The Impact of Anti-Personnel Mines on the Full Enjoyment of All Human Rights Strengthening Victim Assistance

Urges all States to strengthen and enhance their commitment to their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and urges States Parties to relevant international treaties, including the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, to implement fully their obligations;

Invites all States to strengthen their efforts to put an end to the suffering and casualties caused by anti-personnel mines, including by seriously considering acceding to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention;

Calls upon all States, and other relevant stakeholders as appropriate, to cooperate effectively to address the impact of anti-personnel mines on the enjoyment of all human rights by, inter alia, accelerating demining efforts and ensuring inclusive, non-discriminatory and comprehensive victim assistance, including for persons with disabilities resulting from mine explosions;

Encourages international organizations, regional and subregional organizations, donor States and relevant stakeholders, in a position to do so, to provide, predictable, sustained needs-based technical, financial and capacity-building assistance to affected States, particularly developing countries, including small island developing States and least developed countries, aimed at strengthening national victim assistance programmes, including through the development of national legislation, policies, institutional frameworks, data-collection systems and technical expertise, particularly in post-conflict and conflict-affected settings;

Urges States with victims in areas under their jurisdiction or control to endeavour to do their utmost to provide appropriate, affordable, inclusive and accessible services to anti-personnel mine victims and their families on an equal basis with others and to ensure that victims and their representative organizations are consulted on the development and provision of such services;

Encourages States to strengthen, in accordance with their national legislation, national data collection systems on anti-personnel mine victims, disaggregated by age, gender, disability and geographic location, as appropriate, while ensuring respect for privacy and human dignity;

Also encourages States to make coordinated, multisectoral efforts to ensure that the needs of survivors of anti-personnel mine explosions, in particular children, and those who have sustained a long-term or lifelong disability, their families and communities, are effectively addressed and their human rights promoted and protected through national policy and legal frameworks relating to disability, health, including mental health and psychosocial support, education, learning opportunities, employment, social and economic reintegration, development and poverty reduction, particularly with applicable provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

Encourages States, international organizations, civil society and other stakeholders to collaborate closely in sharing knowledge, relevant information, resources and best practices in demining and victim support;

Urges States to ensure that infrastructure, transport and public services, including healthcare facilities and rehabilitation centres, are fully accessible to persons with disabilities resulting from mine explosions, to enable them to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, including by providing effective and efficient context-specific emergency medical care;

Urges affected States to integrate mental health and psychosocial support for anti-personnel mine victims into national victim assistance programmes, recognizing the long-term psychological consequences experienced by survivors, their families and affected communities;

Encourages affected States, with support from United Nations entities and development partners, where relevant, to proactively mainstream mine action, including victim assistance requirements, into development plans and, as appropriate, national budgets, to ensure that development priorities include mine action and that mine action, including victim assistance requirements, is funded in a predictable and sustainable manner, in accordance with nationally identified priorities;

Also encourages affected States, with the support of relevant United Nations entities and other stakeholders, as appropriate, to integrate climate-related risks, including those associated with sea-level rise, coastal erosion, flooding and storm surges, into mine-action planning, risk assessment, mapping, risk education, clearance, victim assistance and disaster preparedness, and to strengthen international, regional and subregional cooperation in this regard, particularly in developing countries, coastal developing States and small island developing States, where the climate-related challenges associated with anti-personnel mines, other mines and other explosive remnants of war are exacerbated;

Invites relevant special procedure mandate holders, within their respective mandates, to consider the issue of the impact of anti-personnel mines on the full enjoyment of all human rights, including the importance of victim assistance in addressing this matter;

Requests the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize the panel discussion and to liaise with States and other stakeholders with a view to ensuring their participation, while taking into account geographical representation;