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Treaty Status | Management & Coordination | Impact (contamination & casualties) | Addressing the Impact (land release, risk education, victim assistance)

Country summary

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is extensively contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). The Northern province is by far the most affected, though limited contamination remains in the Eastern province, and in Northcentral, Northwestern, and Western provinces. The north of the country was the focus of three decades of armed conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which ended in May 2009.Both sides made extensive use of mines, including belts of P4 Mk I and Mk II blast antipersonnel mines laid by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), and long defensive lines with a mixture of mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) laid by the LTTE.[1] Indian Peacekeeping Forces also used mines during their presence from July 1987 to January 1990.[2]

Sri Lanka had initially projected completion of mine clearance by the end of 2020. However, it reported that insufficient levels of international funding combined with identification of 2.88km² ofnew contamination during 2019 meant that the clearance completion date had been pushed beyond 2020.[3] Sri Lanka anticipates completion of clearance by 2025.[4]

It has been reported that since 2009, three mine clearance organizations have cleared cluster munition remnants, including unexploded submunitions, from at least six different sites in the north of Sri Lanka.[5] The time period when the contamination occurred was not identified.

Risk education and victim assistance in Sri Lanka are coordinated by the National Mine Action Center (NMAC) and relevant government ministries, with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).[6] Since 2010, the phasing out of services by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Humanity & Inclusion (HI), and UNICEF resulted in a decrease in the availability of victim assistance.[7] Rehabilitation services continued to provide prosthetics and were expanded in 2019.

Treaty status

Treaty status overview

According to Sri Lanka’s National Mine Action Strategy 2016–2020, the National Mine Action Center (NMAC) had initially anticipated that clearance would be completed in 2020. However, this target was contingent upon receiving a projected amount of funding which was not obtained. This was combined with the identification of new contamination in 2019 which led NMAC to project that clearance would be completed beyond 2020, although not later than 2025.[8]

Management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination overview

Coordination

The Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement, and Hindu Religious Affairs became the lead agency for mine action in 2015, as chair of the inter-ministerial National Steering Committee for Mine Action (NSCMA). This body sets policy and manages linkages within the government, the mine action community, and donors.[9] Its policies and decisions are implemented by the NMAC, which was set up in 2010. The role of the NMAC is to liaise with government ministries and development partners regarding mine action, as well as to develop a strategic plan and production of annual workplans. The NMAC is also responsible for accrediting mine action operators, setting national standards, and acting as the secretariat of NSCMA.[10]

Clearance operations are coordinated, tasked, and quality managed by a Regional Mine Action Office (RMAO) in Kilinochchi, working in consultation with District Steering Committees for Mine Action. The committees are chaired by government agents heading district authorities.[11]

Under its National Mine Action Strategy for 2016–2020, the government of Sri Lanka intends to convene steering committee meetings for mine action up to twice per year at national level and at three regional levels, one for Eastern province and two for Northern province.[12]

Information management

Sri Lanka’s Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) was updated in 2015 and had since undergone substantial and continuing improvements, including the correction of erroneous data and updating the database on the basis of re-survey results, leading to a more accurate representation of remaining contamination.[13]

Risk education management and coordination

Risk education management and coordination overview

Coordination

UNICEF works with NMAC in order to support risk education activities which is conducted within schools through the Ministry of Education and at community level through local NGOs.[14]

Victim assistance management and coordination

Victim assistance management and coordination overview[15]

Coordination between the mine action sector and other relevant state entities, particularly the National Disability Council and the Ministry of Health required improvement.[16]

The ministries of defense, education, health, and social services, and the Directorate of Rehabilitation coordinate victim assistance services.[17] The National Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities sits under the Ministry of Social Services and the Ministry of Social Welfare. It works to promote, improve and ensure the rights of persons with disabilities through guidance, support, coordination, implementation, and monitoring of development activities.[18]

UNICEF supported NMAC in coordinating and providing victim assistance.[19] UNICEF supports the Ministry of Social Services in implementing a national level coordination mechanism on assisting children with disabilities. This coordination mechanism includes government ministries, UNICEF, and NGOs.[20]

Laws and policies

Disability legislation, Act No. 28 of 1996 addresses access to education, employment and physical accessibility to public places.

Sri Lanka’s National Action Plan for 2019–2021 contains two commitments towards persons with disabilities. Commitment No. 8 aims to minimize the economic and social disadvantages faced by persons with disabilities by providing disability-friendly housing facilities to 3,200 identified low-income families by 2020. Commitment No. 9 is to formulate a Disability Rights Bill with public participation in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The goal was to have this bill enacted by parliament before the end of 2020.[21]

Various laws prohibit discrimination against any person disabilities in employment, education, air travel, other public transportation, and access to health care. In practice, however, discrimination occurred in employment, education, and provision of state services, including public transportation. There were regulations on accessibility, but accommodation for access to buildings and public transportation for persons with disabilities was rare. Children with disabilities attended school at a lower rate than other persons.[22]

Impact

Contamination

Contamination overview (as of December 2019)[23]

Note: CHA=Confirmed Hazardous Area; ERW=explosive remnants of war; and SHA=suspected hazardous area.

Landmine contamination

Mine contamination remains in the Northern, Eastern and North-Central provinces with a total of 285 confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs) and nine suspected hazardous areas (SHAs).[24] The most significant mine contamination is found in the Northern Province, which was the scene of intense fighting during the civil war. By the end of 2019, there were 275 CHAs totaling 20.31km² and nine SHAs totaling 1.39km² in the north. In the Eastern Province, there were seven CHAs which totaled 0.31km², while three CHAs totaling 0.16km² remained in the North Central Province.[25]

The total amount of CHAs and SHAs has increased slightly since 2017 as a result of the livelihood activities of resettled internally displaced persons (IDPs) identifying new SHAs. Technical survey was conducted in these new areas and the CHAs were added to the total contamination figure.[26]

The SLA used both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, with all use said to have been recorded.[27] Operators have encountered a wide range of LTTE devices, including antipersonnel mines with anti-tilt and anti-lift mechanisms. Tripwire-activated Claymore-type mines and, to a lesser extent, antivehicle mines, were also used by the LTTE, along with a number of improvised devices.[28]

It is estimated that 80% of those living in contaminated rural areas in the north of the country are farmers or fishermen who rely directly on the land to survive. Continued contamination is therefore increasing disparity in wealth and development between the north and south of the country.[29]

Cluster munition remnant contamination

Since 2009, three mine demining organizations had cleared cluster munition remnants, including unexploded submunitions, from at least six different sites in the north of the country.[30] A report quoted an operator, who said it could not be determined who used the cluster munitions or when, but said they could have been used “any time within the last three decades.”[31] Sri Lanka’s initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report submitted in 2019 and its subsequent 2020 transparency report stated that there was no cluster munition contamination.[32]

ERW contamination

Sri Lanka remains contaminated with a wide range of ERW, including unexploded air-dropped bombs, artillery shells and missiles, mortar bombs, handheld anti-tank projectiles, and rifle and hand grenades. Large caches of abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) also exist, particularly in the north.[33] These are being cleared concurrently to the remaining minefields.[34]

Casualties

Casualties overview[35]

Casualties in 2019: details

Ten mine/ERW casualties were recorded in 2019. Two women deminers were injured. Sri Lanka reported another eight casualties recorded in the IMSMA database.[36]

From 1999 to the end of 2019, the Monitor identified 1,195 casualties in Sri Lanka (144 killed; 579 injured; 472 unknown). In April 2010, it was reported that since the 1980s there were a total of 21,993 mine casualties, including 1,419 civilian returnees; 3,770 recorded amputees among the armed forces, police, and civil defense forces; and 16,804 mine casualties among the non-state armed group, LTTE.[37] In 2015, UNICEF reported that since the 1980s some 22,177 mine/ERW casualties had been recorded, including 1,603 civilian casualties. However, from 2006 to 2009 accurate casualty information was difficult to access due to ongoing conflict, likely resulting in under-reporting.[38]

No cluster munition casualties have been recorded in Sri Lanka by the Monitor. In 2019, the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) published a report including casualties and injuries from what were described as cluster munitions. However, the weapon was reported with the designation of OFAB 500 ShR, a parachute-retarded aerial bomb with multiple warheads which, due to its size and weight does not meet the Convention on Cluster Munitions definition of a cluster munition.[39] This designation was consistent with reporting and images from use of OFAB 500 ShR in 2008.[40]

Addressing the impact

Mine action

Operators and service providers

Clearance operators[41]

Clearance

Land release overview[42]

Land release: landmines

Since humanitarian mine action clearance began in 2002 up until 31 July 2020, Sri Lanka has reported releasing 4,775 areas totaling 1,290.85km².[43]

Estimates of total contamination fell sharply between 2010– 2018: from 506km² at the end of 2010 to just under 26km² as of July 2018.[44] The size of the contaminated area then plateaued slightly, with a combined suspected and confirmed hazardous area of some 22km² remaining at the end of 2019.[45] Batticaloa district in Eastern province was the first to be declared free of the threat of mines in June 2017.[46]

Sri Lanka has estimated that the annual funding requirement of sustaining its national mine action program at the existing level is approximately US$20 million.[47]

Risk education

Operators and service providers

Risk education operators[48]

From January 2009 to the end of 2019, around 562,500 community members have received risk education messaging.[49]

Community liaison teams from national risk education organizations, such as Caritas Valvuthayam, People Vision, Rural Development Foundation, Sarvodaya, and Social Organisation for Development (SOND), conduct risk education under the auspices of the NMAC.[50]

Women and schoolgirls work with the national risk education organizations to reach out to families and act as peer group influencers.[51]

Target groups

NMAC considers people from the south of Sri Lanka and visiting the north and east of the country to be at risk from mines and other ERW. Specific livelihoods such as scrap metal collectors, firewood collectors and farmers are also considered high risk.[52]

Delivery methods

The NMAC does not usually permit international NGOs to deliver risk education.[53] Age-appropriate risk education has been incorporated into the school curriculum in the northern and eastern provinces.[54]

Marking

The areas known or suspected to contain antipersonnel mines have all been prominently marked with signs and signboards displayed in the Sinhala, Tamil, and English languages. Signs are maintained and replaced on a regular basis.[55]

Victim assistance

Victim assistance providers and activities[56]

Needs assessment

Sri Lanka had no needs assessment or data on indirect victims of mines/ERW.

Medical care and rehabilitation

Sri Lanka reported that as the major component of the victim assistance program, medical care in the country had made significant improvement in its services and that people with traumatic lower limb injuries from causes such as antipersonnel mines or ERW, received adequate services.[57]

The Jaffna Jaipur Centre for Disability Rehabilitation (JJCDR) provided prosthetics using ICRC technology, rehabilitation and socioeconomic support, as well as visited amputees at the government-run Jaffna Teaching Hospital for post amputation care. It also made field visits to mine/ERW survivors, people with disabilities from war related causes and other persons with disabilities to refer them for services. The JJCDR was established informally in 1987 to provide prosthetics to civilian war victims, and was officially registered in 2001. In September 2020, a special discussion was held at the JJCDR on its sustainability and during which a “dire need” for follow up on future resourcing was recognized.[58]

Sri Lanka reported the following rehabilitation hospitals as operating in the country and that provided physical rehabilitation, including to landmine survivors: Digana Rehabilitation Hospital; Jayanthipura Rehabilitation Hospital; Kandagolla Rehabilitation Hospital; Maliban Rehabilitation Hospital; and Ragama Rheumatology & Rehabilitation Hospital. A state-of-the-art rehabilitation unit was constructed at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.[59]

The Jaffna Teaching Hospital is the only hospital in the province run by the central government in Colombo. In July 2019, the Sabah Al Ahmad Center for Physical Rehabilitation was opened at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The project was funded by the Kuwait Red Crescent at the request of the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka.[60]

Caritas Valvuthayam Mannar works directly with NMAC in providing victim assistance services. The organization provides prosthetics and mobility devices through Mannar Rehabilitation Center. It ran an outreach program to areas including Kilinochchi, Mullaithievu, and Puttalam.[61]

The Ranaviru Sevana Rehabilitation Centre is a government-run center that provides physical rehabilitation, social support, economic inclusion, and other assistance to disabled veterans.[62]

Sri Lanka reported that mental health services are available in the Northern Province and the mental health network has improved. Basic counselling services were available and being further developed.[63]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

HI conducted the project “INSPIRE”, supported by the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Foundation for Children, which organizes fun and sporting activities for children and young people, in particular those with disabilities.

There is a general absence of efforts to guarantee the right of persons with disabilities, including landmine survivors, to live independently and to be included in the community, particularly in rural areas.[64]