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Cluster Munition Monitor 2012
States Parties have taken steps to improve casualty data collection and/or needs assessments. Since entry into force
of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, most have attempted to compile the information necessary to assist cluster
munition victims, yet all failed to do so within the one-year target proposed by the Vientiane Action Plan except Albania,
which already had the information in place. Afghanistan still did not have a needs assessment or data collection system
in place as of mid-2012. In June 2011, BiH stated that it had identified previously unrecorded cluster munition casualties
and in May 2012 it reported more casualties, but the data lacked specific details and was not fully disaggregated. 21
Croatia continued efforts to compile data from several sources. The Lao PDR government recognized the poor quality
of the data available in early 2012 and authorities introduced a “survivor tracking system” which made good progress in
collecting information on needs by mid-2012. 22 The Lebanon Mine Action Center completed the first phase of a national
victim survey and needs assessment in 2010, but data still had not been consolidated within a single national database by
mid-2012. In September 2011, Mozambique said that it required international assistance to identify and survey cluster
munition victims. Guinea-Bissau, Montenegro, and Sierra Leone have made no, or extremely limited, efforts to survey
and assess the needs of cluster munitions victims.
Some signatory states made progress in assessing the needs of cluster munition victims in 2011 and the first half
of 2012. By mid-2012, Angola had completed needs assessments in four of its 18 provinces through a survey that
began in October 2010. 23 In DRC, efforts to assess survivor needs continued in 2011 and 2012. 24 Iraq launched a needs
assessment during 2011 that is to cover the 15 provinces of central and southern Iraq by February 2015. 25 In Colombia,
no comprehensive needs assessment was conducted during the year but efforts were made to include new sources of
information and to improve verification of data in the national victim database. 26 Uganda, however, appeared to have
made no efforts toward the goal of conducting a needs assessment in 2011.
In non-signatory countries and other areas, little or no progress was recorded in 2011 with respect to assessing the
needs of cluster munition victims. There was ongoing data collection in Cambodia and Georgia, but no progress was
reported in assessing the needs of survivors, as in the past. A very limited survey pilot was conducted in South Sudan. In
Western Sahara, a needs assessment was carried out in coordination with the local government in early 2012.
Coordination
The convention requires that States Parties with cluster munition casualties designate a focal point within the government
to take responsibility for ensuring that victim assistance efforts are coordinated and that work is implemented. The focal
point should be announced within six months of the convention’s entry into force for that State Party and should have the
authority, expertise, and adequate resources to carry out its task.
All States Parties with known cluster munition victims have designated a focal point for victim assistance activities
as of 31 July 2012, except Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, which have no known cluster munition survivors but where
many people have been disabled from conflict. In Montenegro, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the de facto focal point
and has reported on victim assistance activities. 27 The Albanian Mine Action Center was transformed into the Albanian
Mine and Munitions Coordination Office in 2011, which retains coordination responsibilities for victim assistance. 28
The BiH Ministry of Foreign Affairs was declared to be the victim assistance focal point for the convention in 2011. 29 In
Mozambique, the chief of the Department for Persons with Disabilities within the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs
was listed as focal point for the convention rather than the National Demining Institute. 30
Afghanistan, Albania, BiH, Croatia, Lao PDR and Lebanon have victim assistance coordination structures in place which
either met regularly or effectively coordinated assistance, often in response to a particular issue or need. No improvements
were identified in the coordination of victim assistance in Guinea-Bissau, Montenegro, Mozambique, or Sierra Leone.
All signatory states with cluster munition victims had a designated victim assistance focal point in 2011, though of
the six, only the Colombian focal point—Mine Action Program (PAICMA)—could be described as effective. Victim
assistance coordination throughout Iraq improved in 2011. 31
21
Statement of BiH, Convention on Cluster Munitions Working Group on Victim Assistance, Geneva, 16 April 2012; and Statement of BiH,
Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meeting, Session on Victim Assistance, Geneva, 28 June 2011.
22
“Deputy PM calls for more detailed register of UXO victims,” 2 February 2012. laovoices.com/deputy-pm-calls-for-more-detailed-registerof-uxo-victims/.
23
CNIDAH, “Relatório Anual de Actividades de 2011,” (“Annual Activity Report 2011”), Luanda, March 2012, p. 13.
24
Response to Monitor questionnaire by Louis Ibonge Numbi, Victim Assistance Focal Point, Ministry of Social Affairs, Kinshasa, 25 May
2012; “Mapping of Mine Action VA Project in DRC,” UNMACC, 24 March 2011.
25
Statement of Iraq, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-economic Reintegration, Geneva, 23 May 2012.
26
Response to Monitor questionnaire by Sonia Matilde Eljach Polo, Director, Multilateral Policy Issues, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 April 2012.
27
See Statement of Montenegro, Convention on Cluster Munitions Working Group on Victim Assistance, Geneva, 16 April 2012. Various
government ministries have responsibilities for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. US Department of State, “2011 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Montenegro,” Washington, DC, 24 May 2012.
28
Interview with Veri Dogjani, Albanian Mine and Munitions Coordination Office (AMMCO), Geneva, 24 May 2012.
29
BiH, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, (for Calendar year 2011) Form H, April 2012.
30
Mozambique, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report (for the period 1 September 2011 to 31 May 2012), Form H, July 2012.
31
Statement of Iraq, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-economic Reintegration, Geneva, 23 May 2012;
interviews with Maythem Obead, Head of Community Liaison Department, DMA; Bakshan Asaad, Head of Rehabilitation Department,
Kurdistan Ministry of Health; and Soran Majeed, Mine Victim Assistance Officer, General Directorate of Mine Action (GDMA) for Iraqi
Kurdistan, Geneva, 21 May 2012.
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