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A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

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Landmine Survivors Network in Jordan

LSN's mission is to empower individual conflict survivors and their families to recover from trauma, reclaim their lives, and fulfill their rights.

LSN believes it can accomplish its mission through the provision of comprehensive and integrated programs that increase the awareness and understanding of survivors and the community regarding their physiological, social, and economic needs, which facilitate their integration into the community.



LSN Jordan (LSN-JO) was established in 1999 and is recognized as the first amputee peer support group in the Middle East. LSN-JO provides services to both civilian and military landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) survivors, as well as individuals with limb loss due to other causes such as cancer and diabetes, in the Amman, Irbid, Mafraq, Zarqa, Balqa, and Karak governorates. 

LSN Jordan accomplishes its mission through a survivor-centric strategy that focuses on the health, economic independence, and social empowerment of survivors.

• Health

This sector was formed to promote and improve survivors’ health, including their psychological and social abilities, considered key to the overall recovery process. This is accomplished through the Peer Support Program, in which outreach workers, who are themselves amputees, conduct home visits to survivors and people with limb loss (PWLL).

During home visits, the outreach workers provide several services, including assisting survivors and PWLL in meeting their basic needs by providing direct in-kind assistance and referring them to service providers; educating them about their rights and the local laws that affect them; and educating survivors and PWLL and their families about life after losing a limb and helping them to reclaim their lives through the recounting of their own stories.

• Economic Opportunity

This sector was formed to promote equal opportunities for survivors and PWLL within the economic sector with the objective of encouraging independence. It focuses on building survivors’ abilities and assisting them in finding their place in the economy by linking them with vocational institutions, exploring job opportunities, or promoting self employment through the creation or strengthening of their own small businesses.

• Social Empowerment

This sector was formed to increase survivors’ and PWLL’s participation in their communities. There are two pillars to LSN-JO’s social empowerment work. The first pillar involves including survivors and PWLL in the advocacy process in order to assist them in understanding their access to their rights. The second pillar involves incorporating local health, social, economic, and cultural institutions into the advocacy process.

• Mine Ban Treaty

LSN has contributed vitally to international human rights advocacy, actively participating in the issuance of the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines since 1995. Additionally, LSN has succeeded in amending the Treaty from focusing solely on landmine issues to including a humanitarian aspect, which has both social and economic implications. The most important implications include the attention paid to Victim Assistance and the provision of rehabilitation services to survivors.

• Educational Materials

LSN-JO aims to consolidate the training process of PWD to become advocates and participate in decisions related to them through the production of educational materials.

• Surviving Limb Loss Pamphlets

This is a series of pamphlets covering a range of issues that are related to different aspects of life with limb loss such as pain after amputation, prosthetics, and wrapping your residual limb. These pamphlets have proven useful for all PWLL and their families, as well as the service providers.

• Legal, Advocacy, and Other Materials

In collaboration with other international organizations working on disability and human rights issues, LSN-JO has developed materials that explain the laws, policies, and conventions related to human rights. LSN-JO also produces documents on the legal framework and content of the Convention for the Rights of PWD.

• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability

LSN played a significant role in drafting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD). This landmark treaty, affecting 600 million people with disabilities worldwide, will build a global framework of international law to create, change, and enforce laws that promote human rights for all.

LSN Jordan participated in Ad Hoc Committee Meetings in New York to create the International Convention to Protect and Promote the Rights of PWD. These meetings resulted in a Drafting Committee containing 41 members representing both governments and NGOs. The Executive Director of LSN-JO, Adnan Al-Aboudy, was elected to represent the West Asia region in this Committee. Due to this election, LSN-JO was able to include more Arab governments in this process. One result of this was the Roundtable Expert Dialogue Conference that gathered regional leaders with disabilities and experts in human rights and disability issues.

• I Have the Right to Work Campaign

In cooperation with local NGOs and governmental entities representing all sectors, LSN Jordan initiated a national-level campaign to increase awareness about PWD’s right to work. The campaign was funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and utilized a human rights-based model, as opposed to a disability- or charity-based model, to determine how the economic opportunities for qualified persons with disabilities could be increased. The campaign focused on promoting the legal provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and local law to protect PWD, as well as conducting awareness-raising workshops targeting all community sectors and leaders in six governorates. The campaign concluded in September 2007 with a regional conference, presented in cooperation with the International Labor Organization, which worked towards establishing tools to implement and monitor national laws on people with disabilities’ right to work.

• Blogs

Government Entities Government Entities Ministry of Social Development- Social Security and Family Affairs Department Ministry of Health - Disability Early Intervention Department & Head of Prosthetic Center in Al-Basheer Hospital Ministry of Political Development Ministry of Labor   Non-governmental organizations - Jordan Jordan Sport Federation National Commission for Demining and Rehabilitation National Human Right Center High Commission for Managing Projects - under the umbrella of Prince Ra'ad’s Office Handicapped International ILO - local representative Hashemite Society Sport clubs for disability (Al-Mostqbal Club, National club, etc) National Council for Family Affairs AVSI – Italian organization Vocational Training Corporation Our Lady of Peace center The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development Development and Employment Fund Jordanian Association for Rehabilitation of Special Needs Al-Hussein Society for the Habilitation/Rehabilitation of Physically Challenged Cerebral Palsy Foundation

Non-governmental organizations - Region Special Rapporteur for Disability in UN - in Qatar Friends, Family of Disabled people Society Special Olympic Commission National Demining Center in Yemen Landmine Survivor Society in Yemen Challenging Welfare for Female disabled in Yemen NAS organization in Egypt Vision Organization in Lebanon Arab Disabled Organization - Lebanon National Demining Center in Lebanon Advocacy Group in Morocco Al-Qathfi Foundation- Libya AL-Abarar Organization  in Sudan Human Right Institute in Tunisia Humanitarian Services Center in UAE Family Affairs Council in Qatar Iraqi Welfare Society for Disabled Takamul - a barrier free society in UAE Nationale pour la Defence des Victimes des Mines Antipersonnel - Algeria Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-Jordan Office and Syria Office ggggggggggggggggggggggggg

 

The promotion of opportunities for survivors to reintegrate in their communities was achieved through the following:

• In participation with Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon, established first amputee swimming team, which participated in local and regional tournaments in 2000. In 2001, two swimmers from the team participated in the Mediterranean Games XIV in Tunisia.
• Hosted running clinic, which was conducted by two foreign experts and provided running techniques for amputees.
• Participated in mine awareness workshops organized by Jordan universities by inviting survivors to talk about their personal experiences and feelings on losing limbs.
• Invited 14 survivors to participate in the first Arab Summer Camp in Lebanon, which included Lebanese, Syrian and Sudanese survivors. It was an opportunity for the survivors to exchange experiences and feelings.
• Included 12 children with disabilities, 4 of them survivors, in the annual summer camp organized by Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services in Al-Sharjah, UAE. The camp helped the participants to cope with their disabilities and to practice peer support. The Jordanian child delegates had the honor of giving a speech on behalf of all the other child delegates, at which time they expressed their gratitude for being a part of this event and sharing the way forward.
• The theme of LSN’s 2008 annual summer camp was disability, youth, and social development and included both disabled and non-disabled youth from around the country. The camp’s goal was to promote social inclusion and the appreciation of individual’s similarities and not their differences, which it accomplished by employing a community service approach and focusing on the youth’s abilities rather than disabilities. In organizing the camp, LSN partnered with The Higher Council for Youth, American Friends Service Committee, Child Friendly City, the Jubilee School Alumni Club, Al Rabad Castle Cooperation, and the Ministry of Tourism.

Improve the services provided by other caregivers:

• In collaboration with ICRC, LSN-JO organized a Surgeon Workshop that provided information about treating landmine survivors and how to rehabilitate them medically and physically. The participants were representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Hussein Medical Center.
• Signed a Cooperative Memorandum with Jordan Sport Federation (JSF) for three years that aimed to achieve JSF’s goal of participating in the Para Olympic Games in Athens. It also aimed to include landmine survivors and PWLL in a national sitting volleyball team and other national teams.
• Formed three social support groups, each of which was created around a mutual need or interest, such as a “cancer amputee group” and a “women’s group for economic empowerment.” With LSN-JO’s assistance, the groups gather on a quarterly basis and are encouraged to exchange stories that reflect how they have succeeded in overcoming their injuries.

Contact:
Adnan Al Aboudy, Executive Director
Diana Haddadin, Executive Assistant and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

9 3rd Al Tabasheer Road
Amman, Jordan 11191
Phone: 962-6-582-7560
Fax: 962-6-582-7561
Email LSN Jordan

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