19th Meeting of States Parties,Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, 15-19 November 2021. Written Statement by Sweden, agenda item 10. a) Assisting the victims.
Excellencies, dear colleagues,
Mr. President,
Sweden would like to thank Thailand for all their work in their role as chair of the Committee on Victim Assistance. As a senior member, as well as the gender focal point of the committee this year, we would like to welcome the new committee members for 2022: Italy and Uganda. We would also like to extend our full support to Algeria as the incoming chair.
Sweden stands fully by the statement given by the EU on this agenda item. We would like to give some brief additional information and views from a Swedish perspective.
Victim assistance is key to addressing the long-term effects of anti-personnel mines, as well as maintaining progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Sweden fully supports the Oslo Action Plan, which includes important actions on providing assistance to mine victims in an inclusive manner and with respect for diverse experiences and needs.
Sweden is committed to integrating and mainstreaming a gender perspective into our work on mine action, including efforts on victim assistance. We encourage all stakeholders, including on the national and local level, to continue to integrate a gender perspective into their policies and efforts on mine action.
Over the last decade, Sweden has contributed with over 85 million EUR to mine action worldwide. Our support, administered mainly by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), has gone to mine action in its wider sense – to clear all ERW including cluster munitions. It has in recent years been focused primarily on demining and mine awareness, as well as advocacy.
Sweden doesn't distinguish between the development assistance that we provide to mine or cluster munitions survivors in accordance with the Conventions we are party to, and support we provide to the health care sector as a whole in mine affected countries.
On victim assistance specifically, Sweden has supported the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan’s orthopaedic and physiotherapy services in Afghanistan for several years. Our main approach is to provide multi-year funding and currently Sweden is funding mine action in 12 states around the world including Colombia, Libya, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. We continue to support the Convention's Implementation Support Unit and would like to stress the importance of the State Parties’ contributions.
Thank you.