Summary action points based on findings

• Revise and implement the National Victim Assistance Strategic Plan 2010–2015.
• Include psychosocial support in the victim assistance department’s program.
• Resume victim assistance coordination.
• Ensure that appropriate services are available outside main urban centers, and in particular in areas where survivors live.
• Improve accessibility of buildings.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Yemen is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW). Yemen has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Yemen ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 26 March 2009.

In 2016, the Yemen Mine Action Center (YEMAC) identified 4,003 mine/ERW survivors in Yemen (2,604 men, 600 women, and 799 children).[1] YEMAC Aden reported an additional 566 survivors (528 men, 36 women, and two children) registered in 2016–2017.[2] 

Victim assistance since 2015

Each year, the victim assistance department’s program planned to reach a set number of survivors, though it nearly always fell short of meeting its target. Survivors not assisted through this program have faced significant challenges to access assistance due to the centralization of services in urban centers, far from where most survivors are. Women have faced particular challenges since cultural norms generally require that they travel with a male family member.

The Yemen Association of Landmine Survivors (YALS) is the mine action center’s implementing partner for economic reintegration activities. However, there has generally not been sufficient funding to implement this component as planned. Psychosocial support has never been included in the victim assistance department’s program and has not been widely available in Yemen. Nonetheless, some local NGOs have offered this support when possible, given limited budgets.

No progress was identified in the implementation of the National Victim Assistance Strategic Plan 2010–2015 and survivors did not participate in the coordination and planning of victim assistance.

The ICRC increased its material support to physical rehabilitation centers to respond to higher demand for services for persons with disabilities in need of assistive devices. In 2016, the number of service users in ICRC-supported centers increased by 9% overall, compared with 2015.[3] The Protection and Rehabilitation Fund for Persons with Disabilities, which previously provided medicines on an ongoing basis to 54,000 people, dropped by more than half (54%) in 2015. As a result, 40% of these persons with disabilities in need were no longer receiving medication.[4]

Victim assistance in 2016

Most survivors continued to face significant challenges in accessing services, and all victim assistance implementation activities, including coordination, stopped in 2016, due to the ongoing conflict and the worsening security situation.[5]

Assessing victim assistance needs

The UNDP reported that YEMAC’s victim assistance department screened 4,003 landmine/ERW survivors in 2016, 475 of whom received direct support, including crutches, wheelchairs, and physiotherapy.[6] The UNDP stated that the estimate of total figures is based on collated hospital records and national NGOs, but that the real total is undoubtedly much higher.[7]

In 2015, 365 mine/ERW victims were registered by YEMAC, even though the security situation prevented a victim assistance survey to international standards.[8]

Previously, the last of the regular survey efforts by YEMAC had identified 3,539 landmine survivors in Yemen as of October 2013, with 700 amputees on a waiting list for prosthetic devices.[9]

Victim assistance coordination[10]

Ongoing conflict throughout 2016 caused all victim assistance activities, including coordination, to stop in Yemen. YEMAC delegated coordination with the Ministry of Social Affair’s Disability Fund (MOSUL) to YALS in 2014, but YALS lacked sufficient funding to address basic needs in its residential center, and to respond adequately to the demand for its economic inclusion and psychosocial support programs.[11]

In 2016, no significant progress was made in implementing or replacing the National Victim Assistance Strategic Plan 2010–2015 due to the conflict.[12]

Yemen submitted its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for calendar year 2016, which includes some basic information on victim assistance.[13] Yemen reported that the health and the social affairs ministries, in conjunction with Yemen prosthetics center and international NGOs, conducted support programs for mine victims and trained field workers in providing prosthetic services.[14]

Survivor inclusion

In 2016, the planning and coordination of victim assistance was suspended due to the ongoing conflict, which also led up to 100 local disability organizations to cease operations.[15]

YALS livelihood activities stopped due to lack of funding.[16] As a result, survivors were no longer involved in implementing income-generating projects.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities

Emergency and ongoing medical care

Two years after the conflict in Yemen started, hospitals were running out of supplies and had to deal with disruptions of electricity and water systems. The ongoing conflict dramatically increased demand for emergency and ongoing medical care beyond the capacity of the medical system. In addition to increased demand for emergency medical care, import restrictions and local blockades prevented humanitarian aid, fuel, and medical supplies from reaching populations affected by the conflict.[17] Health facilities were also damaged during the conflict in what were reported to have been targeted attacks. MSF reported multiple attacks on their health facilities.[18] The UN reported that nearly 600 health facilities had ceased operations due to damage or lack of supplies and staff.[19] Conflict injured persons, including mine/ERW survivors, struggled to access emergency and ongoing medical care. Women faced additional challenges accessing medical care due to the lack of gender-sensitive services.[20]

The ICRC supported more than 100 hospitals and health facilities in 17 governorates with donations of medical and surgical supplies in 2016, an increase by two governorates.[21] The ICRC organized war surgery training for 57 surgeons from some 13 governorates.[22] As of May 2017, MSF managed 13 hospitals or health centers and supported another 18 health centers in Yemen.[23] Patients with war-related injuries were treated by MSF in Sa’ada, including victims of mines/ERW. From January to November 2016, 166 war-wounded patients were treated in the emergency room in Abs hospital. Regular training was provided to the medical staff in the MSF-run or -supported hospitals, including emergency care training.[24]

Physical rehabilitation

Poor security conditions and the lack of service providers were key challenges for access to rehabilitation. A lack of female rehabilitation professionals prevented women from accessing needed services.[25] The YEMAC victim assistance officer and support teams consisted of all males, which hindered the identification of women’s and girls’ rehabilitation needs.[26]

In 2016 and through 2017, YEMAC provided survivors with 162 wheelchairs and 22 pairs of crutches. YEMAC also provided physiotherapy services over the same time period.[27]

The ICRC continued to provide support to four rehabilitation centers throughout the country. Approximately 73,600 patients, including 300 mine/ERW survivors, obtained physical rehabilitation services, including assistive and mobility devices from ICRC-supported centers, 10,400 of whom were fitted with prostheses and orthoses.[28] Over 230 prostheses were delivered to mine/ERW survivors in 2016.[29] In all, 36,000 persons received physiotherapy treatment, including 135 mine/ERW survivors. In late 2016, the ICRC began constructing a new rehabilitation center in Sa’ada. The ICRC continued to sponsor formal prosthetics, orthotics, and wheelchair technology training for 19 people.[30]

Handicap International (HI) provided help to mine/ERW survivors and other persons with disabilities.[31] In 2016, HI supported three health facilities in Sana’a to provide physical therapy and delivered mobility aids and assistive devices.[32] HI staff provided physical therapy to people who had limbs amputated and needed to learn to use artificial limbs.[33]

Due to the escalation of the conflict in Yemen, UNICEF extended the geographical coverage of its project. In 2016, 155 children (112 boys; 43 girls) injured by the conflict received medical services including surgery and physical rehabilitation. In addition, UNICEF allocated an emergency fund for the referral and/or direct provision of specialized health services, such as surgery and medical treatment to children with conflict-related injuries and disabilities. However, the emergency fund was not sufficient to meet the needs on the ground.[34]

The MSF hospital in Aden provided some physiotherapy services to war-injured persons in 2016.[35] Save the Children provided 31 mobility aid devices to 31 children.[36]

Economic inclusion

As noted above, in 2016, YALS’ peer-to-peer support and livelihood activities came to an end, as YEMAC stopped being able to provide funding. YALS conducted advocacy activities with the Disability Fund to continue supporting survivors’ education in secondary schools and universities.[37]

The ICRC provided cash grants for small businesses to 100 persons with disabilities, and conducted social-inclusion projects.[38]

Psychological support

The conflict has increased the need for psychological support throughout 2016 and into 2017. Services were unable to meet the demand for counselling, peer support, and other mental health services.[39] MSF increased its mental health and psychosocial support activities across the country, with special attention to war-wounded people.[40] HI provided psychological support to war-wounded persons and their families.[41] Save the Children trained social workers and five local NGOs from Aden and Lahj on psychosocial support, and provided psychosocial support to 64 mine survivors and their families.[42] Like YALS, the Arab Human Rights Foundation ran out of funding in 2016 and could no longer provide any psychosocial support services to mine/ERW survivors.[43]

Laws and policies

Legislation protects the rights of persons with disabilities, but they were poorly enforced and discrimination remained. Although the law mandates that new buildings have access for persons with disabilities, compliance was poor.[44]

The Disability Fund in Sana’a, an independent body under social affairs ministry supervision, remained operational in some areas of the country despite limitations caused by the conflict. It provided limited basic services and supported more than 60 NGOs assisting persons with disabilities.[45]