, and provided 62 wheelchairs and 82 pairs of crutches.[13]

The ICRC also continued to promote the social inclusion of persons with disabilities through sports. In 2016, the ICRC donated 21 sports wheelchairs to athletes.[14]

In 2016, HI worked with 20 disabled people’s organizations to build their capacities to assist persons with disabilities.[15]

Article 5 of the constitution of Guinea-Bissau prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities, but implementation was weak. There was no law mandating access to public buildings and no efforts were made to ensure access to buildings or streets.[16] Some mine survivors were eligible to receive pensions for persons with disabilities from the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Poverty Reduction (MSSPR).[17] Former military personnel with disabilities received pensions from the Ministry of Defense and Ex-Combatants, but these programs did not adequately address health, housing, or food needs.[18]

Guinea-Bissau has a federation for inclusive sports supported by the ICRC, which has participated in international sporting events.[19]

In 2014, Guinea-Bissau ratified the CRPD; the MSSPR is the focal point for the convention’s implementation. In early 2015, the rights of children with disabilities featured prominently in Guinea-Bissau’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in the UN Human Rights Council, with a number of recommendations concerning reducing discrimination against children with disabilities.[20] The civil society submission to the UPR reported that persons with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged in all regards. They experience neglect within their communities and throughout the whole system such as health, education, and social protection. The submission recommended that Guinea-Bissau adopt sectoral plans for the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.[21] Plan International and HI operated inclusive schools in addition to the two national schools for visually and hearing-impaired students.[22]