Croatia
Casualties
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Casualties[1] |
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All known mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (between 1991 and 2017) |
At least 1,987 casualties (515 killed; 1,441 injured; 31 unknown)[2] |
Casualties in 2017—details
There were no mine/ERW casualties in the Republic of Croatia in 2017. Croatia reported that 2017 was the first year since it became contaminated by mines/ERW in the 1990s that there were no mine victims. Croatia has reported that the last child antipersonnel mine casualty was reported in 2004, and the last civilian antipersonnel mine casualty was in 2014.[3]
Since 2008, there have been 28 deminer casualties and 20 other civilian casualties mine/ERW casualties. In 2016, there were seven casualties from antipersonnel mines in Croatia, all of whom were deminers.[4] In 2015, there were three casualties from antipersonnel mines, and as in 2016, all were deminers.[5] In 2014, two casualties were recorded in one ERW incident.[6]
The Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC) reported at least 1,987 mine/ERW casualties between 1991 and the end of 2017 (515 killed; 1,441 injured; 31 unknown).[7]
Cluster munition casualties
There were at least 241 cluster munition casualties in Croatia. The last new submunition casualties were reported in 2013. In September 2013,three members of the Demining Battalion of the Engineering Regiment were involved in an accident (one deminer was killed and two injured)during clearance of scattering ordnance, including submunitions, at the site of an unplanned ammunition storage explosion in Pađene.[8] Between 1993 and 2013, 35 casualties of unexploded submunitions were reported. Between 1993 and 1995, at least 206 casualties occurred during cluster munition strikes in Croatia.[9]
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, casualty data for 2017 is based on Croatia’s Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, March 2018, p. 63.
[2] Emails from Marta Kovačević, Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC), 3 April 2017; and from Hrvoje Debač, Deputy Director,CROMAC, 31 March 2015, and 31 April 2016; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2015), Form J.
[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, March 2018, p. 7. The Monitor database indicates that the last antipersonnel mine casualty was reported in 2013.
[4] Email from Marta Kovačević, CROMAC, 3 April 2017.
[5] Email form Hrvoje Debač, CROMAC, 31 April 2016.
[6] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2014), Form J.
[7] Emails from Marta Kovačević, CROMAC, 3 April 2017; and from Hrvoje Debač, CROMAC, 31 March 2015, and 31 April 2016; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2015), Form J. Croatia reported that there were 44 casualties between 2008 and 2017. Note: there is a small discrepancy between this and the Monitor data, which shows a total of 48, including three mine clearance personnel reported as injured in an unexploded submunition accident in 2013. Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline Extension Request, March 2018, pp. 57–63; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report (for the calendar year 2013), Form H.
[8] As noted above, these casualties seem not to have been included in the CROMAC total. See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report (for the calendar year 2013), Form H.
[9] Handicap International (HI), Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels: HI, May 2007), p. 65; and CROMAC casualty data provided by email from Goran Gros, CROMAC, 23 April 2008. CROMAC recorded 32 casualties from incidents involving unexploded submunitions between 1993 and 2007. All known unexploded submunition casualties were included in CROMAC casualty data.