Summary: State Party Mali ratified the convention on 30 June 2010. Mali has expressed its desire to enact national implementation legislation for the convention and it has participated in most of the convention’s meetings, most recently in 2014. Mali provided an initial transparency report for the convention in May 2016, confirming that it has never produced or stockpiled cluster munitions. Mali states that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Mali signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 30 June 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 December 2010.

Since 2012, government officials have expressed Mali’s desire to incorporate the Convention on Cluster Munitions into domestic law, but in May 2016 Mali reported no national implementation measures.[1]

Mali provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 May 2016, covering calendar year 2015. It has not submitted an update for calendar year 2016, due by 30 April 2017.

Mali actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention and advocated for a total ban on cluster munitions without exception and with immediate effect.[2]

Mali has participated in most Meetings of States Parties to the convention, most recently in 2014. It did not attend the First Review Conference in September 2015, however it participated in one of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, in June 2011. It has attended regional workshops on cluster munitions, most recently in Lome, Togo, in May 2013.

Mali voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2016.[3]

Mali has not yet elaborated its views on certain important issues regarding interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on foreign stockpiling and transit of cluster munitions, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production. During the treaty negotiations Mali argued against including Article 21 on interoperability (relations with states not party).[4]

Mali is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In its initial Article 7 transparency report provided May 2016, Mali confirms that it has never produced or stockpiled cluster munitions.[5] Mali has stated several times that it has never transferred or used cluster munitions.[6]

Casualties  Overview

The Monitor identified 114 mine/ERW casualties in the Republic of Mali in 2016.[1] The majority of the reported casualties in 2016, 82, were military, while 31 were civilian.[2] Adults, 81, made up the majority of casualties and 21 casualties were children.[3] Where the sex was known, the majority of casualties, 53, were male, while five were female.[4]

Of the 82 military casualties, 18 were Malian military personnel and 11 were French military personnel. Twenty-six were UN peacekeepers from the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), including an additional five French military. The majority of incidents occurred in the regions of Kidal, Gao, and Timbuktu.

Thirty-nine casualties were caused by improvised mines. Handicap International (HI), which also reported that improvised mines (victim-activated improvised explosive devices, IEDs) could be activated upon contact or by the weight of a person. To their knowledge, IEDs have been activated both by vehicles (victim-activated) or remotely detonated.[5] The Monitor does not include remotely detonated explosive devices in its records.

HI reported that challenges in data collection meant that casualties are underreported. Some areas are inaccessible due to insecurity, and it therefore is not possible to confirm or follow up on all reports of casualties. Poor communication networks also cause delays in data collection.[6]

The 114 casualties in 2016 represented a decrease on the 167 casualties identified in 2015 and the 144 casualties identified in 2014. The 73% of total casualties in 2016 being military (including armed groups) was in contrast to 2015, when 57% of recorded casualties were civilian.

Most casualties were reported by UNMAS. The Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) recorded casualties from antivehicle mines, including suspected antivehicle mines. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) records casualties of political violence, including explosives such as mines and IEDs.

The Monitor identified a total of 581 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (144 people killed and 437 injured) between 2006 and 2016, all of which occurred after 2006.

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.

Assessing needs

In 2016, Humanity and Inclusion (HI, formerly Handicap International) established a mechanism to collect and share information on mine/ERW survivors. Community-based focal points are identified and trained on the identification and registration process of victims, and local commissions are set up to approve and follow-up on mine/ERW survivors’ action plans.[1] HI also assessed the needs of persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors in areas where it operates, resulting in the provision of assistance to 70 mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities in 2016 and into 2017. During the assessment, HI referred 19 mine/ERW victims to the ICRC and Médecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) for medical and physical rehabilitation support.[2]

Coordination

There was no national coordination of victim assistance in Mali. Victim assistance was included on the agenda of the monthly mine action coordination meetings in 2016, under the auspices of UNMAS.[3] In 2017, UNMAS was planning to conduct an assessment of the situation of and support provided to the mine/ERW survivors registered on the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database.[4]

The Ministry of Social Development and Solidarity Economy is responsible for victim assistance, however it does not have a victim assistance policy.[5] The Ministry of Solidarity, Humanitarian Action, and the Reconstruction of the North is responsible for the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.[6] Other key actors related to victim assistance activities includes: the Ministry of Health, the Civil Protection Central Service, the National Orthopedic Center of Mali (Centre National d'Appareillage Orthopédique, CNAOM), the Regional Orthopedic and Functional Rehabilitation Centers (Centres Régionaux d'Appareillage Orthopédique et de Rééducation Fonctionnelle, CRAORFs), and disabled people’s organizations (DPOs).[7] Persons with disabilities have access to basic healthcare, however protecting the rights of persons with disabilities was not a priority and few resources were available.[8]

In 2017, Mali did not submit its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report for calendar year 2016, nor its Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report for calendar year 2016.

HI, with the support of UNMAS, has been implementing a project since 2014 to assist survivors of incidents caused by explosive weapons, as well as other persons with disabilities, in the regions of Gao and Timbuktu, which are heavily affected by explosive weapons, including mines/ERW.[9] Although HI extended its activities to the Kidal region in 2016 and into 2017, the number of beneficiaries decreased over the same time period.[10]

Medical care

As of 2016, access to medical care in the north remained very limited, due to a lack of medical staff and supplies as well as the security situation.[11] The ICRC provided free medical care to mine/ERW survivors in areas where it operated.[12] The ICRC opened its delegation in Mali in 2013 in response to conflict and other situations of violence.[13] The Gao regional hospital and the Kidal referral center were providing good quality medical care, including to weapon-wounded people, with the support of two ICRC surgical teams.[14]

Following three security incidents in 2016, the ICRC temporarily restricted staff travel outside of towns in the north, which delayed the implementation of some of its activities, as was also the case in 2015.[15]

Rehabilitation, including prosthetics

The volatile security situation in Mali, often prevented persons with disabilities from accessing rehabilitation services.[16] In areas where most survivors live, medical and physical rehabilitation services were barely functional.[17] There are only eight rehabilitation centers in Mali, including two in Bamako, with just 15 prosthetic and orthotic specialists for a total population of 17 million.[18] Four of the eight rehabilitation centers received ICRC’s support in 2016.[19] The state provides support to military mine/ERW survivors, but does not provide support to civilian survivors, who can only rely on the support provided by international and national NGOs.[20] The ICRC identified the major obstacles in the physical rehabilitation sector to be: a lack of qualified personnel, insufficient government funding, and inability of the government to support rehabilitation centers.[21]

In 2016, there was an increase in the number of people who received rehabilitation services at ICRC-supported rehabilitation centers, compared to 2015. In particular, the number of amputees receiving services increased by 12%, and there was also a slight increase in the number of assistive devices delivered by ICRC-supported centers.[22] The ICRC continued to subsidize physical rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities.[23] To improve accessibility to rehabilitation services, the ICRC and the Ministry of Solidarity plan to build a rehabilitation center by January 2020 in Mopti, northern Mali.[24]

Advocacy activities by the ICRC for greater government involvement in the physical rehabilitation sector in Mali resulted in the development and formal approval in 2016 of a national strategy for developing the physical rehabilitation sector.[25]

In 2016 and 2017, HI was no longer providing physical rehabilitation services in Mali.[26]

Social and economic inclusion

HI implemented several inclusive education projects, in Sikasso, Timbuktu, and Gao. In 2017, the government added inclusive education to the national training curriculum of school teachers.[27]

In 2016 and through 2017, HI supported 70 beneficiaries through income-generating activities. Beneficiaries were selected according to their level of vulnerability, with special consideration of the needs of women and children. This was, however, a sharp decrease from 160 beneficiaries in 2015, due to reduced funding. Thirty-one beneficiaries received psychosocial support. With children, HI focused on play activities rather than counselling sessions, in order to respond to their specific needs.[28]

In 2016, the ICRC provided support to the Disability Sports Association.[29]

Laws and policies

There was no specific legislation protecting the rights of persons with disabilities or mandating physical accessibility to public buildings.[30] In June 2016, an advocate for the rights of women with disabilities in Mali reported that Malian women with disabilities often face multiple forms of discrimination due to their gender and being persons with disabilities. Poverty, illiteracy, high unemployment, a high probability of gender-based violence, psychological issues, and stigma were highlighted as serious problems. According to the reporting, Mali needed effective national laws and implement legislation and programs in order to address the rights of all persons with disabilities, and specifically for women and girls.[31]