Our latest advocacy publications
Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International presses for crucial policy changes in policy areas relevant to its specific expertise. You can find more information on the page “Fighting for global policy change”. On this page below, you will find information on our latest evidence-based publications.
Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) session in the village of Velyka Komyshuvakha, in the Kharkiv region. © M.Monier / HI
The impact of explosive weapons in Ukraine
Humanity & Inclusion – Handicap International has been monitoring the impacts of explosive weapons in populated areas for several years, to raise awareness on the urbanisation of conflicts and the humanitarian consequences resulting from the use of these weapons. After a three-year diplomatic process, in November 2022, a political declaration to better protect civilians against the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) was adopted, which has been endorsed by 83 States.
In February 2024, HI released a case study “Out of Reach: The Impact of Explosive Weapons in Ukraine – Focus on hard-to-reach areas” highlighting the impact of these weapons in hard-to-reach areas, including smaller towns and villages, to demonstrate the impacts on access to services, including specific impacts on infrastructure, considering how explosive weapons exacerbate vulnerability factors and limit both the population’s ability to access vital services and access for humanitarian actors. The document also considers the impact on civilians, including from direct attacks and long-term contamination, in terms of casualties, destroyed houses and infrastructure, forced displacement and limitations on livelihoods.
Civilians in Ukraine severely impacted by explosive weapons
Since the escalation of the war in February 2022, the needs of the civilian population in Ukraine have become immense, including in the areas of health, education, livelihoods, housing, food security, clean water, energy services, social services, gender equality and protection of persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups. There is also a high prevalence of the use of explosive weapons, especially those with wide area effects. Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) estimates that 95 % of civilian casualties in Ukraine have occurred in populated areas.[1]
EWIPA in Ukraine has other long-term impacts, resulting in the disruption of social and economic opportunities, as well as the interruption of services and access to vital infrastructure. It also has reverberating effects on education, mental health and psychosocial well-being, as well as on the environment, with specific impacts on vulnerable communities.
Key facts
8,586
civilians killed by explosive weapons between 24 February 2022 and December 2023
72 HEURES
notre temps de réponse
opérationnelle
18,131
civilians injured by explosive weapons between 24 February 2022 and December 2023
25%
of Ukraine's territory has been exposed to war
5
cities, towns, villages or regions in Ukraine highlighted in the new publication
Specific and exacerbated needs in areas that are hard-to-reach.
The challenges and human impact in hard-to-reach areas – such as in Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblasts – exemplify the specific and systematic pattern of harm caused by explosive weapons during and after armed conflicts.
For HI in Ukraine, areas are identified as hard-to-reach based on dynamic factors, including distance to the frontline, the kinetic context around the location, developments in the conflict, the frequency of shelling, and suspected or proven contamination. Areas can also be identified as hard-to-reach based on criteria that are not necessarily linked to conflict dynamics: for instance, their pre-existing geographic isolation, distance from medical facilities, or their access to and level of dependency on vital services, infrastructure and transportation systems (such as roads, bridges, etc.). More broadly, the definition of hard-to-reach areas can vary between actors and depend on factors such as risk tolerance and capacity, including financial and technical capacities.
There is a widespread pattern of harm resulting from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. This analysis demonstrates the specific harms which exacerbate vulnerabilities in hard-to-reach places. In each example, the document highlights how each location and incident reflects the complex direct and indirect effects of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Finally, not only do these incidents connect across geographical areas, but the pattern of harm also extends over time. After an incident, the vulnerability factors created or exacerbated as a result remain present six months, one year, two years later, and experience shows that these impacts will continue to evolve.
Picture: Explosive Ordnance Risk Education session in the village of Velyka Komyshuvakha, in the Kharkiv region. © M.Monnier / HI
Developing and sharing policies and practices to address the urgent and longer-term needs of civilians
When explosive weapons are used in these areas they have direct and indirect impacts on the provision of services, community cohesion, humanitarian access, regular support for basic needs, physical safety, mental health and psychological well-being, as well as other social and economic impacts. States must ensure compliance with and respect for international humanitarian law.
These case studies also identify the need to improve and share policies and practices in order to address the urgent and longer-term needs of civilians in such difficult contexts: facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access close to frontlines, in highly contaminated areas, and in occupied territory; uphold humanitarian mine action standards, including through assistance to victims as well as communities affected by armed conflict, Explosive Ordnance Risk Education and Conflict Preparedness and Protection; ensure that the effects of EWIPA are accounted for through disaggregated data collection; take account of the direct and indirect effects that certain conduct may have on civilians or civilian objects; and adapt to and take account of specific needs of those most-at-risk and impacted by EWIPA.
You can read further about the impact of explosive weapons in populated areas in Ukraine in the document.
These case studies give an idea of the specific challenges encountered by the humanitarian community at large when working in EWIPA contexts. States, humanitarian organisations and all other stakeholders involved need to work together to better identify these challenges and share good practices to improve the provision of immediate and long-term assistance to affected communities. The follow-up process of the EWIPA Political Declaration offers a good opportunity to carry out this work.
[1] AOAV, 26 Jan 2024, “Ukraine: AOAV Explosive Violence Data on Harm to Civilians.” https://aoav.org.uk/2024/ukraine-casualty-monitor/
Always Included
Uninterrupted education for children with disabilities before, during, and after a crisis.
In English and French, 2023
Advancing the protection of humanitarian and health worker
The report was drawn up under the Presence, Proximity and Protection (PPP) project by NRC (as lead), Geneva Call, experts from the Graduate Institute, Action Against Hunger (ACF), Médecins du Monde (MdM) and HI.
In English only, 2023.
