Serbia

2008 Key Data

Ten-Year Summary

The Republic of Serbia assumed the treaty commitments of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro, which became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 March 2004. Serbia’s 2006 Criminal Code makes possession of antipersonnel mines a crime. Serbia destroyed its stock of 1.2 million mines in May 2007. It initially retained 5,565 mines for training purposes, but reduced that to 3,589 mines in 2008. Serbia served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction from 2006–2008. Until 2006, there were instances of discoveries of mines, and occasional mine incidents, but it was not clear if these represented new use of mines by irregular anti-Serbian forces.

Serbia has made slow but steady progress in clearing its mine contamination. A general survey of cluster munition remnants completed by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) in November 2008 estimated that the residual threat from unexploded submunitions, including subsurface hazards, covered up to 30km².

Between 1999 and 2008, Landmine Monitor identified 113 mine/ explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties (21 killed, 64 injured, and 28 unknown) from media reports and data provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the ICRC. During the same period, the Department of Civil Protection, within the Ministry of Defense, identified 643 casualties (203 killed and 440 injured), 637 of which occurred in 1999. NPA collected data on 191 cluster munition casualties (31 killed and 160 injured) from 1999–2008. Lack of effective data collection prevents comparison between these different totals, or a consolidation of them.

No risk education (RE) has been conducted since 2006. Emergency RE was conducted in 1999, primarily by the army, the Ministry of Interior, and the ICRC.

Overall, little progress was noted in improving victim assistance (VA). Serbia had comprehensive medical and physical rehabilitation services for survivors prior to the conflict in the 1990s, but the quality of these services has declined as a result of the armed conflict, sanctions, and economic difficulties.^[1] While there had been a government social and economic reintegration program available during the 1999 war,^[2] there were few programs after it, although the national organization Dobra Volja worked with survivors to provide psychosocial support. Progress toward the achievement of VA objectives was limited in all areas except for some in the creation of laws and policy for all persons with disabilities. Serbia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in May 2009 and the harmonization of national disability legislation was underway.

Mine Ban Policy

Serbia assumed the treaty commitments of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro following the Republic of Montenegro’s declaration of independence in June 2006.^[3] The former Serbia and Montenegro acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 18 September 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2004. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008.^[4] Serbian President Boris Tadic has declared the declaration illegal and stated that “Serbia considers Kosovo as its southern territory.”^[5]

A new Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia entered into force on 1 January 2006. Articles 376 and 377 make the use, production, stockpiling, trade, and transfer of antipersonnel mines a criminal offense. These two provisions also specify penal sanctions.^[6]

Serbia submitted its third Article 7 report in 2009, covering calendar year 2008.^[7]

Serbia attended the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2008, where it made statements on VA and mine clearance. As the outgoing co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Serbia was one of eight vice-presidents of the meeting. Serbia also participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2009, making statements on its experience with stockpile destruction, VA, and mine clearance.

Serbia has reconfirmed the view of the former state union of Serbia and Montenegro that “mere participation” in military activities with states not party to the treaty, which engage in activities prohibited by the treaty, is not a treaty violation.^[8] Serbia has not made other statements on issues of interpretation and implementation related to Articles 1, 2, and 3 of the treaty, including on acts prohibited by the ban on “assistance,” antivehicle mines with sensitive fuzes, and the acceptable number of mines retained for training.

Serbia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, but not Amended Protocol II on landmines or Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War. As of 1 July 2009, it had not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.^[9]

Production, transfer, and stockpile destruction

In March 2007, Serbian officials reaffirmed that the former Serbia and Montenegro did not produce any type of landmine after 1990.^[10] Serbia has stated that old facilities for landmine production have been successfully transformed for production of resources for civilian purposes.^[11] In the past, the former Serbia and Montenegro stated several times that mine exports halted in 1990.^[12]

After Montenegro’s declaration of independence, the two countries continued the stockpile destruction process initiated by the former Serbia and Montenegro in 2005 as a project of the Ministry of Defense and the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA).^[13]

On 7 May 2007, Serbia completed the destruction of 1,404,819 antipersonnel mines stockpiled by both Serbia and Montenegro. An additional 10 mines were found and destroyed shortly thereafter. Of the 1,404,829 mines destroyed, a total of 1,205,442 were held in the Republic of Serbia and 199,387 in the Republic of Montenegro.^[14] Destruction was completed well in advance of the treaty deadlines of 1 March 2008 for Serbia and 1 April 2011 for Montenegro.

Mines retained for training

When it completed stockpile destruction in May 2007, Serbia stated that it was retaining 5,565 antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes under Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty.^[15] In 2007, according to NAMSA, 1,839 of these 5,565 mines did not have fuzes.^[16] At the Standing Committee meetings in June 2008, Serbia informed States Parties that it still retained 5,565 mines, with 5,104 held by the Ministry of Defense and 461 by the Ministry of Interior.^[17]

In its Article 7 report submitted in 2009, Serbia stated that it retained 3,589 mines, with 3,194 held by the Ministry of Defense and 395 held by the Ministry of Interior. ^[18] This is a decrease of 1,976 mines from the end of 2007. Serbia further reported that it consumed five of these mines in training activities, and destroyed another 1,940 mines.^[19] The difference of 31 mines (1,976 versus 1,945) is not explained, apart from a remark in the report stating “Differences of APMs due to the administrative mistake.”^[20] The report notes that a total of 1,070 mines are without fuzes (510 PMA-1 and 560 PMA-3).^[21]

In May 2009, Serbia told States Parties that 1,389 of the mines held by the army were without fuzes. It also specified that the 1,940 mines were sent to the Technical Repair Facility (Kragujevac) in April 2008, and were disassembled and disposed of during November 2008. It said that the retained mines “are foreseen for personnel training for possible engagement in UN peace operations, protection equipment testing and mine detectors.”^[22]

In June 2008, Serbia similarly told States Parties that the retained mines would be used for those same purposes, but it also informed delegates, “Currently, there are no plans or projects for the use of retained APM for this purpose.” It also said, “Retained mines have not been used or are not being used for the mine detection, clearance or destruction techniques…. They have not been used for any training [or] for any other reason.”^[23]

The former Serbia and Montenegro acknowledged that it possessed an unspecified number of MRUD (Claymore-type) directional fragmentation mines, but stated that the mines were only used in command-detonated mode, and therefore were not covered by the Mine Ban Treaty.^[24] It is not known how many, if any, of these now belong to Serbia.^[25]

Scope of the Problem

Contamination

Serbia is contaminated with mines and also has extensive areas affected by ERW, particularly UXO, including unexploded submunitions. The extent of mine contamination is relatively small, a legacy of the armed conflict associated with the break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.^[26] Minefields with a mixture of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines are located on the border with Croatia, in Jamena and Morovic villages in Sid municipality.^[27]

Serbia reported 6km² of mine-affected areas in its Article 7 report submitted in 2004^[28] but demining operations since reduced the figure to 2.5 km² by the end of 2007,^[29] and during the first five months of 2008 it fell further to 1.8km².^[30] By November 2008, the Serbian Mine Action Centre (SMAC) reported a mine-affected area of 1.3km² but new minefield discoveries since then pushed the estimate back up to 1.7km² as of April 2009.^[31]

In addition, UXO from previous wars, mainly unexploded submunitions from NATO air strikes in 1999, remain a significant problem. SMAC estimated the total area affected by cluster munition remnants at 30km² based on the database developed as a result of a general survey by NPA which completed field activities in November 2008.^[32] Serbia reports that 28 communities in 16 municipalities (excluding Kosovo) are affected.^[33] SMAC expects additional (non-technical) survey will reduce the suspected area to about 16km². ^[34]

NATO air strikes in 1999 also scattered unexploded bombs across Serbia. At the June 2008 Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, Serbia stated that some 60,930kg of air-dropped bombs and other large items of UXO are present in 43 locations at depths of up to 20m, as well as in the Danube and Sava rivers.^[35]

An explosion at the Ministry of Defense ammunition storage area in Paracin on 19 October 2006 resulted in contamination of surrounding areas with UXO and led to classification of Paracin and Cuprija as suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) estimated to total 8km².^[36] Landmine Monitor was informed that at the time of explosion approximately 700 PROM-1 antipersonnel mines were stored in the facility, which may now be scattered around the area.^[37]

Serbia also has to deal with large quantities of naval mines and other items of UXO that were aboard German World War II-era vessels which sank in the Danube river, in the vicinity of Prahovo, in 1944. The position of the sunken vessels and UXO was pinpointed in a general survey of the area in 2006.^[38] The survey identified 22 war vessels and on four it found naval mines and other items of UXO.^[39]

Casualties

In 2008, Landmine Monitor identified three ERW casualties, one killed and two injured, through Serbian media reports. On 30 June, an adult and a child were injured in Belgrade by a victim-activated booby-trap made from a grenade.^[40] On 5 July, one man was killed by an unidentified explosive fragmentation device while burning rubbish.^[41] This is a slight increase from the two ERW casualties identified in 2007.^[42] There is no comprehensive data collection mechanism, and it is likely that casualties are unreported.

The Ministry of Defense’s Department of Civil Protection and SMAC did not report mine/ERW or submunition casualties in 2008 or in 2009 through 13 July.^[43]

Between 1999 and 2008, Landmine Monitor identified 113 casualties (21 killed, 64 injured, and 28 unknown), including nine Albanians (four killed and five injured) in 2001.^[44] Landmine Monitor data was gathered from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ICRC, and media reports. Between 1999 and 2008, the Department of Civil Protection identified 643 casualties (203 killed and 440 injured), 637 of which occurred in 1999.^[45] Due to incomplete data collected by the Ministry of Defense, it is suspected that incidents were caused by both victim-activated devices and bombing strikes or other attacks. As part of its general survey on the impact of submunitions, NPA collected data on 191 casualties caused by the weapons, 31 killed and 160 injured, between 1999 and 2008.^[46]

The lack of data also makes comparisons between these casualties and those reported by other sources unreliable. Therefore, neither the casualties recorded by NPA or the Ministry of Defense have been included in the total casualty figure.

The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Serbia is unknown.^[47] Estimates of the total number of survivors range from 1,110 to more than 3,000.^[48]

While the lack of a comprehensive data collection mechanism makes it difficult to confirm trends since 1999, available data and perceptions of those working in mine action indicate that casualties peaked in 1999 and 2000, during and immediately after the deployment of NATO air forces, and have declined since, with very few casualties in the last six years.^[49] The last confirmed mine and submunition casualties were reported in 2005.^[50]

Risk profile

NPA found that risky behavior occurred in more than 90% of surveyed contamination areas. Over half of the cases involved adults and children entering dangerous areas.^[51]

NPA’s analysis indicates that people in affected communities assume that surface-level removal of unexploded submunitions has been undertaken. When entering suspected areas, adults take children with them or go in groups rather than individually.^[52]

NPA concluded that clearance operations had reduced but not eliminated the hazard: “The likelihood of fatalities has been reduced but the number and frequency of incidents is such that the probability of activating unexploded submunitions will rise with the growing needs of the population to use the blocked land.”^[53]

Socio-economic impact

Mine/ERW contamination in Serbia still affects agricultural land and forested areas, but the principal contamination is found on roads through forests and in rivers and canals.^[54] Affected areas include the country’s ski resorts and national parks, which affects tourism, wildlife, and the environment.^[55]

According to the 2009 survey by NPA, a total of 162,000 people 28 local communities are affected by cluster munition remnants and 88,000 people living near suspected areas are exposed to daily risk. Of these, two-thirds live in Duvaniste, a suburb of the city of Niš.^[56] NPA found that unexploded submunitions mostly block access to agricultural land (one-third of the total suspect area), inhibit reconstruction of infrastructure and utilities (19.9%), and prevent renovating or restoring housing (14.2%).^[57]

Program Management and Coordination

Mine action

SMAC was established on 7 March 2002.^[58] The Law of Alterations and Supplementations of the Law of Ministries passed in August 2004 identified the center as a legal independent entity (not part of a ministry), with responsibility for humanitarian demining, collection and management of mine/UXO-related information (including casualty data), and surveying of suspected areas. SMAC also has the mandate to plan demining projects, conduct quality control and monitor operations, ensure implementation of international standards, issue licenses to demining organizations, and warn the population about mine/UXO dangers.^[59]

SMAC does not conduct demining directly or employ deminers, but undertakes quality management of demining operations carried out by others. Demining is conducted in accordance with international standards by commercial companies and NGOs, after being selected through public tender procedures, which are executed by the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF).^[60]

Due to the global financial crisis and cost-saving measures implemented by Serbia’s government, SMAC deferred plans to increase its staff in 2008.^[61]

Risk education

There is no RE program in Serbia, although SMAC is responsible for warning the population about mine/UXO dangers.^[62]

Victim assistance

SMAC is not involved in VA.^[63] The Special Hospital of Rehabilitation reports on VA at international meetings, but has no other coordinating functions. Responsibility for the provision of services to persons with disabilities, including mine/ERW survivors, is shared among several government agencies, primarily the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Social Welfare (MSW), and the Republic Health Insurance Institute (RHII).^[64]

Data collection and management

SMAC has responsibility for the collection and management of mine/UXO-related information (including casualty data). Although SMAC installed the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) in December 2004 and partially used it, SMAC reported in 2008 that it was not using IMSMA to support its operations.^[65]

Since 2004, Landmine Monitor has reported on Serbia’s plans to establish a casualty database as part of its commitment to the Nairobi Action Plan.^[66] As of May 2009, no such database existed. In 2008, Serbia proposed the establishment of a team of government experts to manage casualty data to facilitate the preparation of a VA strategy,^[67] but no progress was reported as of May 2009. As in past years, in 2009, Serbia again reported that the lack of casualty data was a “large obstacle for [a] holistic model of development and monitoring of policy” related to VA.^[68]

Both the Department of Civil Protection and the Ministry of Internal Affairs collect information on mine/ERW incidents, but information is not shared between ministries. Casualties are believed to go unregistered and the Department of Civil Protection has acknowledged that it lacks the capacity to identify all incidents or to verify data on registered casualties.^[69]

The MoH, MSW, and RHII collect incident information when treating survivors. As of May 2009, information collection was ongoing, but data was not consolidated in one place, nor was it available to be shared across government agencies or with NGOs.^[70]

Data from NPA’s survey in Serbia was provided to SMAC in January 2009.^[71]

As of May 2009, plans announced by Serbia in September 2006 to engage the NGO Dobra Volja (Goodwill) to collect casualty data and undertake a survivor needs assessment had not progressed.^[72] Dobra Volja ceased operations in 2009 due to insufficient funding and lack of “support from the state.”^[73]

Mine action program operators

Plans

Strategic mine action plan

SMAC has not drawn up a long-term demining plan or strategy, but bases its work on annual demining programs adopted by the government that are implemented if funding is available.^[74]

Serbia has no VA plan, but mine/ERW survivors are included in the National Strategy for Enhancement of Status of Persons with Disabilities 2007–2015, which was drafted with input from disabled people’s organizations.^[75] As of May 2009, the government had not yet formed a council as planned to monitor the implementation and achievements of the National Strategy.^[76]

National ownership

SMAC is fully nationalized. As it does not have its own demining teams, SMAC engages Serbian and regional specialized companies and organizations.^[77] The government’s contribution to mine action and VA is mainly through the provision of office space, operating costs, and the salaries of government employees working in mine action.^[78]

VA for mine/ERW survivors, mostly medical care and physical rehabilitation services, is provided through the state health system, supported through national funds. Socio-economic reintegration needs have not been addressed with national funds.^[79] Since 2004, Serbia has called on the international community to support psychological support and socio-economic reintegration services for survivors, estimated in 2004 to cost €900,000 (US$1,325,340) over three years.^[80] As of May 2009, the only international support specifically for VA was the training of one prosthetics and orthotics technician.^[81]

National mine action legislation and standards

Serbia does not have national mine action legislation, but SMAC reports that mine action is implemented in accordance with the International Mine Action Standards.^[82]

Demining and Battle Area Clearance

Mine and battle area clearance (BAC) in Serbia is carried out by specialized companies and other organizations accredited by SMAC. For donor-funded clearance, the ITF calls for tenders and issues contracts to selected demining organizations. For commercial clearance, investors select the demining organization.^[83]

Five commercial companies and one international NGO were actively demining in Serbia in 2008 using manual and mechanical assets. They included PMC Inženjering, DOK-ING Demining, and DETEKTOR and UXB Balkans from Bosnia and Herzegovina; the Russian state demining agency EMERCOM; and NPA.^[84] The armed forces continue to undertake clearance of contaminated areas of military facilities but these operations are not monitored or recorded by SMAC. ^[85]

NPA completed its mine clearance project on 31 May 2008, but continued its survey of cluster munition remnants with four teams of two surveyors and a community liaison officer until November 2008. NPA seconded four surveyors to SMAC until the end of 2009.^[86]

Identification of hazardous areas

NPA’s general survey of submunition contamination, conducted between 9 November 2007 and 30 November 2008, identified 105 “deployment zones” where cluster munitions were used and 390 polygons or suspect areas covering a total of 30.7km². These affected 28 communities in 16 municipalities. The survey found that 67 polygons classified as “higher hazard” (including six “extremely high,” 17 “very high,” and 44 “high” hazards) covering 6.6km², 186 “middle hazard” polygons covering 11.77km², and 137 “low hazard” polygons covering 12.77km². The classification depended on the distance from the drop zone and the number of bombs used.^[87]

The survey found that four of the 16 affected municipalities in central Serbia (Krveni Crst, Kraljevo, Medijana, and Sjenica) accounted for nearly 60% of the SHA. According to the survey, police and civil defense conducted surface clearance of UXO in the past but no records of this clearance exist and subsurface contamination remains.^[88]

NPA survey teams marked strike impact zones as part of the survey and for that purpose developed a warning sign in both Serbian and Albanian.^[89]

In May 2008, Sogelma of Italy, working under the supervision of Mull and Partner Ingenieurgesellschaft of Germany started to implement the ‘Survey and Search for UXO removal in the Inland Waterway Transport System in Serbia,” to locate large UXO from by 1999 NATO bombing along the Sava and Danube rivers.^[90] The survey covered 3.9km² and resulted in SMAC finding and destroying seven aircraft bombs of between 250 and 930kg.^[91] On the basis of the survey, SMAC prepared project documents for clearance of UXO, including bombs and missiles, and expected to invite tenders later in 2009. SMAC planned to survey 12 more locations along the two rivers covering a total area of 6.6km², also starting later in 2009.^[92]

Mine clearance in 2008

Serbia reported mine clearance and BAC in 2008 on a total of 2.15km², an increase of 45% compared to 2007 (1.48km²) made possible by increased donor support that resulted in part from NPA’s survey. The clearance resulted in destroying a total of 289 antipersonnel mines, 74 antivehicle mines, 450 items of UXO, and 25 unexploded submunitions.^[93]

NPA cleared two projects on the border with Croatia. It started work on the Blata 1 project in 2007 and cleared 132,100m² of land in 2007. The remaining 38,600m² was completed in early 2008. NPA’s Neprečava 1 project, lasting from February to May 2008, resulted in clearance of 176,200m².^[94]

Mine clearance and BAC in 2008^[95]

*NPA’s results as reported by SMAC equaled 346,700m², but included tasks completed in 2008, which it had started in 2007. NPA’s clearance in 2008 amounted to 214,600m.

Battle area clearance in 2008

In 2008, EMERCOM cleared unexploded submunitions at Niš airport funded by the Russian government. From August to the end of December, it cleared an area of 737,000m² and found and destroyed 450 items of UXO, mostly unexploded submunitions.^[96] EMERCOM continued operations in 2009 supporting construction of a gas pipeline.^[97] Since 2003, five operators have cleared 4km² to a depth of 50cm, destroying 745 submunitions and other items of UXO.^[98]

Progress since becoming a State Party

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Serbia is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2014. Serbia stated in 2007 that it intended to complete clearance by the end of 2008 but at the Standing Committee meetings in May 2009 and the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in November 2008, Serbia postponed completion until the end of 2009. It said “this can be impeded only by the lack of funds.”^[99]

Mine and Battle Area Clearance from 2003–2008^[100]

Risk Education

No mine/ERW risk education has been reported in Serbia since 2006. However, SMAC reported that during 2008, all areas suspected of submunition contamination were marked with 600 new warning signs^[101] placed by NPA survey teams as part of its general survey.^[102]

RE activities have been confined to southern Serbia. In 1999, emergency RE was provided in response to thousands of refugees flooding into Macedonia. The NGO CARE conducted RE, UNICEF trained teachers, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees handed out pamphlets to refugees returning to Kosovo.^[103] From 2002, RE was conducted by the army and Ministry of Interior coordination body.^[104] The ICRC operated an RE program from late 2000 to 2005, training a network of volunteers and delivering RE through lectures and theater in Presevo and Bujanovic. It stopped its activities due to the low number of casualties. RE was also delivered through mass media and billboards.^[105] In 2006, emergency RE was delivered by the Serbian Red Cross Society in response to the ammunition depot explosion in Paracin.^[106]

Victim Assistance

The total number of survivors is unknown, but estimates range from 1,110 to 3,000.^[107] In May 2009, Serbia stated that “the situation for landmine survivors is much better now than before” although there was little evidence of concrete improvements in 2008, apart from the strengthening of Serbia’s legal framework for persons with disabilities.^[108]

Mine/ERW survivors who are Serbian citizens are treated within the state health system, including free emergency medical care and physical rehabilitation.^[109] Many survivors are refugees who would not be entitled to free services if their status was not regularized. It was not known how many survivors are in this situation.^[110] Government representatives acknowledged that, while emergency care was available, it was more difficult to address survivors’ ongoing medical needs.^[111]

Serbia has rehabilitation centers and prosthetic and orthotic workshops where survivors can receive basic prosthetic and orthotic services. However, Serbia recognized the need to improve the quality of services through licensed education and ongoing training.^[112] Government officials also recognized that the quality of prosthetics had declined since the wars of the 1990s because of reduced government resources.^[113] Many survivors are treated at the Special Hospital of Rehabilitation (SHROP) in Belgrade, where there were long waiting lists for services and no technicians with internationally recognized credentials.^[114] From 2008–2009, one technician from SHROP was enrolled in a distance training program to receive International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics level II accreditation.^[115]

Despite recognizing that many survivors suffer from post-traumatic stress as a result of their injury,^[116] psychotherapeutic assistance was not covered by health insurance and the overall quality of care was inadequate.^[117] In 2009, Dobra Volja, the only association of mine survivors that provided peer psychosocial support, ceased operations due to a lack of funding.^[118]

Government officials called high unemployment the “biggest problem” for mine/ERW survivors, but acknowledged that no was funding available.^[119] Seventy percent of persons with disabilities live in poverty.^[120] In November 2008, the National Employment Service, which has responsibility for training and job placement, found that just 21,000 out of 700,000 persons with disabilities were employed.^[121] A lack of workplace accommodation combined with high unemployment makes economic reintegration difficult for persons with disabilities. In May 2009, the Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities was passed, specifying employment quotas for persons with disabilities.^[122]

Serbia has several laws protecting the rights of persons with disabilities that were generally enforced. Yet public transportation and older buildings were not physically accessible.^[123] Serbia stated that disability laws were not harmonized with relevant international laws and regulations but that, as of May 2009, a harmonization process was ongoing.^[124] On 29 May 2009, Serbia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.^[125]

Progress in meeting VA26 victim assistance objectives

As one of the 26 States Parties with significant numbers of mine survivors, and “the greatest responsibility to act, but also the greatest needs and expectations for assistance” in providing adequate attention to survivors,^[126] Serbia presented its 2005–2009 objectives at the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in 2005. It then presented revised objectives in 2006 and 2007,^[127] although, as of May 2009, a plan to achieve these objectives had not been made available. As of May 2009, while Serbia stated that the situation for survivors had improved since 2004, little progress could be identified towards achieving VA objectives. According to Dobra Volja’s president, “there is no evidence on any progress in achieving any of the VA 24 [VA26] objectives.”^[128]

No progress had been made towards the establishment of a survivor database, which is a prerequisite for planning and measuring progress in other areas. Four of Serbia’s eight objectives refer to actions that would be carried out “based on” information gathered for the survivor database or the VA plan to be established using the same information.^[129] While Serbia noted that all survivors received basic medical and rehabilitation services, no progress was made toward objectives to improve training and education of the prosthetic/orthotic team.^[130] In 2008, no progress was identified in achieving Serbia’s two economic reintegration objectives. A national strategy for improving the quality of life of persons with disabilities and their families was developed, but not based on the needs of survivors, as planned, again due to the lack of progress on a survivor database.

Serbia included a disability expert on its delegation to the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in 2006, 2007, and 2009, and meetings of States Parties held from 2005–2008, who reported on progress in achieving VA aims at all of these meetings. Statements mostly repeated similar information, stating the goals of the National Strategy for persons with disabilities and the ongoing obstacles preventing progress in data collection, physical rehabilitation, and socio-economic reintegration and calling on the international community to support efforts to improve the quality of life of survivors.^[131] Economic hardship and increasing poverty levels, caused by the “transition period,” along with the global financial crisis, were cited as reasons for needing international assistance.^[132] Serbia has not used the voluntary Form J attachment to its Article 7 report since 2005 to provide details on VA activities.

Victim assistance activities

In 2008, before it closed, the national survivors’ organization Dobra Volja provided school supplies and clothing to an unspecified number of children of landmine/ERW survivors.^[133] No other programs providing services specifically to mine/ERW survivors were identified in 2008.

Support for Mine Action

Serbia has not published comprehensive long-term cost estimates for fulfilling mine action needs (including RE and VA) but has projected the cost of mine and submunition clearance and explosive ordnance disposal at $51,541,000 (€35 million) based on projected clearance of mined areas by 2009.^[134] Serbia has not developed a mine action or resource mobilization strategy.

National support for mine action

Serbia did not report national funding to mine action in 2008. SMAC reported RSD13,193,000 ($232,197) in national funding in 2007.^[135]

International cooperation and assistance

In 2008, five countries and the European Commission (EC) reported providing $2,831,668 (€1,922,904) to mine action in Serbia, 3% more than reported funding for 2007. Most mine action funding prior to 2006 did not distinguish between Serbia and Kosovo. Funding at 2008 levels is inadequate to meet the budget requirements reported by Serbia to complete mine clearance by the planned 2009 deadline, and as in 2007, does not directly address RE or VA needs.

In 2008, the ITF reported allocating $1,780,518 (6%) to Serbia,^[136] compared to $1,478,280 (6.4%) in 2007.^[137]

2008 International Mine Action Funding to Serbia: Monetary^[138]