Casualties Overview

In 2011, the Monitor identified 19 casualties from mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW).[1] Of the total, 16 causalities were civilians; most were children (15), making up 94% of civilian casualties, and one was an adult man.[2] There were three casualties among security forces.

This represents a significant decrease from 2010 when 52 casualties were identified, but this figure is the same as in 2009 when 19 casualties were also identified.[3] As in previous years, the Yemen Mine Action Center (YEMAC) did not have access to most districts within the governorate of Sada’a, an area heavily affected by conflict, nor to other parts of the country affected by conflict in 2011.[4] The sharp variation between 2010 and 2011 was due to difficulties in collecting data, given the increasing violence throughout the country, as opposed to a change in the rate of casualties.

Through the end of 2011, there were at least 5,522 mine/ERW casualties identified in Yemen.[5] A Landmine Impact Survey had identified 4,904 casualties through July 2000, of which 2,560 people were killed and 2,344 were injured.[6] In 2010, it was reported in the media that there were 35,000 mine/ERW casualties in Yemen since 1995.[7]

Casualties continued to be recorded in 2012 at a much higher rate than in 2011, though media reports tended to over-report casualties occurring in the midst of the conflict.[8] Based on Monitor analysis of available casualty data, between January and July of 2012 there were believed to be 162 mine/ERW casualties, including 110 children, 42 civilian adults, and 10 casualties among deminers[9] during clearance operations.[10]

This significant increase over the same period in 2011 was, at least in part, attributed to suspected new use of mines in Sana’a in 2011 and in Sada’a and Abyan governorates in 2012. The Monitor was able to confirm casualties in at least two of these areas of suspected new use. A 10-year-old boy was injured by an antipersonnel landmine at the Ministry of Industry building in the Hassaba neighborhood in Sana’a on 4 March 2012, an area of suspected new use.[11] Another 16 mine/ERW casualties were confirmed by YEMAC in Abyan in a period of just three weeks in June and July, in an area where suspected mine use by non-state armed groups was reported.[12]

There was a credible (but unconfirmed) report of a cluster munition strike in Yemen in December 2009 that killed 55 people, including 14 women and 21 children.[13] No other cluster munition casualties have been reported.

Victim Assistance

Yemen is known to have landmine survivors and survivors of other types of ERW. As a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, Yemen has made a commitment to implementing victim assistance.

As of the December 2011, YEMAC had registered 2,494 mine/ERW survivors.[14]

Victim assistance in 2011

Nearly all victim assistance activities were reduced or suspended in 2011 as a result of increased armed violence in several regions of the country. Most mine/ERW survivors were unable to access services due to heightened insecurity, which restricted movement as well as a lack of service providers and the overall limitations caused by poverty. A lack of female professionals meant that many women in need of services had no access to them.[15]

Assessing victim assistance needs

In 2011, YEMAC carried out limited needs assessments of a small number of mine/ERW survivors; medical surveys were carried out for 80 survivors in 56 villages in mine-affected areas. It was projected that survivors from 182 villages would be surveyed during the year, but as in 2010, security concerns prevented victim assistance teams from accessing some regions of the country.[16] YEMAC continued to regularly update casualty information when it recorded information about new mine/ERW incidents, including information about victim assistance services received.[17] However, in 2011 security concerns prevented YEMAC from collecting data in areas of the country where the greatest number of mine/ERW casualties occur.

Victim assistance coordination[18]

No multi-stakeholder victim assistance coordination meetings were held in 2011 as the Victim Assistance Advisory Committee remained inactive. YEMAC reported holding bilateral coordination meetings with the Yemen Association of Landmine Survivors (YALS) to promote survivor inclusion.[19] However, YALS found the coordination process with YEMAC to be weak in 2011.[20]

Yemen provided details of its victim assistance program in its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for 2011.[21] It did not provide any updates on progress or challenges for victim assistance at the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in December 2011 or at the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2012.

Survivor Inclusion

There was no active planning or monitoring of victim assistance activities in which mine/ERW survivors could participate, though there was some limited coordination between YEMAC and YALS in the implementation of victim assistance.[22] Due to the suspension of victim assistance activities during 2011, including those of YALS, the inclusion of survivors in the implementation of victim assistance was reduced accordingly.[23]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[24]

Government support for medical care was reduced during 2011, while their support for physical rehabilitation and general disability issues was suspended half-way through the year.[25] International organizations, such as the ICRC and Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières) made efforts to increase emergency relief, but planned activities were hampered by security conditions which also prevented access to certain parts of the country.[26] National NGOs, such as YALS, also suspended their activities or could not access many mine/ERW survivors living in areas of the country where violence was ongoing and increasing.[27]

The ICRC continued to provide support to four rehabilitation centers throughout the country, but plans to start construction of a new rehabilitation center in Sa’ada were suspended due to security issues.[28] The Aden Rehabilitation Center improved the quality of prosthetics produced, with two technicians having completed advanced training. However, services to mine/ERW survivors decreased since many were living in areas affected by conflict preventing their access to the center. Increased funding was needed to maintain gender- and age-appropriate services at the center.[29]

YALS, one of the few providers of psychological support for mine survivors, and the only organization providing peer support, suspended its operations in 2011.[30] The Arab Human Rights Foundation (AHRF) continued to provide psychosocial support to mine survivors.[31]

No economic inclusion activities were reported in 2011.YALS had funding to provide support to 40 survivors to start livelihood projects when activities resume in 2012.[32]

The law protects the rights of persons with disabilities, but discrimination remained. No national law mandated accessibility of buildings for persons with disabilities.[33]

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