War, Armed Conflict & Disability Challenges, Statistics, Facts

Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability
Djerba, Tunis October 24, 2007

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Presentation Content:

Contents
1. Definition of conflict
2. Types of conflict
3. Size of conflict worldwide
4. Characteristics, tools & conflict arenas
5. Relationship between conflict and disability
6. Effects of conflict on individual safety, health, wellbeing and development
7. Rehabilitating & improving the lives of persons disabled by armed conflict

1. Part One: Definition of Conflict
   Conflict is a human phenomenon, a social process which has been going on since the dawn of humanity.
   
   
2. Part Two: Types of Conflict
   a. Regional wars
   b. Civil wars
   c. Social violence
   d. Family violence
   e. Terrorist attacks
   
   
3. Part Three: Size of Conflicts
   
   • The world spends over 839 billion dollars a year on conflicts, arms and equipping armies
   • Landmines and random explosions result in the largest number of disabilities caused by wars and armed conflicts
   • There is in the world today more than 65 active conflicts in all regions of the world
   • Modern conflicts encompass cities, human settlements & urban centers
   • The increase in the number of victims of conflict is proportional to the increase & variety of conflicts
   • Populations of Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Guatemala, Lebanon, Sarajevo, Sudan suffer the greatest consequences of landmines in the world
   • 1/3 of the world spends more on their military budget than they do on medical services
   • In June 2002 the G8 agreed to allocate 22 billion dollars to stop terrorism & weapons of mass destruction, but no actions were taken on small weapons and handguns
   • World estimates put the number of child soldiers used in different conflicts at 300.000 children
   • Africa, Asia & Latin America spend more than 22 billion dollars a year on weapons-the same amount needed to reach the targets of the Millennium Development Goals
   • There are more than 639 million individual arms and light weapons manufactured by 1135 companies in 89 countries
   • A great percentage of the funds that should be used in development are used to fund conflicts
   • Over 8 million new weapons & small arms are produced annually 60% of which end up in civilian hands
   • 16 billion units of ammunition are produced annually—i.e. two units (bullets, bombs…) for every man, woman & child on the planet
   • By the year 2020 more people are expected to die as a result of armed conflicts & war than from all other causes
     
     
4. Highlights of the results of conflict in Lebanon
   • Lebanese army reports in June 2005 put the number of landmines victims since 1970 at 1835 deaths and 2140 injured with permanent disabilities
   • There are half a million landmines and one million cluster bombs scattered in 155 Lebanese villages in Southern and Eastern Lebanon. These have resulted in 224 victims since July 2006 to this day.
     
     
5. Highlights of the results of conflicts in Iraq
   • 2003 estimates put the number of individual arms in Iraq at 24 million pieces, enough to arm every Iraqi man, woman & child
   • Landmines & random explosions constitute the main threat to Iraqi civilians causing to date between 15- 20,000 disability a year
     
     
6. Part Four:Characteristics, tools & arenas of armed conflicts
   Characteristics of conflict:
   • Expansion of the areas of conflict
   • Globalization of conflict
   • Intensity of conflict
   • Variety of tools used
   • Greater powers of destruction
   • Greater harm to persons, environment, way of life
     
     
7. Part Five: Relationship between armed conflict & disability
   
   • There is a direct correlation between armed conflict & disability
   • Dealing with the results of a few minutes of conflicts can take up to 10 years and cost several million dollars
   • In as much as wars & armed conflicts lead to disability, persons with disabilities are in turn more likely to become victims of violence due to their disability
   • Children & women with disabilities are often more vulnerable in times of armed conflict
   • In addition to traditional wars between nations, civil wars & armed conflicts between local factions, cluster bombs, landmines and terrorist attacks are the principal cause of disability among civilians in most countries
     
     
8. Part Six: Effect of armed conflict on the health, safety, wellbeing, development
   • Violence is one of the main contributors to disability
   • The world needs intensive awareness raising programs on the effects of violence
   • Persons with disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence, abuse and exploitation
   • Violence remains one of the main threats to the safety, development and wellbeing of children
   • War, terrorism, domestic violence, neglect, confessional/sectarian violence, organized crime constitute major threats to civilians, particularly children & women across the world
   • 57,000 children die every year due to violence & armed conflict, according to WHO.
   • For every child that is killed as a result of armed violence, 100 children are left with permanent, life-long disabilities
   • In many countries persons with disabilities are the victims of hate crimes, racial conflicts & racism
   • In many countries children & persons with disabilities are forced into lives of begging on the streets
   • In many countries children with mild or intellectual disabilities are victims of sexual exploitation & trafficking
     
     
9. Part Seven: Challenges of rehabilitation in face of violent conflict
   1. Rehabilitation:
   a process aimed at enabling persons with disabilities to reach & maintain their optimal physical, sensory, intellectual, psychiatric, social functional levels, providing them with the tools to achieve higher levels of independence
   
   2. Rehabilitation is a right for every individual with disability regardless of the type and degree of their disability
   
   3. Governments, organizations & communities are required to ensure the provision of appropriate rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities
   
   4. Wars & armed conflict situation also produce invisible psychosocial disabilities resulting from trauma.
   5. Left untreated trauma will result in permanent and debilitating disabilities
   
   
10. Depression & Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
    • A 1996 study has found that depression & PTSD will become the second leading cause of disability in post-conflict countries. (Murray & Lopez)
    • Rehabilitation for PTSD has been on the assumption that the effects are transitory
    • Studies show that for displaced & refugee populations PTSD is long-lasting & requires on-going rehabilitation
    • Prevalence of depression among populations that have experience armed conflict is 60-70% as opposed to 10-20% in non-conflict countries
    • People who have suffered physical disabilities due to war require rehabilitation services at all levels
      
      
11. 5. Measures necessary for successful rehabilitation
    1. At the national level:
    
    • Adopting clear policies
    • Enacting legislations
    • Implementing programmes
    • Allocating financial resources
    • Training personnel
    • Making rehabilitation services accessible
    • Involving disabled persons organizations
      
      
12. Rehabilitation Services should include:
    
    • All persons who need it
    • All types of disabilities
    • All socio-economic groups
    • All racial groups
    • All geographic areas
    • All religions, denominations, sects
    • Refugees & displaced populations

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