Headlines and press coverage about landmines and efforts to eliminate them 
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04 February 2010
Azerbaijan
Some 2,368,914 sq m. area demined in Azerbaijan in January
Some 2,368,914 sq. m. of area was cleared from mines and unexploded ammunition in Jnauary, 2010. The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Actions (ANAMA) revealed and detonated 25,556 unexploded ammunition and mines in this territory, the ANAMA told Trend News.
Egypt
Egypt intensifies demining efforts
[bikyamasr] The Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Faiza Aboul Naga harshly criticized the silence of the international community towards the removal of mines, those leftovers of World War II in the Western Desert of Egypt. She also warned of the dangers of the existence of about 18 million mines in the country, pointing out that the armed forces have succeeded in clearing around 3 million acres of mines.
Georgia
Georgia plans to send its sappers to Azerbaijan for training
Georgian Defense Ministry plans to send some sapper groups to Azerbaijan for training and professional development. General Headquarters of Georgian Armed Forces informed APA.
Montenegro
Montenegro’s ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 25 January places it among the first 30 states that will trigger the Convention’s entry into force, the Cluster Munition Coalition said today. Thirty ratifications are needed for the Convention to enter into force and become binding international law six months later; currently, 104 countries have signed and Montenegro is the 27th to ratify.
03 February 2010
Afghanistan
EU donates over 21 Million Euros to Mine Action in Afghanistan
[MACCA] The European Union has committed 21,750,000 Euros to mine action in Afghanistan over the next two years through an agreement with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). The funds will support a range of mine clearance, mine risk education and victim assistance projects in various provinces throughout Afghanistan, particularly in the Central and North-Eastern region. On a national level, the funds will support coordination of the entire programme towards its strategic goals and national capacity support to the Department of Mine Clearance and other ministries in response to requests by the Government. Dr Haider Reza, Programme Director, MACCA, said: "We are deeply appreciative of this significant contribution by the European Union to the work of mine action throughout the country. We believe that this contribution will make a significant impact by reducing the injuries and fatalities caused by mines and other explosive remnants of war in our country and pave the way for development."
Sudan
Sudanese peace pact has accelerated pace of mine removal, says UN official
The 2005 peace accord that ended Sudan's north-south civil war has enhanced efforts to rid the vast African nation of landmines that continue to indiscriminately kill and maim decades after they are laid, a senior United Nations official said today.
Significant strides have been made in removing both mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), or unexploded bombs, said Maxwell Kerley, Director of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which has been operating in Sudan since 2002.
02 February 2010
Afghanistan
MACCA director urges more funds to speed up demining process
[Reliefweb] The programme director of the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) has urged more funding for the demining process in Afghanistan to fill a funding shortfall of US$ 163 million. MACCA Programme Director Dr Haider Reza said MACCA now faces a funding shortfall for mine clearance of US$ 163 million against the funding target of US$ 242 million for mine action programmes in 2010. 
Somalia
SOMALIA: My farm "is full of mines"
[IRIN] Most of the unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Abuda was planted during the 1977-78 war between Somalia and Ethiopia, according to local residents. Some is from the 1981-91 war between the Somali National Movement and the Somali National Army. According to Nour, many residents of Abuda were agro-pastoralists before these wars. Most fled to Ethiopia when clashes first broke out. When they returned in 1991, they found their farmland had been mined. Now they mostly survive as livestock keepers.
Sudan
Most Sudanese hazards cleared by mid-2011, UNMAS says
[ReliefWeb] The UN Mine Action Office (UNMAO) had cleared its major routes of landmines or explosive remnants of war (ERW) and was working to rid the country of residual hazards by the middle of next year, a top UN mine action official said at an UNMIS-organized press conference on 28 January. Concluding his visit to Sudan's most dangerous areas, including Kassala, Blue Nile, and Central Equatoria states as well as Darfur, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Director Max Kerley added that UNMAO worked in close cooperation with the National Mine Action Authority and the Southern Sudanese Demining Commission. It also provided capacity building for the Joint Integrated Demining Units (JIDU).
01 February 2010
Afghanistan
Afghan farmers and villagers help rid communities of landmines – UN
[UNNewsCentre] Farmers and villagers are taking part in United Nations-backed efforts to rid Afghanistan of landmines, which is also providing a much-needed boost to their incomes. An average of 40 people are injured or killed every month by mines in the Asian nation, down from 150 per month three years ago. But 40 "is still high and puts Afghanistan at the top of countries affected by mines" and explosive remnants of war (ERW), or unexploded bombs, said Haider Reza, Programme Director of the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA), supported by the UN and the Afghan Government.
Transcript of press conference in Kabul by MACCA Programme Director Dr Haider Reza and Nazifullah Salarzai, Public Outreach Officer, UNAMA Strategic Communication and Spokespersons Unit.
[UNAMA] The mine action programme in Afghanistan started some 20 years ago in 1989 and the programme has done a very good job all these years. If you look at three years ago the average number of victims per month exceeded 150. Some were killed and the majority survived which added to the list of the number of disabled people in this country which itself created a burden on the family, on the individual and on the society. And today as we speak the average number of victims is somewhere around 40 a month.
Community-based demining works
[UNAMA] Farmers and villagers from twelve locations across Afghanistan have been taking part in demining projects to secure the lives of their families and communities. Mines have long been a threat to Afghans. Figures from the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan show 481 people were killed or injured in incidents related to mines or explosive remnants of war during 2009.
Afghan landmine casualties drop 20 pct: UN
[AFP] The United Nations said today that the number of people killed or maimed by landmines in Afghanistan fell by 20 per cent last year, with 40 casualties a month a sign its clearing programme is succeeding.
26 January 2010
Afghanistan
MACCA Newsletter December 2009
[MACCA] MACCA supports the celebration of international Day of Persons with disabilities
MACCA Newsletter December 2009 English
Mine Action successes in Afghanistan in 2009
[Reliefweb] The Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan has published details of mine action in the country last year. Statistics from 2009 show that 280 communities across Afghanistan were declared impact free between January to December 2009.
Angola
Official calls for speed in demining land reserves
[AngolaPress] The deputy minister of Urbanisation and Housing, Joaquim Silvestre, Tuesday here defended the need for more speed in the clearing areas identified as land reserves from landmines, under the implementation of the National Housing Foment Programme in the southern Cunene province, ANGOP has learnt.
Over 10,000 kilometres of road demined in 2009
[AngolaPress] A total of 10,725 kilometres of road were cleared of landmines during the year 2009 by the National Demining Institute in southern Huíla province, in the region's northern districts, ANGOP learnt this Monday from the provincial director of the sector, Dulce Venâncio Tito.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh to head UN disarmament conference
[TheDailyStar] The Foreign Secretary also said that the current session is significant in light of the recent initiatives in the area of disarmament. Bangladesh assumed the rotational presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament on January 18 and will hold the presidency until February 12. The initiatives include the forthcoming NPT Review Conference, US-Russia START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and progress made in banning anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions.
Iraq
Iraq Kurdistan Regional Mine Action Agency Newsletter
[Emine] Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA) puts the first issue of its monthly Electronic Newsletter. "The Deminer Post" aims at initiating a more transparent, assertive and targeted public relations policy to highlight contamination and its consequences, communicate the latest achievements in ridding the Region of mines and unexploded ordnance and finally build up support for this primarily humanitarian but increasingly development related industry. Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency warmly welcomes your questions, suggestions and comments.
Brit Arrested for Selling 'Useless' Bomb Detectors
[sphere] The boss of a British company that sold $85 million worth of "totally ineffective" explosives-detecting equipment to Iraq was arrested this weekend on fraud charges, and exports of his company's devices to Iraq and Afghanistan have been banned. Some campaigners have questioned why action was not taken sooner against Jim McCormick, a former policeman and managing director of ATSC Ltd., as experts first raised concerns about the company's bogus detectors more than a year ago.
United Nations
A/RES/64/84 Assistance in mine action
[Emine] Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [on the report of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) (A/64/402)] Assistance in mine action
19 January 2010
Afghanistan 
Taliban causing more civilian casualties in Afghanistan: UN
[Canada.com] Most of those killed by the Taliban died in executions, suicide bombings and as the result of attacks using the insurgents weapon of choice, homemade landmines.
Demining in rural Afghanistan Video
[Guardian] When the Taliban fled Bagram, they left behind hundreds of buried mines, which injured many of the villagers. The Halo Trust, supported by the Department for International Development, has been training locals in how to remove the mines and reclaim the land for the people
Afghanistan's Mine dogs
[CNN] Video
Dogs trained to sniff out landmines, explosives
[CNN] Photos
Angola
ANGOLA: 'Our choice was to take the risk or to starve' say mine accident survivors
[Reuters] Like many poor families in Moxico Province, Alfredo Ramos Shimishi, his wife and nine children have two options when attempting to earn a livelihood on land they know is contaminated by landmines - "to take the risk or to starve".
Cambodia 
RCAF OK'd to demine locally
[phnompenhpost] A PLATOON of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces mine-clearance specialists has for the first time received accreditation from the Cambodian Mine Action Authority (CMAA) to clear mines within Cambodia, RCAF and CMAA officials confirmed on Monday – a move that could bolster a national clearance effort that the government has said is in danger of falling short of its goals.
Italy
Clearing unexploded mines from European seas
[Euronews] As in many other European seas, the Adriatic seabed is littered with thousands of mines, bombs and other munitions which were left over at the end of the two World Wars. The risk of explosion and the release of toxic chemicals poses a constant danger not only to the fishermen, but to the population at large, the environment and the food chain.
Myanmar
Myanmar: story of a mine victim
[ICRC] Sixty-year-old U Hpa Da is recovering at Nakornping Hospital in Chiang Mai in Myanmar, following surgery. In a conversation with the ICRC's Siripan Wandee, he recounts the events that landed him in hospital.
Sri Lanka
War is over and no reason for Sri Lanka not to be a party to the Ottawa Convention
[Lankaweb] The newly formed Sri Lanka National Congress, in keeping with its commitment to humanitarian values, advocates that Sri Lanka sign the Ottawa Convention to ban land mines and other cruel weapons such as Cluster bombs. The Sri Lanka National Congress under the leadership of Minister Milinda Moragoda intends requesting the government to review its position on signing the Ottawa Convention on the banning of Land Mines; now that the war is over and humanitarian de-mining is being undertaken, there is no reason for this country not to become a party to the Ottawa Convention.
08 January 2010
Burundi
MAG's Conventional Weapons Management and Disposal global update
[Reuters] MAG Burundi started in 2007 with a programme to support the government of Burundi in reducing the threat of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) and unsecured stockpiles. MAG is currently offering technical support to the Weapons Destruction Workshop and supporting the Burundian Government in implementing the Nairobi Protocol, Articles 6, 7 and 8.
Cambodia
CMAC chalks up three-year high in 2009 demining efforts
[Xinhua] The area cleared of land mines and unexploded remnants of war reached 31 square km for the first 11 months of 2009, surpassing the combination of the previous years, which hovered at around 27 square km, local media reported on Friday. Data from the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) said the increase was due to a combination of training in new methods of mine clearance and a flexible application of clearance tools, the Cambodia Daily quoted Oum Sang Onn, CMAC's director of operations and planning, as saying.
Canada
Joining the fight against cluster bombs
[OttawaCitizen] A year after countries gathered to sign a new treaty that would ban the weapons, 24 nations have ratified the agreement. To become international law, the treaty needs 30 ratifications, writes Chris Cobb.
Chad
CHAD: Paying for fallout of landmines, UXO
[IRIN] More than half of Chad's nine million people live near sites potentially contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) or landmines, according to the national demining centre. The government says more than 100 people are killed or wounded every year by landmines or UXO; aid organizations cover the bulk of medical care and rehabilitation for mine victims, according to NGO Handicap International.
Croatia
Croatia: Monaco continues to assist demining of natural protected areas with donation of 225.000 EUR
[ReliefWeb] Thanks to the good current cooperation results and significant involvement of the Principality of Monaco to resolve the mine problem in natural protected areas in the Republic of Croatia, a new donation agreement was signed between CROMAC and the Principality of Monaco totalling 225.000 EUR. Letter of intent supporting demining program in protected areas in Croatia from 2010-2012, defines three areas where demining operations will be carried out and financed with 75.000 EUR per year. These are locations in the Velebit Nature Park, National Park Paklenica and Park of Nature Kopacki Rit.
Nepal 
Anti-ordnance ordinance
[NepaliTimes] It has been nearly four years since the war ended, Nepalis are still dying from leftover explosives, and the government is dragging its feet in signing the Mine Ban Treaty. More than 155 countries have signed the Ottawa Treaty since it came into force in 1999, although the US, India, China and Sri Lanka have refused to ratify it. Landmines and improvised bombs were used by both sides during the Nepal conflict, causing at least 1,500 fatalities. People have continued to die and be injured since the war ended. In 2009 alone 16 people were killed (6 boys, 3 girls, 5 men, 2 women) and 54 injured (24 boys, 5 girls, 13 men, 12 women).
Senegal
Senegal: Mine wounds two Senegalese soldiers in Casamance
[AfriqueenLigne] Two Senegalese soldiers were wounded after their vehicle Thursday ran over a mine in the rural community of Santhiaba Manjacque, near the Guinea Bissau border, 50 kilometres west of Ziguinchor, sources told PANA. According to sources, the vehicle was hit while criss crossing the different cam ps of Senegalese soldiers located in the area. The area has suffered most from the conflict in Casamance, from which residents fled to take refuge in Oussouye, Ziguinchor or the neighboring Guinea-Bissau.
United Kingdom
Cluster Munitions - an update
[FCO] The Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill continues on its course through Parliament. It reached the Committee Stage in the Lords yesterday afternoon and I'm delighted to say that the tabled amendments were withdrawn. That means we're one step closer to ratifying the Convention on Cluster Munitions and banning these weapons. There was some passionate debate yesterday. As much as the Bill has had a swift passage soe Bill and the leadership they have shown on this issue from the very beginning. I look forward to taking it through the Commons. We have already looked at an additional issue, the question of indirect financing of cluster munitions, because we want to see an end to their use everywhere.
Film
'Hurt Locker' represented well at festival
[Mydesert.com] Mark Boal watched the video clips of "The Hurt Locker" Tuesday with head in hands, his fingers gripping his cheek and temples as scenes featuring Jeremy Renner as a demolition expert in the Iraq war played across the three big screens at the awards gala. Renner was being honored with a Breakthrough Performance Award, but Boal had been in Iraq watching real demolition experts defuse land mines as an embedded journalist. He told Kathryn Bigelow what he saw and they made "The Hurt Locker" based on his experiences. Bigelow directed it and Boal fictionalized a screenplay and produced it. "The Hurt Locker" is my favorite film of 2009.
07 January 2010
UNMAS
UNMAS's Rapid-response Exercise
[TheJournalofERWandMineAction] UNMASIn a post-conflict country littered with mines and explosive remnants of war, the capability to deploy highly qualified mine-action staff rapidly is key to saving lives. The United Nations Mine Action Service recently spearheaded a new 10-day emergency training program based on lessons learned from previous rapid-response efforts in Kosovo, Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This exercise emphasized the importance of interagency coordination and was designed to simulate a scenario in which these relationships would be called upon heavily in order to achieve success.
Afghanistan
Deadly Explosion Arouses New Afghan Anger at U.S.
[NYTimes] American forces inspecting an engineering project in eastern Afghanistan paused to toss candies to a clutch of curious Afghan children on Wednesday when a large explosion tore through the crowd. The blast turned a common gesture of friendship by American forces into what for Afghans has become an all too common tragedy, setting off angry recriminations and protests. Five people were killed: two schoolboys, two Afghan adults and an Afghan policeman, according to the district police chief in Nangarhar Province, where the deaths occurred. In a statement, a NATO spokesman said that international forces were investigating, but that they believed that the blast was caused by unexploded ordnance, which can be extremely volatile.
Azerbaijan
Four people died in 16 mine explosions in Azerbaijan last year
[APA] APA. Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action cleared 3 582 751 square meters area from mines and UXOs in December, 2009, ANAMA press service told APA. 45 524 UXOs and mines were found and rendered harmless during the operations. 425 experts, 115 assistants, six mine-clearing vehicles and 30 sleuth dogs were involved in the operations. ANAMA has cleared totally 121 903 509 squares meters area so far and rendered 576 311 mines and UXOs harmless. 16 mine incidents were identified in December, 2009 and 4 people were killed and 18 injured
06 January 2010
Afghanistan
Explosion Kills 2 Afghans, Wounds Others in Nangarhar
[dvidshub] Afghanistan - Two Afghan civilians were killed and several other Afghan civilians along with four Afghan national policemen and nine International Security Assistance Force service members were wounded in an explosion in the Rodat District of Nangarhar province this morning. ISAF service members evacuated the wounded to a nearby medical facility and are investigating the circumstances of the blast and its aftermath. The blast is believed to have been caused by the detonation of unexploded ordnance.
Afghan blast kills 4 children
[News24] A suspected roadside bomb killed four children and injured dozens including nine foreign troops on Wednesday, officials said, as a police officer who defected to the Taliban was captured.
Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said however the blast was caused by unexploded munitions.
Argentina 
Argentine General: demining a humanitarian and ethical imperative
[MercoPress] "Argentina is free of all type of mines, with the exception of those planted in the Malvinas Islands which motivated Argentina to request and obtain a ten year de-mining extension, because Argentina currently does not have access to the Islands illegitimately occupied by the United Kingdom".
Film 
Film
National Society of Film Critics Picks The Hurt Locker; Does That Hurt Its Oscar Chances?
[reelzchannel] Trailer The Hurt Locker was the big winner when the National Society of Film Critics announced their awards for the movies of 2009. The Iraq War drama took home Best Picture, Best Director for Kathryn Bigelow, and Best Actor for Jeremy Renner, who plays a soldier addicted to the adrenaline rush of disarming landmines.
05 January 2010
UNMAS
UNMAS and Gender Mainstreaming in Mine Action
[TheJournalofEWRandMineAction] In order to further the development of proper protection from and response to landmines and explosive remnants of war in conflict and post-conflict countries, the United Nations Mine Action Service and the International Mine Action Standards Review Board are taking the necessary steps to ensure gender perspectives become an integral part of national mine-action plans. This article briefly describes the evolution of gender mainstreaming in mine action and how UNMAS has addressed the issue. By Aaron J. Buckley and Akiko Ikeda [United Nations Mine Action Service]
Thailand
Thailand bombs out of global munitions pact
[bangkokpost] Doubts about financial assistance to destroy left-over munitions have convinced Thailand against joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions, sources at non-governmental organisations covering the issue say. The CCM has been signed by 104 countries and ratified by 24 others. It needs to be ratified by six more countries before it can be brought into force, probably by mid-2010.
Uganda
LRA weapons destroyed in Gulu
[TheNewVision] THE army and the Police have destroyed 7,127 bombs and rusty weapons abandoned by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the return villages in Gulu and Kitgum districts. The ammunition included 23 landmines, 277 grenades, 154 rocket propelled grenades, 471 mortars, 6,171 guns and 10 bombs.
04 January 2010
Senegal 
Casamance still mined, still dangerous
[ICRC] Martine Niafouna lost part of her right leg while walking down a mined trail in Casamance, an area of Senegal that has seen considerable violence over the past three decades. It has been this way for a few months already. Martine doesn't go out a lot. And when she receives a visitor, she's discreet about it, her scarf-covered head barely rising above the low wall outside her little house in Ziguinchor. "This way," she murmurs softly. Standing motionless behind this cement screen that rises to her shoulders, Martine smiles shyly, as if allowing people to see only part of her made her feel better for a moment, as if in others' eyes she could still be the young woman she once was, who walked normally on whole legs, who didn't have a pair of crutches as her constant companions. 
30 December 2009
Egypt
Egypt Seeks Cooperation in De-Mining Efforts
[BikyaMasr] Ambassador Hossam Zaki, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, revealed that Egypt's Foreign Minister, Ahmed Abul-Gheit, sent letters to his counterparts in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Australia and New Zealand to urge these countries to participate in financing the second phase of the national project for de-mining and development of the northwest coast and the desert hinterland, which is expected to begin early next year.
Nepal
UN completes demolition of explosives in Nepal
[Hindustantimes] Three years after Nepal's 10-year-long civil war ended, an UN team on Thursday completed demolition of thousands of explosives stockpiled by Maoist guerillas across the country. With demolition of 65 explosives at a Maoist cantonment site at Dasharathpur in Surkhet district by United Nation Mine Action Team, all seven cantonments of the former rebels have been cleared of these "dangerous items". It was the end of a process involving Maoist army, UNMAT and United Nations Mission in Nepal to destroy all explosives at cantonments of the former rebels as agreed under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed by Maoists and the Nepal government in 2006.
Sri Lanka
'Unpredictable LTTE landmine pattern baffles mine experts'
[Dailymirror] Demining experts in Sri Lanka are struggling over the unpredictable pattern of LTTE landmines that are obstructing the resettlement of displaced Tamils by January 5 deadline here. "There is no set pattern laid by the LTTE landmines and we confront with various challenges," Major K. Raju, who was also in Indian army told reporters. Raju and his team of mining experts from Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) commenced work in north-western Mannar district and have now cleared their way towards Periyathampanai and Pannivirichchan in Vavuniya district.
De-mining in North, East progressing well
[DailyNews] Army Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara stated that the forces have cleared an area of 62,760,434 square metres (63 square kilometres) of mines and explosives in Northern and Eastern Provinces this year. The forces have recovered 8,313 anti personnel mines and 2,536 other explosives hidden in these areas which could have posed a hazard to the civilians.
Tajikistan
Land Mine Kills Two Tajiks On Uzbek Border
[RFE/RL] DUSHANBE -- Two Tajik citizens died near the Uzbek-Tajik border after stepping on a land mine last week, RFE/RL's Uzbek and Tajik services report. Oybek Ibrahimov and his wife, Zarifa Karimova, were collecting firewood in the border area of Tajikistan's northwestern Isfara district on December 25 when the land mine exploded.
23 December 2009
UNMAS
New action plan focuses global mine action
[UNRadio] One hundred million uncleared landmines lie in the fields and alongside the roads and footpaths of one-third of the countries in the developing world. Claiming over 500 victims a week, landmines are often called "weapons of mass destruction in slow motion". But global mine action is making progress. Recently, Albania, Greece, Rwanda and Zambia announced that they are now entirely clear of mines. A new action plan has made the 10 year limit on mine clearance more forceful than ever. Kit Cockburn recently spoke with UN Mine Action Sector Policy Director, Gustavo Laurie, who says some countries are asking for another 10 years to comply.
Afghanistan
UNAMA Year in Review January 2009: UN urges support for agriculture and poppy eradication
[Reliefweb] The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, began the year urging strong support for agriculture and big infrastructure in Afghanistan. Progress was also made on mine-clearing in Afghanistan. According to a senior official, more than 82,000 anti-personnel mines were cleared in Afghanistan in 2008. However, Dr Haider Reza, the Programme Director of the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA), cautioned that the funding needed to meet the 2013 demining completion goal – around US $ 500 million – was threatened by the world economic situation, noting that he would be tapping new donors, such as the Gulf States, in addition to "traditional" ones.
Angola
Over 2,000 explosive devices deactivated
[AngolaPress] At least 2,711 explosive devices were deactivated and destroyed from January to the first fortnight of December this year in southern Cunene province, Angop leaned.
Cambodia 
Cambodian soldier killed by mine at Preah Vihear temple
[phnompenhpost] AROYAL Cambodian Armed Forces soldier stationed near Preah Vihear temple died after stepping on a land mine while patrolling at the base of the 11th-century World Heritage site, military officials said.
Italy
Italy contributes 112,000 Euros to OAS Mine Action Program
[Reliefweb] Through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government of Italy recently authorized two financial contributions for 166,300 US dollars (112,000 Euros) to the Organization of American States' (OAS) Mine Action assistance program, known as AICMA.
Moldova
Moldova neutralizes first cluster munitions
[Moldpress] Ten cluster bombs out of the 78 Soviet-made bombs belonging to the National Army were destroyed today within the first stage of a project carried out by the Moldovan Defence Ministry in cooperation with the NGO Norwegian Peoples Aid.
New Zealand and Belgium
New Zealand, Belgium ratify UN cluster bomb ban convention
[Rian] New Zealand and Belgium ratified on Wednesday a UN convention banning the production and use of cluster bombs, bringing it closer to becoming international law. "New Zealand plans to be an active advocate for this convention. The more states that commit to it, the stronger the norm against cluster munitions will become," the country's disarmament and arms control minister, Georgina Te Heuheu, was quoted by regional media as saying. "New Zealand's ratification is a great Christmas present for the Convention on Cluster Munitions as it helps bring the agreement one step closer to becoming international law," said Mary Wareham, coordinator with the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munitions Coalition (ANZCMC).
22 December 2009
Nigeria
Recovered war explosives for destruction in Owerri
[Vanguard] Barring any unforeseen circumstance, the stockpile of landmines, unexploded ordinance and explosive remnants of war recovered in Imo State will be destroyed tomorrow, at the shooting range of the 34 Field Artillery Brigade, Obinze, near Owerri.
21 December 2009
Afghanistan
MINE ACTION PROGRAMME OF AFGHANISTAN NEWSLETTER: NOVEMBER 2009
[E-mine] The first community based demining project to be undertaken in Khost province was launched in Tanai district this month. 13 community demining teams were hired, providing employment for 217 people in impacted communities. They will be supported by one Mechanical Demining Unit. A field office was also established in Khost city along with two sub offices in Dragi and Gosha villages of Tani district.
China
China - Statement at the 2nd Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention by H.E. Mr. CHENG Jingye, Head of the Chinese Observer Delegation, Director-General of Dept.of Arms Control and Disarmament
[ISRIA] China is still not in a position to accede to the Ottawa Convention. However, the Chinese Government highly appreciates the humanitarianism enshrined in the Ottawa Convention and endorses the purposes and objectives of the Convention. We have participated in relevant meetings of States Parties and other activities under the Convention as an observer and China voted in favor to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution entitled "Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction" at every session of UNGA since 2005. Meanwhile, China actively participated in international demining assistance and tried its best to help mine-affected countries. China provided humanitarian demining assistances to 16 developing countries in Asian, African and Latin American countries, which amounted to about RMB 31 million Yuan. These assistances include demining equipments, demining training courses, on-site demining guidance as well as financial contribution. 
European diplomats campaign for Mine Ban Treaty
[China.org.cn] In 1991, Kien Le was working in his garden when a cluster bomb exploded. His lost his left leg, and his 4-year-old daughter, who was playing nearby, was killed. The accident sent the family into an abyss of grief.v Their lives lost their color that day, said Huong Thi Nguyen, Le's wife. Now the couple tours the world, campaigning for the Mine Ban Treaty and sharing their story. Recently they were in Beijing to speak at a photo exhibition, Fatal Footprint, at the French Cultural Center. Organized by Handicap International, a group that advocates for the physically disabled, the exhibition is a call on governments to live up to their Mine Ban Treaty promises and eliminate the destruction from landmines and cluster munitions.
Jordan
JMU and MAIC Join with Jordan to Train Weapons-removal Officials
[PRUrgent] The Mine Action Information Center (MAIC) at James Madison University (JMU) in Virginia has successfully partnered with the National Committee for Demining & Rehabilitation (NCDR) in Amman, Jordan, to train its first class of 30 senior managers from 20 countries affected by explosive remnants of war (ERW). The Jordan-based version of the MAIC course had long been a dream of HRH Prince Mired Raad Z. Al-Hussein, Chairman of the NCDR in Amman, who served as president of the 8th annual Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention–an international treaty dedicated to eliminating anti-personnel (AP) landmines and the effects of AP mines globally. MAIC representatives worked with Prince Mired to host a version of the MAIC-developed course. The course was designed to offer leadership skills and operational expertise to key officials from ERW organizations around the globe. Participants included representatives from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Libya, Mozambique, Sudan and Vietnam.
Lebanon
Lebanon's Leftover Subterranean Scourge
[Huffingtonpost] Landmines still carpet millions of square meters of Lebanese soil and, according to the country's UN Special coordinator, Lebanon cannot claim to be winning its war on human rights abuses before eradicating this subterranean scourge. But as long as Lebanon refuses to embrace the Ottawa Treaty and categorically outlaw landmine use, many of its citizens will continue to suffer abuses of a fundamental prerogative - the right to safety and security.
Serbia
Chargé d'Affaires Brush to attend an event marking the completion of demining in Sid
[Emportal] On Monday, December 21, 2009 the Chargé d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade Jennifer Brush will travel to Sid to join Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic, Ministry of Defense State Secretary Zoran Jeftic, Director of the Mine Action Center Petar Mihajlovic, Director of the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) Goran Gacnik, the Mayor of Šid Natasa Cvjetkovic, and members of the international community in an event organized by the Mine Action Center to mark the completion of a demining project in Šid.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan's Request for a 10 year extension of demining deadlines
[E-mine] Tajikistan's Request for a 10 year extension of demining deadlines was supported by the member states of the Ottawa convention at the Cartagena Summit titled "A Mine-Free World". Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World or the Second Review conference on consideration the Ottawa Convention on prohibition of antipersonnel mines was held in Cartagena, Columbia on Nov. 29-Dec. 4, 2009 by which it became an important event in the history of this Convention.
United States
Landmines: Obama's ultimate betrayal
[Guardian.uk] Worst among the president's broken promises is his refusal to ban landmines and cluster bombs
Yemen
Toll climbs in Yemen Qaeda site blast
[Sabanet] The death toll from the blast at an Al-Qaeda training site in southern Yemen raised on Monday to three people, a security source said. Preliminary information have revealed that Al-Qaeda terrorists planted landmines in the area where tribesmen rallied after a previous successful operation on the site in which about 28 Al-Qaeda suspects were killed and arrested, the source said.
Blast kills two citizens at al-Qaeda training camp, says Abyan governor
[Sabenet] Two citizens killed and other nine injured in Abyan province in a blast at a training camp for terror al-Qaeda network in the village of al-Maajala in al-Mahafd district of Abyan. In his statements to 26sep.net, Abyan governor Ahmed al-Misari said that the al-Qaeda terrorists had planted the region with landmines as they expected arrival of security forces to the region to investigate about results of the recent army air raid which targeted the site.
18 December 2009
Laos
Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP): Lao People's Democratic Republic Flash Appeal 2009 (Revison)
[Reliefweb] The Lao PDR Flash Appeal was launched on 22 October in response to the humanitarian needs caused by Typhoon Ketsana. The typhoon resulted in flash flooding in the upland mountainous areas and severe river overflow onto land surrounding the Sekong river and many of its tributaries. Severe unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination still affects the five disaster-affected provinces. It has been reported that a significant number of UXO were exposed or displaced by the flooding. Due to the loss of livelihoods, there is an acute danger of UXO being sold as scrap for much needed income.
Sri Lanka 
SRI LANKA: Landmine clearance a long-haul effort
[IRIN] Progress is being made in clearing landmines to allow internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka's north to return home, but clearance will ultimately be a long-term process with no fixed deadline, agencies say. The random placement of mines, a lack of mapped information about their location, not enough mine flail machines, which safely detonate mines, and the speed at which IDPs are returning all add to the challenge, they say. In recent weeks, the government has expedited the resettlement of IDPs from camps in Sri Lanka's north. They numbered nearly 280,000 at the end of the civil war.
16 December 2009
Colombia 
GLOBAL: A second life for landmine survivors
[IRIN] CARTAGENA, 16 December 2009 (IRIN) - At first glance they appear as they are, a group of teenagers and twenty-somethings giggling and laughing, at ease with themselves and their friends. But the thin outline of a knee brace beneath a girl's tight jeans is discernible, and a boy's arm casually looped around a friend reveals half a limb. Their bodies have been mangled and shredded by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), but it has failed to deprive them of joy. (Note from the Editor: Featured In this photo: Leila Blacking from Unicef!)
Lebanon
Lebanon blast death of bomb expert who grew up in Leicestershire
[thisisleicestershire.co.uk] An "exceptional" bomb disposal expert died when he was trying to get rid of a cluster bomb in Lebanon. Craig Appleby was trying to dispose of an M77 submunition when it exploded, an inquest heard. Craig was working for ArmorGroup – which has since become G4S – in southern Lebanon when he was killed.
Sri Lanka
EU says Sri Lanka government taken steps in the right direction, grants another 6 million Euros
[ColomboPage] Dec 16, Brussels: The European Commission today said Sri Lanka has taken steps in right direction and allocated another 5 million Euros to provide humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees and host families in the country. Granting the assistance the European Commission said the current return process has triggered urgent humanitarian needs in particular for protection, temporary shelter, health services including mobile clinics and specific care for conflict victims, and demining in heavily mined areas.
More land mine detectors, accessories
[DailyNews] The UN has gifted 200 mine detectors and accessories. Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP said though it came 160 days late it was most welcome and useful in expediting the land mine clearing process to accelerate resettling IDPs as scheduled. United Nations Resident Representative Neil Buhne and UNDP Senior Program Manager Wuria Kradaghy handed over the detectors at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday. Rajapaksa thanked UN Under Secretary General Sir John Holmes and other UN agencies for supporting the de-mining process.
15 December 2009
Holy See
Pope: No Justification for Anti-Personnel Mines
[Zenith] VATICAN CITY, DEC. 14, 2009 (Zenit.org).- There are no ethical arguments to defend the production and use of anti-personnel landmines, especially given that most victims are innocent civilians, a statement written on Benedict XVI's behalf is reiterating.
Mozambique 
HeroRATS: Sniffing out Landmines and Saving Lives
[Good.is] Rats are some of the most loathed mammals in history. Even the word rat functions as a stand-in for a criminal or untrustworthy person. However, these poor, unfortunate mongrels do have one thing working in their favor: long, prominent, and highly functional snouts. In parts of Mozambique, rats are using those furry proboscises to sniff out unexploded landmines, saving countless lives in the process.
Somalia
Landmine blasts and fighting from north to south
[Reliefweb] Reports of attacks and fighting have arrived over the past 24 hours from every corner of Somalia, from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in the north, to Mogadishu and the central Galgadud region, with an overall toll of at least 13 dead and an unspecified number wounded. The most violent episode occurred in the city of Bosaso, in the Puntland region, where a series of blasts occurred overnight in still unclear circumstances. According to local sources, a series of landmines were detonated in different points of the city, one of which killing four soldiers and wounding nine; all the blasts were reportedly targeted at security forces.
Sudan
Mabaan IDPs return home
[Reliefweb] The move was jointly coordinated by the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission/ Humanitarian Aid Commission (SSRRC/ HAC), UNHCR and UNMIS Return, Reintegration and Recovery office. Returnees were given Mine Risk Education by the UN Mine Action Office through its implementing partner JASMAR two weeks before departure.
Taiwan
Mine clearing on Kinmen, Matsu making progress: MND
[TaiwanNews] Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) The military's efforts to remove landmines on two of Taiwan's outlying islands are making good progress, with demining work 46.4 percent complete on Kinmen and 33.3 percent complete on Matsu, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Tuesday.
14 December 2009
Afghanistan 
Red Cross assists landmine victims in Afghanistan
[UPI] An Afghan child with only one leg sits next to artificial legs at the International Red Cross Orthopedic (ICRC) rehabilitation center on December 10, 2009 in Herat, Afghanistan. The aims of the ICRC rehabilitation center are to educate and rehabilitate landmine victims and others with deformities to help them return their former lives. According to the UN mine information network, 62 people on average are killed or injured by mines each month in Afghanistan. UPI/Hossein Fatemi
EOD Takes Out the Trash
[Dvids] Explosive Ordnance Disposal, RC-South Counter IED Branch, and Combined Joint Operations Center are pleased. With that detonation, they have disposed of 400 pounds of unexploded ordnance and with a secondary explosion five seconds later, 400 pounds more.
Belgium
Giant Rats to the Rescue
[Firstthings] According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately sixty-seventy million landmines are scattered in approximately seventy countries across the globe. Each year an estimated 24,000 people, mostly civilians, are killed or injured because of these landmines and other unexploded ordinance. Detecting these mines has always been a dangerous and expensive process, but a Belgian man has come up with safe and cost-effective solution: giant rats. Giant pouched rats are not what spring to mind immediately when conversation turns to the global issue of unexploded landmines. However, Bart Weegens, from Belgium has found a low-technology answer to the continuing issue of unexploded mines. A childhood interest in the animals came to mind when he was musing over possible solutions and this led to an extraordinary development. The idea occurred to Weegens as he realized that rats were both easy to train and had an excellent sense of smell.
Cambodia
Cambodian amputees seek world volleyball crown
[AFP] As Chim Phan gracefully leaps for the ball on the dusty Cambodian volleyball court, it's hard to believe the star athlete is missing his lower leg -- until you notice his tell-tale prosthetic limb. He and his team-mates are the impoverished country's only world-ranking sports team, the top disabled volleyballers in the Asia-Pacific region and third-best in the world after Germany and Slovakia. "We want to get to number one," Chim Phan said after a tough training session ahead of the 2009 World Cup tournament, which begins on Monday in Phnom Penh with six nations battling for the championship. "Now our disabled sport is well known, not only throughout Cambodia but also overseas. People were surprised that disabled people can play sport.... Now they recognise it and they're very interested."
Colombia
Shot in the arm for landmine treaty
[TheSundayTimes] Cartagena - States party to the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines have renewed their commitment to end the suffering caused by these weapons by adopting a five-year action plan to clear mined areas, assist mine victims and destroy all remaining stockpiles. Their commitment came at the recent Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has hailed the plan as an important step forward, but emphasized that much difficult work lies ahead. ICRC's Vice-President Christine Beerli told the summit that "despite 10 years of implementation the hopes that most landmine survivors had for the Convention have still not been fulfilled." She welcomed the strong commitments made to victims in the Cartagena Action Plan but cautioned that "the more difficult task of turning words into tangible benefits for victims remains." The Plan commits States to expand health and social services for victims, and to promote respect for their rights and dignity.
Georgia
Gori district cleared of debris of war
[Messenger] The Gori district has been completely cleared of the debris of war. The charitable NGO the HALO Trust, a non-political, non-religious NGO which specialises in the removal of landmines and other dangerous war debris, finished work in the village of Meghvrekisi yesterday. U.S. Ambassador John Bass and representatives of the Defence Ministry of Georgia attended a ceremony in the village at which the village was officially assigned to the local authorities. The U.S. Government had allocated 6,700,000 USD to the organisation to carry out mine clearance works in the Gori district. Specialists cleared up 270 hectares in Meghvrekisi. They removed 288 items of dangerous debris left by the cluster bombs of the Russian Army. (Rustavi 2)
Somalia
Land mine kills 6 Somali children in same family
[AP] MOGADISHU, Somalia — A community leader in Somalia says an explosion of an old land mine has killed six children from the same family near the border with Ethiopia. Hareri Hassan Barre says six children between the ages of 3 and 11 were killed by the blast as their mother prepared a meal nearby. He says only the mother, father and a small baby survived in the family of nine. The U.N. Mine Action Center says that 357 communities in Somalia are affected by land mines, which were first laid in the country in 1964. Mines appear along the Ethiopian border and around strategic facilities, camps and towns. 
United States
Blood, bombs and boys' talk
[SundayTimes] When you've lost your legs, do you lose hope? The Sunday Times had exclusive access to some of the most seriously wounded young soldiers. One is his brother. Their stories — and humour — reveal extraordinary courage.
11 December 2009
Chechnya
Landmines continue to injure thousands in Chechnya
[RT] Years of armed conflict in Russia's Republic of Chechnya has left a deadly legacy that threatens the lives of people living there today. The region has one of the highest concentrations of landmines in the world. Although the Emergencies Ministry has been working to clear the area, little progress has been made, prompting thousands of Chechens to call for more to be done.
Egypt
Egypt Intensifies De-mining Of WWII Battlefields
[DigitalJournal] Egypt is planning to use the site of a decisive World War Two battle to develop its oil, natural gas and tourism industries. In order to do so, however, vast minefields left after the war have to be cleared.
Laos
Cluster Bomb Ban Legislation Passes
[Scoop] Campaigners are celebrating the passage of the Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill by the New Zealand parliament last night. With the unanimous vote in support of the implementing legislation, New Zealand's ratification of the international treaty banning cluster munitions is now imminent.
Senegal
Landmines, armed gangs spread fear in Casamance
[AFP] Casamance lies to the south of the rest of Senegal and is separated from it by the Gambia river and country of that name. The region has been beset by clashes between separatists and the army since 1982, despite an accord signed by the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces and the Dakar government in 2004. Anti-personnel landmines are a common hazard, as are armed groups who prey on villagers, killing many and forcing others to flee for safety.
Cluster Munition Coalition
CMC Newsletter November 2009
[CMC] Two new signatures and another ratification in the month of November have provided further strength to the Convention on Cluster Munitions as it nears entry into force. Nicaragua deposited its ratification instrument on the 2 November, making it the 24th country to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, leaving only 6 ratifications needed to trigger entry into force.
08 December 2009
UNMAS
A training facility prepares U.N. workers for working in hostile environments
[CNN] Watch Rapid Response Excersive documented by UNTV's Gill Fickling 
GLOBAL: Money for mine action is hard to come by
[IRIN] CARTAGENA, 4 December 2009 (IRIN) - The annual UN Portfolio of Mine Action Projects is more than a brochure of funding needs; it is a near comprehensive directory for donors wishing to fund mine initiatives, and an unofficial barometer of health in the funding community - and 2010 is looking decidedly bearish. The portfolio, published by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme, and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, among others, is essentially a Consolidated Appeals Process for funding mine action, but also a useful tool for gauging the funding climate and donor trends.
Australia
Australia takes action to rid the world of landmines
[ReliefWeb] The Australian Government today reaffirmed its strong commitment to mine action by presenting the Mine Action Strategy for the Australian aid program 2010-14 to the Summit on a Mine-Free World in Cartagena, Colombia
Austria
Austria - Speech of H.E. Austrian Foreign Minister Dr. Michael Spindelegger at the Princeton University
[ISRIA] CForeign Minister on Anti-Mine Convention Review Conference in Cartagena "The global fight against anti-personnel mines can ultimately only be won through joint commitment. Joint commitment means willingness by the donor community to provide support. But it also means that the states affected also have to shoulder their share of responsibility. And it means that much remains to be done by the community of states before the convention is fully implemented," stated Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger to mark the Second Review Conference of the Convention banning anti-personnel mines in Colombia.
Algeria 
Algeria troops destroying colonial-era landmines
[MiddleEastOnline] 5,700 landmines have been destroyed in November almost half a century after Algeria gained independence. Algerian troops destroyed more than 5,700 colonial-era landmines in November, almost half a century after the country gained independence from France, the state news agency APS said Tuesday.
Azerbaijan
Mine clearance of Azerbaijan's occupied land to take 10-14 years
[BizKlub] News.Az interviews Nazim Ismayilov, head of the Azerbaijan National Anti-Mine Agency (ANAMA). The negotiations on Karabakh between Azerbaijan and Armenia may have entered the final stage. Your structure will have to clear the currently occupied Azerbaijani land of mines. Is ANAMA ready for this?
Cambodia
Demining deadline extended by decade
[Phnompenhpost] PARTIES to the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty have formally approved Cambodia's request to push back the deadline for clearing all antipersonnel mines by 10 years, though the government's formal extension request asserts that "current productivity levels will not be sufficient" to meet the revised goal. Leng Sochea, deputy secretary of the Cambodia Mine Action Authority [CMAA], on Thursday confirmed that the request had been approved Wednesday at the Summit on a Mine-Free World, which is being held this week in Cartagena, Colombia.
Canada
Minister of State Kent Attends Ottawa Convention Second Review Conference
[CanadaViews] The Honourable Peter Kent, Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas), today concluded his participation in Cartagena, Colombia, in the Second Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines. "One hundred and fifty-six countries are party to the Ottawa Convention, which has proven to be a great legal tool to address the scourge of anti-personnel mines," said Minister of State Kent. "Our collective efforts over the past decade have yielded some remarkable results. More than 42 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed, over 3,200 square kilometres of land have been cleared in approximately 90 countries, and hundreds of thousands of survivors have been rehabilitated and reintegrated into their communities as full, productive members."
Colombia 
Colombia to give green light to civilian demining teams
[Reuters] CARTAGENA, Colombia (AlertNet) - Colombia will give the go-ahead to local and international civilian teams to start clearing its mine-affected areas, the government has said, a move that is being hailed as a significant step in speeding up demining in one of the world's most mine-scarred countries. Insecurity and violence stemming from decades of armed conflict mean only the military in Colombia is permitted to carry out mine clearance. In much of the rest of the world, demining is done by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). "The Colombian government has decided to modify the national legislation in order to adopt a new set of rules that allows all civil organisations to carry out humanitarian demining projects," Andres Davila, head of Colombia's presidential mine action programme (PAICMA), told international delegates at a mine review conference in Cartagena.
THE OAS JOINS THE SECOND REVIEW CONFERENCE OF THE OTTAWA CONVENTION ON ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES
[MediaNewswire] The Second Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction is taking place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from November 29 to December 4. This is an event in which the Organization of American States ( OAS ) is participating together with more than a thousand experts at the Conference to strengthen their efforts towards a mine-free world. Ambassador Graeme Clark, Permanent Representative of Canada to the OAS and Chair of the OAS Commission on hemispheric Security, and Carl Case, the OAS Director of the Office of Humanitarian Mine Action, are representing the institution at this high-level event.
GLOBAL: Focus on victims at Mine Ban Treaty meeting
[IRIN] CARTAGENA, 4 December 2009 (IRIN) - Assistance for landmine victims, widely regarded as the weakest link in the 10-year-old Mine Ban Treaty (MBT), has taken centre stage at its second review conference in Cartagena, Colombia. "The heart of the convention was the victim, and the prevention of new victims [of landmines]; the spirit was not disarmament, it was the prevention of more victims," said Paul Vermeulen, director of Handicap International.
Austria - Spindelegger: "Getting to the root of the mine problem in Colombia"
[ISRIA] "Seven people have been severely injured by land mines in Colombia this past week alone," stated Colombia's Vice-President Francisco Santos Calderón in his welcome address to the opening of the 10-year Ottawa Conference in Cartagena (Columbia). Unfortunately, mine victims are part of Colombia's everyday life, with more than 750 victims last year. Colombia is heavily affected by land mines placed by illegal armed groups. The left-leaning FARC movement, in particular, plants land mines in an attempt to protect its coca plantations from the Colombian military forces. The large number of injured civilians sadly makes Colombia a leader in the victims statistics. "If we want to succeed in the fight against land mines, then we have to start at the roots," emphasised Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger. "Progress in the fight against land mines is closely related to progress in the fight against cultivation of drug-producing plants. We cannot close our eyes to this, least of all in the interests of our young people. Drugs are a global problem," Spindelegger continued.
Egypt
Egypt says clearing mines to develop north coast
[Reuters] Egypt has stepped up efforts to clear millions of World War Two mines from prime north coast land in a $250 million demining project to ready the area for tourism, energy and agriculture investments, an official said.
New Zealand
Te Heuheu: Statement on landmines
[Scoop] Your Royal Highnesses, Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Madame President, It is a pleasure to see you presiding over the Second Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. Your good work this week is yet another demonstration of Norway's strong leadership in this area.
Pakistan
Mine blast kills 2 in Mohmand
[TheNation] Two persons were killed and another three injured when a truck hit a land mine here on Monday. According to details, the vehicle that was on its way from Afghanistan hit a landmine planted on the roadside at Lashkar village in tehsil Baizai area of Mohmand Agency, resulting in the total destruction of the truck.
A security person, who embarked on the truck at Ghalnai, became a victim in the blast, while driver Ishaq son of Torja was also killed. The conductor of the vehicle Hazratullah, son of Bakhshi Gul, and three others sustained injuries in the incident and were shifted to Peshawar for treatment.
Rwanda
Rwanda: Unicef Lauds Country on Land Mines Clearance
[AllAfrica] The UNICEF country chief Joseph Foumbi has congratulated government for being the first country in the world to be declared landmine free. Rwanda was declared land mine free last week by the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World in Colombia.
United Kingdom
UK - FA - Legislation to ban cluster bombs
[ISRIA] A seminal Bill that would ban the use, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions will be debated in the House of Lords 8 December. The Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill, which has its second reading this afternoon, would implement international obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, paving the way for UK ratification. It also builds on the UK's continued leadership on arms control, from landmines to the Arms Trade Treaty.
United States
U.S. reacts to civil society outcry on landmine treaty policy
[ReliefWeb] In a statement Tuesday, the head of the U.S. delegation to the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty informed participants that the Obama administration has begun a comprehensive landmine policy review. In the statement, the U.S. representative said, "The Administration's decision to attend this Review Conference is the result of an on-going comprehensive review of U.S. landmine policy initiated at the direction of President Obama."
US should reverse current policy and sign treaty banning landmines
[Jurist] Susannah Sirkin [Deputy Director, Physicians for Human Rights]: "As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) was alarmed and deeply disappointed by a Department of State spokesperson's pronouncement on November 24 that President Obama does not intend to sign the landmark 1997 treaty banning the egregious weapon. However, an apparent reversal of the US position this week gives some signs of hope and follows an outcry from the landmine ban movement and Senator Patrick Leahy, among others. At the current five-year review of the Treaty convening in Cartagena, Colombia this week, the US observer has now stated that the US has begun a comprehensive landmine policy review. We hope that this review will be serious, transparent and include consultation with key non-governmental organizations as well as NATO allies, all of whom have joined the Treaty.
After Cartagena: A conversation with Zach Hudson from the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines
[Examiner] Having attended the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World, Zach Hudson, who coordinates the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines, was more than willing to share his experience at the conference. The Summit, which lasted from November 29th to December 4th, was an opportunity for States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on Their Destruction to review their progress for the second time since 156 States had entered it into force in 1999. I asked Mr. Hudson a few questions about the Second Review Conference and to compare it to the First Review Conference in 2004. Here is our interview to shed a little light on the multilateral international discussions on landmines held in Cartagena and their results.
07 December 2009
Cambodia
Cambodia to host int'l conference on Ottawa Treaty in 2011
[Xinhua] Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that his country will host an international conference on mine ban in 2011. Hun Sen made the remarks during his visit to a 193-megawatt hydropower plant project being built in Kampot province. He said the other states who are the signatories to the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty were supportive to Cambodia to be a host of the event the year after next, citing the information he had received from Prak Sokhon, minister attached to the prime minister, who is head of Cambodian delegation for the conference being held in Colombia.
Hun Sen said Cambodia is one of the signatory states to the Treaty and is well experienced on landmine issue because the country had fallen into civil war since 1970s through 1990s.
He said Cambodia has so far shared and contributed to the Unite Nations' Peace Keeping Mission, carrying out demining activities around the world at large including African countries.
Ottawa Treaty mentions about the monitoring of mines related issues including the ban of using mines, stockpiling, producing, and transferring mines which are harmful to human being.
Cambodia recorded total casualties by mines in 1996 as high as 4,320, but it fell to 271 in 2008, and 199 in 2009.
A Race Changes Lives in Cambodia
[NYTimes] At first, San Mao thought he had been shot in the leg. But when Mr. San Mao, then 17, found he was unable to get up from the forest floor, he realized that the lower part of his right leg was gone — blown off by one of the millions of land mines planted across the country during its decades of conflict. Mr. San Mao, who is now married with a 7-year-old daughter and works as a motorcycle taxi driver in Phnom Penh, was one of almost 3,500 disabled and able-bodied athletes from around the world who competed in various divisions. The races for disabled people, which have been part of the Angkor Wat half marathon since its inception 13 years ago, are part of a campaign to help them gain acceptance in Cambodia, which has one of the world's highest concentrations of people with disabilities, many of them land mine survivors.
Colombia 
Colombian mine survivors recount stories for summit leaders
[Genevalaunch.com] Princess Astrid of Belgium, a longtime advocate of mine survivors rights, has made a strong plea to other world leaders to fully support landmine survivors. Her appeal, in her role as head of the Belgian delegation, came at the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World in Colombia, which has just ended. The summit served as the second review of progress made by the Mine Ban Convention to ban the production, use and stockpiling of anti-personnel land mines.
UNICEF
UNICEF calls for universal ban of landmines at 10 year review of the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention
[HREA.org] Cartagena, Colombia , 4 December 2009 - It is my honour to join you today at this ten-year review of the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention. I'd like to extend my thanks to the Government of Colombia for graciously hosting this important event in such a beautiful and historic location. 
Nations pledge help for landmine victims at Colombia summit
[Tehrantimes] World powers signed a five-year plan Friday to assist victims of anti-personnel landmines and discourage use of the weapons, which claimed the lives of over 5,000 people last year alone. Representatives of over 100 nations gathered in Cartagena on Colombia's northern coast formally adopted the document on Thursday. 
The race to clear Colombia's landmines
[GlobalPost] As quick as the military tries to clear these hidden killers, guerrillas replant them. Colombia is one of the most mine-affected countries in the world: It claimed at least 8,081 victims of explosive devices between 1990 and October of this year, according to the presidential program. Casualties have increased since 2002. Given this unfortunate fame, Colombia seemed an appropriate host for this week's review conference in Cartagena of the 10-year-old Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production or transfer of antipersonnel mines. Colombia hopes the 100-country conference will put the spotlight on the increasing need for mine action in the host country.
Senior UN rights official exhorts nations to focus on landmine victims
[Webnewswire] States must step up efforts to help landmine victims – including women, children and indigenous populations – in especially vulnerable situations, a senior United Nations human rights official has said. "The way has been paved for a true mine-free world," Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said yesterday at a landmine conference in the Colombian city of Cartagena. "Yet, there is little doubt that there are still many challenges ahead that require urgent and firm action."
A world free of land mines
[Reliefweb] Ten years on from the implementation of the Convention banning landmines it is estimated 42 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed. The Treaty itself has almost universal acceptance with 156 States having ratified or acceded to the Convention. Pointing to these figures as evidence of 'immense' progress, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang has nevertheless cautioned that "urgent and firm action" is still needed. In a speech to the Second Review Conference of the "Mine Ban Treaty" in the Colombian city of Cartagena, the Deputy High Commissioner said the most important challenge for State Parties is the provision of assistance to victims especially the most vulnerable, such as children and women, and indigenous and rural populations.
UN anti-mine programme faces cuts
[Aljazeera] Global anti-mine programmes face a budget shortfall of $565m in 2010, meaning humanitarian mine clearance will move at a much slower pace than last year. UN officials at an international review conference on the Mine Ban Treaty in Colombia on Friday said projects planned in 27 countries to clear mined areas were in jeopardy. "We are unlikely to make that funding in a year," Maxwell Kerley, head of the UN Mine Action Service told reporters at the start of the conference in the Colombian city of Cartagena. "It means it will take longer to get the job done."
What lies beneath: Clearing the menace of landmines
[Reliefweb/Dfait] According to the latest UN annual report on global de-mining projects, there are 27 countries, territories or peacekeeping missions earmarked for work in 2010, at a cost of $589 million. Only 5% of that money has been raised so far and the biggest funding gaps are in Afghanistan ($244 million) and Sudan ($86 million). Maxwell Kerley, director of the UN's Mine Action Service (UNMAS), said: "Full donor support for these programs will contribute to ongoing efforts to consolidate peace initiatives and facilitate post-conflict reconstruction." Currently DFID funds the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), HALO trust, UNMAS, UNICEF and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to clear mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) and help governments tackle the problem. That money is helping make progress in key areas. 
The world is winning the landmine war
[Independent] The global fight to clear unexploded bombs and landmines gets little coverage, but the work is changing millions of lives. Last week, at a virtually unreported conference in Colombia, organisations tackling the mines – which continue killing and maiming long after the cause in which they were planted has been won or lost – heard that vast areas of the planet's former conflict zones are being cleared. There is still much work to be done, but progress so far offers the hope that, one day, they will be eradicated.
Iraq
UNDP helps mine victims in Iraqi Kurdistan become independent
[Reliefweb] Every year an unknown number of Iraqis gets killed or maimed due to landmines and unexploded remnants of war, as their country is among the most contaminated with unexploded ordnance. One of the victims is Yahya Muhammed Taha, who stepped on a landmine and lost his left leg at the age of 23, seven years ago.
Lebanon 
Unexploded mines: Lebanon's hidden horrors
[Tayyar] Along the imaginary Blue Line that demarcates the border of south Lebanon, military bases squat on the Israeli side, all but touching the rusty wire fence. On the Lebanese side, teams of workers from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) are clearing a path for a new road through the area Israel withdrew from in 2000. The road is meant to represent progress, allowing UN peacekeepers to work more easily, and farmers to get to coastal towns. But horrors lurk below this former war zone. Visitors are led to the site along a narrow path, fenced off on either side. Behind the barbed wire, said MAG workers, are rows of close-packed, Israeli-laid, anti-personnel mines.
Rwanda
Rwanda And Zambia Now Mine-Free
[VOA] The 2nd review conference of the anti-personnel landmine ban treaty has concluded in the Colombian city of Cartagena with two African countries announcing they are mine free. Rwanda and Zambia met the goal, along with Albania and Greece, set more than a decade ago when the mine ban treaty was first signed. The conference dubbed the Cartagena summit was attended by over 1000 activists, survivors and government delegates
2 December 2009
Afghanistan
The UN in an Afghanistan "civilian strategy"
[UNDispatch] During his speech last night, President Obama said, "we will work with our partners, the UN, and the Afghan people to pursue a more effective civilian strategy, so that the government can take advantage of improved security." The UN's activities range from humanitarian relief like refugee resettlement (the UN helped resettle 4.7 million refugees) to public health work (the UN helped vaccinate 700,000 children from Polio) to security efforts (like weaning farmers off of poppy cultivation and removing landmines) to political development (like overseeing elections and promoting public sector reforms).
Colombia 
Funding for mines falls short
[Phnompenhpost] THE mine action community faces a 74 percent budget shortfall for 2010, a year in which the government and its partners plan to spend 75 percent more on mine-related programmes, a UN report has found. The "Portfolio of Mine Action Projects", released Monday in New York, states that only $8 million of the $30.9 million required for 13 different projects has been secured, a figure some say underscores the downside of Cambodia's reliance on a network of benefactors that has been battered by the economic crisis as well as donor fatigue.
Governments should end suffering caused by landmines and cluster bombs, bolster disability rights
[CMC] High-level representatives from 130 countries attending the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World should redouble efforts to rid the world of antipersonnel landmines and cluster bombs, as well as pledge their support to assisting victims and upholding disability rights, a global group of disarmament, humanitarian and human rights organisations said today, marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December.
Minas antipersona: grupos ilegales las hacen más letales y menos ubicables
[Univision] El cese de la fabricación de minas antipersona y su prohibición en 156 naciones ha obligado a grupos armados ilegales a producirlas artesanalmente, y sus técnicas evolucionan para hacerlas más letales y menos detectables. Esta nueva modalidad ha sido denunciada en la II Conferencia de revisión del Tratado de Ottawa, que se celebra en el balneario caribeño de Cartagena, desde el 29 de noviembre hasta el 4 de diciembre. 
Minas antipersona: grupos ilegales las hacen más letales y menos ubicables
[AFP] El cese de la fabricación de minas antipersona y su prohibición en 156 naciones obligó a grupos armados ilegales a producirlas artesanalmente, y sus técnicas evolucionan para hacerlas más letales y menos detectables, revelaron en la II Conferencia de revisión del Tratado de Ottawa, que se celebra en Cartagena. Esta nueva modalidad fue denunciada en la II Conferencia de revisión del Tratado de Ottawa, que se celebra en el balneario caribeño de Cartagena desde el 29 de noviembre hasta el 4 de diciembre.
Alta Comisionada de la ONU para los DDHH visita Colombia
[Vanguardia] Aunque durante su estadía en el territorio nacional no se tiene previsto ningún encuentro con la prensa, se espera que en Cartagena, donde participará en la Segunda Conferencia de Examen de la Convención de Ottawa, entregue una contundente declaración sobre los resultados de su visita. "Nos hemos concentrado en asegurar que cualquier medida que se adopte con respecto a las minas terrestres se centre en las víctimas, especialmente en los grupos que se encuentran en situaciones de especial vulnerabilidad", dijo Kang al momento de su arribo. 
El déficit de la ONU para proyectos contra las minas será del 95% en 2010
[EFE] Una víctima de una mina permanece junto a varias prótesis durante la sesión inaugural de la II Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención de Ottawa Contra las Minas Antipersonales que se lleva a cabo en Cartagena (Colombia), y que tiene un especial énfasis en la asistencia a las víctimas y la destrucción de campos minados. EFE
Nepal
UN unveils project to clear landmines
[TheHimalayanTimes] KATHMANDU: The United Nations (UN) has unveiled a 'portfolio of mine action project 2010' to clear landmines in countries torn-apart by conflict and war. The project was announced yesterday by the UN amidst a function in the capital. The UN said it would support 27 countries, including Nepal - one of the countries vulnerable to leftover landmines, during the decade-long insurgency. The project in Nepal include: mine clearance, multiple, mine risk education and victim assistance programme, the 13th edition of the publication — Annual Portfolio of Mine Action — has outlined this.
United States
Revisa EEUU política sobre minas antipersonales
[Xinhua] El gobierno de Estados Unidos realiza una revisión integral y continua de su política de minas terrestres, destacó el martes en Cartagena, Colombia, el director interno de la Oficina de Remoción y Disminución de Armas de ese país, James Lawrence. Se trata de la primera revisión desde la llegada de Barack Obama a la Casa Blanca, por lo tanto tomará tiempo completarla, admitió Lawrence durante II Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención de Ottawa que se realiza en Cartagena para promover la prohibición del uso, almacenamiento, producción y transferencia de minas antipersonales. 
El compromiso de EE.UU. de revisar su política sobre las minas da un giro a la Convención de Ottawa
Cartagena (Colombia), 1 dic (EFE).- La decisión de Estados Unidos de revisar "de forma integral" su política de minas antipersonales dio hoy un giro a la Convención de Ottawa, acuerdo al que no está adherido ese país. El director interino de la Oficina de Remoción y Disminución de Armas de EE.UU., James Lawrence, anunció en Cartagena de Indias, donde se celebra la II Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención, que su país está en un proceso de "revisión integral y continua" de la política de minas desde la llegada a la Casa Blanca de Barack Obama. Road to Cartagena
1 December 2009
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Cambodian Art Exhibit Highlights Success In Tackling Anti-personnel Mines
CARTAGENA, December 1, 2010—A Cambodian landmine art exhibit celebrating the country's significant progress in addressing its landmine and explosive remnants of war challenge was launched in Cartagena this evening. IMPACT : An Art Exhibit About Landmines in Cambodia consists of works by ten Cambodian artists and four young landmine survivors.
"We must now look to the future, to a country free from the impact of landmines and explosive remnants of war, where communities can safely use their land and children can play without fear," explained Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority Vice President H.E. Prak Sokhonn. "Cambodia is proud to present these works of art as a symbol of the positive impact of landmine clearance."
After field visits to two of Cambodia's most mine-affected provinces, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey, the ten artists created works of art portraying the progress of Cambodian mine action. Four young landmine survivors also created works of art representing both their past experiences and their ambitions for the future. The artwork consists of sculptures, paintings and installations, and is accompanied by recordings made during the field visits.
["This is a great opportunity to showcase Cambodia's transition from being one of the countries most affected by this issue to being considered a global leader in the mine action sector,]" said United Nations Mine Action Team´s Miguel Bermeo.
The exhibit debuted in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in September before traveling with support from the Australian Government to Colombia for the Cartagena Summit for a Mine-Free World.
["Australia has supported Cambodia's mine clearance, survivor assistance, mine risk education and integrated development efforts since 1996. It is important that people from around the world are aware of the progress and remaining challenges of mines in Cambodia,]" said Ms. Caroline Millar, Australia´s Ambassador for Disarmament and Permanent Representative to the United Nations at Geneva. "Cambodia is also now helping other countries to rid themselves of the scourge of landmines."]
The Royal Government of Cambodia ratified the Mine Ban Treaty in 1999. Due to the high level of contamination in Cambodia, the Government has requested a 10-year extension, which will be considered during this week's Summit.
"I remember when I was a boy in the 1980s and knew nothing about the danger of landmines," wrote artist Tor Vutha about his experience with the project. "Now I understand a lot more about the issues surrounding mine action and I am very happy to have the opportunity to show my paintings in this art exhibit."
For further information please contact Alex Hiniker, UNDP Cambodia, at alex.hiniker@undp.org or Aaron J. Buckley, UN Mine Action Service, New York, at +1-917-328-4508, e-mail: buckleya@un.org
Press Release in Spanish Version Español
Elements for UNMAT interventions during thematic discussions
Cartagena Summit for a Mine-Free World
Second Review Conference of States Parties to the APMBC
(Cartagena, 30 November – 4 December 2009)
Review of the Operation and Status of the Convention
Victim Assistance
Colombia
RESUMEN: Inauguran sesiones de cumbre mundial contra minas antipersonales
[Xinhua] Las discusiones sobre la Convención de Ottawa se iniciaron hoy en el marco de la cumbre mundial contra las minas antipersonales, que se llevará a cabo hasta el próximo viernes en la ciudad colombiana de Cartagena. "Pese a los progresos alcanzados en los últimos años en el tema de la lucha antiminas, necesitamos mantenernos focalizados en este tema a fin de que se puede erradicar el sufrimiento que causan las minas terrestres", aseveró Gustavo Laurie, director de Política y Apoyo de Servicio de la ONU de Actividades Relativas a las Minas.
Tratado de Ottawa enfocará su siguiente fase en apoyar a víctimas de minas
[EFE] Bajo el lema "Por un mundo sin minas antipersonal", la II Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención de Ottawa se desarrollará hasta el viernes con el propósito de que el eje central de las atenciones sean los supervivientes y sus familias. Una muestra de buena voluntad que contrasta con un informe de las Naciones Unidas, también difundido hoy, en el que se alertó de que este organismo tendrá en 2010 un déficit del 95 por ciento para financiar los proyectos de lucha contra las minas terrestres. En el informe Portafolio de Proyectos de Acción Integral Contra Minas Antipersonal 2010, la ONU reconoce que sus proyectos tendrán el próximo año un costo aproximado de 589 millones de dólares y sólo cuenta con 24 millones. Maxwell Kerley, director del plan contra las minas de la ONU, señaló que el país que más necesidades tiene es Afganistán, la nación con mayor número de accidentes el año pasado (992), seguido por Colombia (777) y Birmania (721).
ONU, con déficit para proyectos de desminado
[El Pais] Los proyectos de la ONU para la lucha contra las minas antipersona en 2010 tendrán un costo aproximado de US$589 millones, pero este organismo sólo cuenta para ello con US$565 millones, lo que supone un déficit del 95%, según un informe difundido ayer en Cartagena en el inicio de la II Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención de Ottawa. El Portafolio de Proyectos de Acción Integral Contra Minas Antipersonal 2010, realizado por Unicef y el Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (Pnud), fue presentado por su director, Maxwell Kerley.
La ONU pide no caer en la autocomplacencia en la lucha contra las minas
[EFE] La ONU pidió hoy no caer en la autocomplacencia en la lucha contra las minas antipersonales pese al considerable avance logrado en la última década en la lucha por erradicarlas. Responsables del organismo mundial recordaron que las minas todavía matan y hieren a unas 5.000 personas anualmente en decenas de países en los que, en algunos casos, hace décadas que se terminaron los conflictos. "Las minas todavía impiden el empleo de tierras y rutas de acceso a comunidades en más de 70 países", dijo en una conferencia de prensa el director de Cuerpo de Limpieza de Minas de Naciones Unidas (UNMAF), Maxwell Kerley, quien recordó que hay al menos 14 millones de estas armas almacenadas en los arsenales del mundo.
Mine action faces $565 million funding deficit
[Reuters] CARTAGENA, Colombia (AlertNet) - Global anti-mine programmes face a budget shortfall for 2010 of $565 million, meaning humanitarian mine clearance will move at a much slower pace than last year, the United Nations (U.N.) said on Monday. Projects planned by the U.N. and local aid agencies in 27 countries to clear mined areas, destroy stockpiles, provide assistance to mine survivors and run mine-risk education programmes in local communities will cost nearly $600 million next year, according to U.N. estimates. "We are unlikely to make that funding in a year," Maxwell Kerley, head of the U.N. Mine Action Service told reporters at the start of an international review conference on the Mine Ban Treaty in the Colombian city of Cartagena. "It means it will take longer to get the job done."
Déficit de la ONU para proyectos contra minas será del 95% en 2010
[ADN] Los proyectos de la ONU para la lucha contra las minas antipersonales en 2010 tendrán un costo aproximado de 589 millones de dólares y este organismo sólo cuenta para ello con 565 millones, lo que supone un déficit del 95 por ciento, según un informe difundido hoy en Cartagena de Indias. El Portafolio de Proyectos de Acción Integral Contra Minas Antipersonal 2010, realizado por Unicef y el Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD), fue presentado por su director, Maxwell Kerley, durante la II Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención de Ottawa que acoge la ciudad colombiana hasta el viernes.
Victimas de Minas, eje de II Conferencia contra explosivos
[Ansalatina] La asistencia y la atención a las víctimas de minas antipersonales es el "centro" de las discusiones de la II Conferencia de Examen de la Convención sobre la Prohibición de esos artefactos explosivos, dijeron hoy voceros durante la apertura del evento, en el balneario colombiano Cartagena de Indias.
El Tratado de Ottawa enfocará su siguiente fase en apoyar a las víctimas de las minas
[EFE] Cartagena (Colombia), 30 nov (EFE).- Las víctimas de las minas antipersonales serán el centro del nuevo plan de acción del Tratado de Ottawa, que desde hoy se revisa en Cartagena de Indias, donde se dio a conocer que Afganistán registra el mayor número de accidentes por estas armas, por delante de Colombia y Birmania. Bajo el lema "Por un mundo sin minas antipersonal", la II Conferencia de Revisión de la Convención de Ottawa se desarrollará hasta el viernes con el propósito de que el eje central de las atenciones sean los supervivientes y sus familias.
EE.UU. aportará otros 2 millones de dólares en 2010 contra las minas en Colombia
[EFE] Washington, 1 dic (EFE).- El Gobierno de Estados Unidos dijo hoy que prevé aportar otros dos millones de dólares para apoyar las labores de desminado en Colombia, adicionales a los 8,5 millones que ha destinado desde 2005.
Portfolio of Mine Action Projects 2010
[Reliefweb] This 13th edition of the annual Portfolio of Mine Action Projects features overviews and project outlines for 27 countries, territories or missions affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war. There are 277 projects in the 2010 portfolio. Africa accounts for the largest number: 103. 95 appealing agencies; one in five projects from national NGOs
GLOBAL: Mine Ban Treaty has "profound humanitarian impact"
[IRIN] CARTAGENA, 1 December 2009 (IRIN) - It has taken just 10 years, but the effects of the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) have brought about a sea change in the use of antipersonnel mines, ensuring that the use of these bombs is becoming increasingly rare, and even offering the hope that these indiscriminate weapons will one day be consigned to the dustbin of history. The 2009 Landmine Monitor - an oversight initiative by civil society that scrutinizes implementation of the treaty and compliance with its terms - was released at the MBT's second five-year review conference in Cartagena, Colombia, and presented evidence of striking progress in the 10 years since the MBT came into force.
Las "Vidas minadas" de Gervasio Sánchez estremecen la Cumbre de Cartagena
[EFE] El fotógrafo español Gervasio Sánchez inaugura hoy en Cartagena de Indias su muestra "Vidas Minadas: Diez Años", con el firme propósito de llamar la atención de la comunidad internacional para que se comprometa con las víctimas de las minas antipersonales.
Rwanda
Rwanda - first landmine-free country
[BBC] Rwanda is to be declared free of landmines - the first country to achieve this status. The announcement is to be made at the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World in Columbia. Hundreds of people have been killed and horrifically injured by landmines in Rwanda.
United States
Leahy statement on banning landmines
[BurlingtonFreePress] WASHINGTON -- Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., spoke today on the floor of the U.S. Senate on the subject of landmines and a preliminary Obama administration decision announced last week to refuse to sign a treaty banning landmines:
Leahy's statement:
I want to speak briefly on a subject that many Members of Congress – Democrats and Republicans – have had an abiding interest in over the years. Throughout this week, delegates from countries around the world will gather in Cartagena, Colombia, to participate in the Second Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The Cartagena review conference, would have been the perfect opportunity for the Obama Administration to announce its intention to join the 156 other nations that are parties to the treaty, including our coalition allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jody Williams: United States' shameful land mine policy
[LATimes] Last Tuesday, just before the Thanksgiving holiday, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly revealed that President Obama would follow in President George W. Bush's footsteps and not sign the international Mine Ban Treaty. Many of us had hoped he would embrace President Clinton's pledge that the U.S. would join.
30 November 2009 Portfolio of Mine Action Projects
$589 MILLION REQUIRED IN 2010 TO ADDRESS LANDMINES, EXPLOSIVE REMNANTS OF WAR IN 27 COUNTRIES, TERRITORIES OR MISSIONS
NEW YORK, November 30, 2009—Mine action initiatives in 27 countries, territories or peacekeeping missions will cost $589 million in 2010, according to the 13th edition of the annual Portfolio of Mine Action Projects, being released by the United Nations today at 1:00 p.m. in Cartagena, Colombia.
The portfolio is an annual analysis of the impact of landmines and explosive remnants of war in countries or territories with mine action programs. The portfolio also provides proposals for mine action projects and details their costs. Countries profiled in the 2010 edition of the portfolio have so far secured only about 5 percent of the total funding needed for the coming year, leaving a funding gap of $565 million.
"Remarkable progress has been made in eliminating the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of war," says Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy. "I wish all involved in this noble endeavor will sustain their commitment to end the suffering caused by landmines and explosive remnants of war."
Le Roy chairs a group of senior representatives of the 14 United Nations departments, programs, agencies and funds that are involved in mine action.
About 70 countries are affected by landmines or explosive remnants of war, which together claimed nearly 5,200 casualties around the world last year. Landmines and explosive remnants of war also take a heavy toll on people's livelihoods, countries' economic and social development, and international peace-building efforts. United Nations support ranges from building capacities of national mine action institutions, to backstopping humanitarian relief initiatives, and ensuring the safe deployment of peacekeepers and United Nations political missions.
The largest funding gaps in 2010 are in Afghanistan ($244 million) and Sudan ($86 million). "Full donor support for these programs will contribute to ongoing efforts to consolidate peace initiatives and facilitate post-conflict reconstruction," Mr. Maxwell Kerley, the Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service, says.
The release of the portfolio coincides with the Second Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Many of the projects included in the Portfolio of Mine Action Projects 2010 will help remove and destroy cluster munitions, teach people how to stay out of harm's way, and assist the victims of these devices in countries such as Cambodia, Chad, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Western Sahara, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
"The urgent and compelling need to protect civilians from landmines and explosive remnants of war is rightly attracting media attention this week and it is important that we continue to act rapidly to reduce new casualties to zero," Kerley says.
The portfolio is published jointly by the United Nations Mine Action Service in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations' Office for Rule of Law and Security Institutions, UNDP and UNICEF. The 2010 edition includes 277 projects covering all five "pillars" of mine action: clearance and marking of hazardous areas, mine risk education, victim assistance, destruction of stockpiled landmines, and advocacy for international agreements related to landmines and explosive remnants of war, including cluster munitions.
Contact: Aaron J. Buckley, UN Mine Action Service, New York, at 212.963.4632, e-mail: buckleya@un.org.
29 November 2009 Cartagena Summit on a Mine Free-World
Road to Cartagena
The UN Races Against Antipersonnel Mines in Cartagena
CARTAGENA, November 29, 2010—Gathering in one of the oldest cities in the Americas, today marks the beginning of a week long international conference on landmines in Cartagena, Colombia.
Today, antipersonnel mine survivors, persons with disabilities, delegates from over 156 countries, United Nations colleagues, national authorities, members of civil society organizations and Cartagena citizens will run through the picturesque streets of the old city. The 5K run will have 5000 participantsand will launch a week filled with activities surrounding the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World.
The United Nations Mine Action Service and UNICEF sponsored this event. Gustavo Laurie of the United Nations Mine Action Service noted, "We are proud to support this event during this momentous occasion, as the organizers said, 'leaving two prints in the road is everyone's right."
The Vice-President of Colombia, Francisco Santos Calderón, will be present at the start and finish line of the race, together with Andrés Dávila Ladrón de Guevara, Director of the Presidential Program for Mine Action (Paicma), members of UNICEF and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
Contact: Aaron J. Buckley, UN Mine Action Service, New York, at +1-917-328-4508, e-mail: buckleya@un.org
Press Release in Spanish Version Español
25 November 2009
United States
US: Obama Rejection of Mine Ban Treaty 'Reprehensible'
[HRW] The Obama administration's decision to continue the Bush administration's policy of refusing to join the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines is a reprehensible rejection of the most successful disarmament and humanitarian treaty of the past decade, Human Rights Watch said today.
U.S. Will Not Join Treaty Banning Landmines
[NYT] President Barack Obama has no plans to join a global treaty banning landmines because a policy review found the United States could not meet its security commitments without them, the State Department said on Tuesday.
US will not join treaty banning landmines-spokesman
[Reuters] President Barack Obama has no plans to join a global treaty banning landmines because a policy review found the United States could not meet its security commitments without the weapons, the State Department said on Tuesday.
Mine Ban Convention: Despite progress made, victim assistance falls short
[ICRC] Following the adoption 10 years ago of the Mine Ban Convention, the number of mine victims has dropped significantly. However, most victims have yet to see substantial improvement in their access to many basic services, explains Peter Herby, head of the ICRC's arms unit.
23 November 2009
Road to Cartagena
Civil society activities during the Cartagena conference
Invitation
CIREC
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Angola
Hallo Trust removes landmines
[AngolaPress] About seven fields were cleared of landmines and explosive devices in central Bie, during the third quarter of this year by the British Non Government Organization, The Hallo Trust.
While assessing on Monday in Kuito city, the activities carried out by the NGO, its operation chief, João Baptista, underlined that were demined camps in the municipalities of Kunhinga, Katabola and Andulo.
Cambodia
Anti-mine microbes?
[CheckBiotech] Bioengineered bacteria that glow green in the presence of explosives could someday give Cambodia a safer, cheaper way to detect land mines, Scottish researchers say.
Chad
MINURCAT Mine Action Unit: An Overview
[MinurcatNews] The Mine Action Unit is located in Abéché, and based at MINURCAT headquarters. The Unit was established as a response capacity unit within MINURCAT Area of Operations, and according to the recommendations contained in the UN Security Council Report of the Secretary-General on Chad and the Central African Republic (S/2007/488), and in the more recent UN Security
Council Resolution (S/RES/1861/2009), which approved the establishment of MINURCAT mission.
Colombia
FARC charge landmine victims
[ColombiaReports] Rebels of Colombia's largest rebel group FARC charge landmine victims money for destroying a mine that was meant for the army, a local newspaper reported on Monday. According to newspaper El Colombiano, several victims have come forward saying that, after losing a limb because of a landmine, guerrillas approached them to demand money for the destruction of the landmine.
Germany
Germany assists Sri Lanka in demining
[DailyNews] The Federal Republic of Germany donates around USD 450,000 for demining activities in the North. The Integrated Humanitarian Mine Action Program supports the return of internally displaced communities in the North. This program is implemented by the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) and will affect 5,000 families (18,000 people)which were originally from Manthai West District.
India
Mines killed 3000 Indians in last 10 years
[KanglaOnline] New Delhi, Nov 19: The historic disarmament Mine Ban Treaty entered its 10th year of entry into force in 2009. However even after ten years, India still has not signed this important treaty � with devastating consequences. According to the Landmine Monitor Report 2009, around 3000 Indians died due to landmines and over 2000 more were injured in the last 10 years. Most casualties occurred in Jammu and Kashmir followed by Manipur in the Northeast. The other states affected by landmines are Rajasthan, Punjab, Sikkim and Naxal affected areas in Eastern and Central India.
Philippines
Philippines to Head UN Disarmament Body in Geneva
[ISRIA] The Philippines has been appointed as chair the Group of Government Experts (GGE) of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 2010. Assuming the Chairmanship will be Minister Jesus S. Domingo, officer for Disarmament and Humanitarian issues at the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations in Geneva. Minister Domingo was appointed due to his extensive background in disarmament, humanitarian and security affairs, dating from his stint in the UN Philippine Mission to New York in the 1990s, service with the Department's Office of UN and Other International Organizations (UNIO) from 2002-2006, and active participation in the work of the UN disarmament community in Geneva since 2007.
Qatar
Students debate hot topics at Model UN conference
[GulfTimes] The cluster bombs, situation in Pakistan, biotechnology, white phosphorus and economics are some of the issues to be discussed at the 5th annual Qatar Model United Nations (QMUN) 2009 conference, which got underway on Wednesday evening.
Nigeria
Silent Danger
[TheNews] Almost 40 years after the Nigerian Civil War, efforts to clear the areas affected of unexploded bombs are ongoing
Sri Lanka
UN - Sri Lanka: top UN official welcomes recent releases of displaced from camps
[ISRIA] The top United Nations humanitarian official, who just returned from a three-day visit to Sri Lanka, today praised the swift discharge in recent weeks of many of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had been confined to makeshift camps for several months. He raised questions over the amount of notice and preparation time given to IDPs and UN agencies on the ground before authorities direct the movement of people. There are also concerns over the speed of landmine clearance and quality of basic services in the areas where IDPs are returning.
Thailand
A violent peace
[thanhniennews] There is no peace for those who live in one of the world's most heavily-bombed areas. Ho Van Nuoi, who lives on UXO-contaminated land in Quang Binh's Canh Hoa Commune, said the war has never stopped haunting him. During the war, Nuoi lost much of his left leg and sustained permanent paralysis to three of his fingers due to bombs dropped on his homeland.
United States
US: Ban Landmines
[HumanRightsWatch] The United States should commit to join the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines when it attends a milestone meeting of the agreement beginning November 29, 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. For years the US has obeyed most of the key provisions of the Mine Ban Treaty - no use, no production, and no trade - while strongly supporting international programs to get mines out of the ground and to help victims. But it has not acceded to the treaty.
18 November 2009
UNMAS
MINE BLASTS TAKE TERRIBLE TOLL DESPITE UN PROGRESS IN ELIMINATING EXPLOSIVE
[UNNewsCentre] With over 5,000 casualties last year from landmines that continue to indiscriminately kill and maim decades after they are laid, two senior United Nations officials today warned that, despite significant progress in ridding the world of these explosive devices, much more needs to be done. With over 5,000 casualties last year from landmines that continue to indiscriminately kill and maim decades after they are laid, two senior United Nations officials today warned that, despite significant progress in ridding the world of these explosive devices, much more needs to be done.
Press conference to provide update on work of United Nations Mine Action Service
[ReliefWeb] The last two years had been remarkable for the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) given its destruction of more than 41 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines and the termination of their production, transfer and sale in many parts of the world, Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations said at a Headquarters press conference today. Accompanied by UNMAS Director Maxwell Kerley in providing an update and overview of that Service's work, Mr. Titov said mine action was an indispensable element of laying the foundations for peaceful and safe communities, for the rule of law and for sustainable development. He also introduced the Secretary-General's latest report on assistance in mine action (document A/64/287), covering the period 2008 to 2009.
La ONU pide no caer en la autocomplacencia en la lucha contra las minas
[EPA] La ONU pidió hoy no caer en la autocomplacencia en la lucha contra las minas antipersonales pese al considerable avance logrado en la última década en la lucha por erradicarlas. Responsables del organismo mundial recordaron que las minas todavía matan y hieren a unas 5.000 personas anualmente en decenas de países en los que, en algunos casos, hace décadas que se terminaron los conflictos. "Las minas todavía impiden el empleo de tierras y rutas de acceso a comunidades en más de 70 países", dijo en una conferencia de prensa el director de Cuerpo de Limpieza de Minas de Naciones Unidas (UNMAF), Maxwell Kerley, quien recordó que hay al menos 14 millones de estas armas almacenadas en los arsenales del mundo.
CONFÉRENCE DE PRESSE SUR LES PROGRÈS ET LES DÉFIS DE LA LUTTE ANTIMINES À LA VEILLE DE LA CONFÉRENCE D'EXAMEN DE LA CONVENTION D'OTTAWA
[DPI] « Le déminage est une base pour fonder la paix ». À moins de deux semaines de l'ouverture à Carthagène, en Colombie, de la Conférence d'examen de la Convention sur l'interdiction des mines antipersonnel, M. Dmitry Titov, Sous-Secrétaire général à l'état de droit et aux institutions chargées de la sécurité au Département des opérations de maintien de la paix (DOMP/DPKO) a constaté cet après-midi lors d'une conférence de presse à l'ONU que le recours aux mines était de plus en plus rares dans le monde. Aux côtés de M. Titov, M. Maxwell Kerley, Directeur du Service de l'action antimines des Nations Unies (SLAM), a toutefois rappelé que « de nombreux défis demeuraient ». Un stock mondial de 14 millions d'engins est en instance de destruction et sur les quelque 70 pays affectés à des degrés divers, treize sont particulièrement touchés par ce fléau hérité de la guerre. Il s'agit de l'Afghanistan, de la Bosnie-Herzégovine, de l'Éthiopie, de l'Érythrée, de l'Iraq, de la Mauritanie, du Mozambique, de l'Ouganda, du Soudan, du Tadjikistan, du Tchad, de la Thaïlande et de la Zambie. M. Titov a reconnu que l'on ignorait combien de millions de mines demeuraient dans la nature.
Road to Cartagena
A backgrounder brochure containing the programme for the Cartagena Summit is now available.
Angola
The Hallo Trust asks more international support for demining
[AngolaPress] The head of the British non-governmental organisation The Hallo Trust in Kuando Kubango Province, appealed Tuesday in Menongue to international organisations for more support, aimed at increasing demining works in the region.Australia
Australia pushes to see off land mines
[Smh.com.au] Australia will pledge $100 million over the next five years in an effort to help rid the globe of land mines. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith flagged the Australian commitment ahead of a summit on landmine eradication in Columbia next month, where the international community plans to set goals for the next five years.
Australia - Mine Action Strategy for the Australian aid program
[ISRIA] Reflecting the Australian Government's ongoing commitment to mine action, the new Mine Action Strategy for the Australian aid program (2010-14) will guide Australia's assistance over the next five years, supported by a 0 million pledge. It is the largest ever commitment made by Australia to mine action over a five-year period.
Sri Lanka
When life's a minefield
[Developments.org] There are millions of mines and munitions buried worldwide – a lethal risk to people's health and livelihoods. In the wake of the Sri Lanka conflict, Kate Wiggans reports on the work of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
United Kingdom
Tax rises look likely after Queen's speech
The final Queen's Speech before an expected 6 May polling day unveiled a wishlist of 15 Bills, including a £670 million plan to care for 400,000 elderly people at home, plus new rights to personalised schooling and quicker treatment on the NHS. There will be a Bill to help clean up the City, including tearing up bankers' contracts to rein in the bonus culture. For Labour's Left and the unions, there are laws to give workplace rights to agency workers, enact the ban on cluster bombs and a Bill to enshrine a pledge to wipe out child poverty by 2020.
British PM unveils final plans before election
[AFP] In addition to the economic plans, the government set out new guarantees on personal care for the elderly and for school pupils, and new laws to support carbon capture and storage and to ban cluster bombs.Vietnam
Vietnam War-Era Bomb Kills Four
[RTTNews] Vietnamese police said Wednesday that four men were killed instantly in the southern province of Tay Ninh when a war-era bomb exploded when they were trying to price it open to remove explosive material to be used in fishing. The dead, two pairs of brothers, were aged between 24 and 27, said a police official. He said the men's bodies were dismembered by the blast.
Zambia
Zambia landmine free
[DefenseWeb] Zambia has become the third country in Southern Africa to declare that all mined areas are now safe for normal human activity. The announcement puts the country ahead of schedule regarding its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, which it joined in 2001. This will enhance cross border trading, open rail and road routes to the coastal towns and a railway to Angolan ports, and revitalize tourist zones,� said Sheila Mweemba, Director of the Zambia Mine Action Center (ZMAC).
16 November 2009
United Nations
Ban urges countries to strengthen protection of civilians from cluster bombs
[UNNewsCentre] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged States to remain focused on strengthening the protection of civilians from the inhumane and indiscriminate impact of cluster munitions, in a speech to the parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). In a message delivered in Geneva by Sergio Duarte, United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Mr. Ban described the treaty as an "indispensable element" of today's humanitarian, disarmament and arms control machinery.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan country most affected by landmines in 2008: annual report
[BreitBart] Afghanistan was the country most affected by landmines in with the highest casualty figures and one of the world's largest contaminated areas, according to the 2009 Landmine Monitor Report, released Thursday. Afghanistan recorded 992 casualties, or nearly 20 percent of all casualties reported worldwide in 2008, which were caused by landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, the report said.
Deadly attack as local leaders meet with French general
[RFI] Afghan members of a demining squad walk with their demining dogs down a mountain after a mine clearing operation outside the village of Tangi Saidan on Saturday. Afghanistan is still struggling to remove mines from remote areas after three decades of war.
Cambodia
Art exhibition highlights Cambodia's achievements in clearing landmines
[UNDP] An innovative art exhibit highlighting Cambodia's mine clearance achievements is also raising the international profile of talented Cambodian artists. IMPACT: an art exhibit about landmines is a celebration of the country's significant progress in addressing its landmine and explosive remnants of war challenge. The exhibit was held in Cambodia in October and will travel to Colombia at the end of the year, where representatives of more than 100 countries will see it on display.
Canada
Canadian landmine initiative saved thousands of lives: report
[Canada.com] The Canadian-led treaty to rid the world of landmines has saved thousands of lives and significantly reduced production and use of the devastating, anti-personnel weapons, according to a new international report.
Indonesia
CMC press release: Bali conference a key opportunity to ban cluster bombs in Asia
[CMC] Twelve of the 40 states in the Asia-Pacific region have signed the Convention: Afghanistan, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, the Philippines, and Samoa. Two states from the region are among the 24 states that have ratified the Convention: Japan and Lao PDR. Only six more ratifications are needed for the Convention to become binding international law. The Cluster Munition Coalition welcomes Indonesia's initiative in convening the regional conference, as well as Lao PDR's leadership in agreeing to host the First Meeting of States Parties, which is expected to take place in late 2010. As a country that has experienced the devastating and long-term effects of cluster munitions, Lao PDR played an integral role in negotiating the Convention.
Iraq
Iraq signs cluster munition ban treaty
[CMC] On 12 November 2009, Iraq signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, sending a strong message to its neighbour states in the Middle East that cluster bombs should be banned forever.
Kurdish nomads are disappearing, warns nomad expert
[KurdishGlobe] Bombardments, land mines, and government negligence are hastening the disappearance of nomadic Kurdish tribes. Reasons for the decline include the constant bombardments of the Kurdistan Region border by neighboring countries, a large number of landmines on the border areas, and the government's negligence. Hundreds of thousands of landmines dot the Kurdistan Region border with Iran. The border line between Kurdistan Region and Iran served as the front during the eight-year-long war between Iraq and Iran to stop Iranian army and Kurdish rebels from crossing the border; the Iraqi army planted more than 1 million landmines there. The nomads are killed, as are their flocks of goat and sheep, and those who survive cannot continue their lives as nomad, he added.
Lebanon
Lebanon closer to siging land-mine-ban pact
[DailyStar] Despite not signing the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, Lebanon has made considerable progress on mine clearance operations in recent years and appears to be moving closer to signing the treaty, a report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) has said. "Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Towards a Mine-Free World," released Thursday at the UN, said that although Lebanon was continuing to carry out mine-clearance activities, these efforts were facing significant set-backs because of a lack of funds.
Living without a leg
Ali's team of ordnance removal experts had been involved in the painstaking process of surveying the untilled soil, inch by inch, to ensure each patch was free from cluster bomb fragments. After taking a break for tea, Ali donned his cumbersome safety gear and headed back to his clearance post. These were the last moments of Ali's old life.
Somewhere between the safe zone and his removal lane, Ali stepped on an unexploded M-77 submunition. In a fraction of a second, the blast obliterated his right foot and badly damaged the other leg. With Ali hemorrhaging blood, the on-site medical team swept into action to save their wounded colleague. "The team had a dressing on [his leg] and got him out of the field in about four minutes," says MAG Technical Field Manager Jeffrey Caldwell.
Sri Lanka
UN top official asks govt. to speed up demining
[TheSundayTimes] The United Nations is concerned about the progress of the Sri Lankan government's demining programme. UN Assistant Secretary-General Ajay Chhibber who visited the country from New York this week, said, certain issues pertaining to mine action were yet to be addressed by Colombo.. "Coordination issues such as purchase of equipment and the designation of areas for demining remain," Chhibber told the Sunday Times on Thursday. He said, while the government's task-force on rehabilitation and resettlement has been making efforts to clear mined areas especially in the north and resettle the war- displaced in their places of origin, the process of demining could be stepped up. "How this (demining) could be accelerated should be very high on the government's agenda," Chhibber, also director for Asia and the Pacific of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said. He added although much progress is being made in terms of resettling the war displaced people in their places of origin in the north and the east, it is important that the government deals with pending matters relating to mine action
Switzerland
Progress Made In Eradicating Antipersonnel Landmines
[VOA] A new report finds significant progress has been made in eradicating antipersonnel landmines since the Mine Ban Treaty came into force 10 years ago. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines has issued its 11th annual Landmine Monitor Report showing the use, production and stockpiling of these weapons has gone down dramatically.
Landmine Monitor Report 2009
Group: Millions of mines cleared over past decade
[TaiwanNews] The International Campaign to Ban Landmines says an area nearly twice the size of London has been cleared of land mines over the last decade.
The group also warned that there are still mines in more than 70 countries. It says over 2.2 million anti-personnel mines, 250,000 anti-vehicle mines and 17 million other explosives left over from wars have been removed since 1999.
TV news footage: Universal Children's Day , November 20, 2009
[ICRC] Thousands of children every year are killed in conflict and maimed for life. Always more vulnerable than adults, in war zones children lose the protection of community and family and are exposed to a multitude of threats. For these children there is no such thing as a normal life. Landmines and unexploded ordnance are a serious risk for children.
Turkey
2 Landmine Victims in Turkey Every Week
[Bianet] Ögreten from the Initiative for a Mine-Free Turkey assessed the country's situation after ratifying the Ottawa convention in 2003, stating that there has not been any difference in the number of deaths and injuries. Representatives of the Social Democratic Foundation, the Turkish Medical Association and the Disabled People Association also evaluated the current situation.
United Kingdom
Simple Test Could Offer Cheap Solution to Detecting Landmines
[ScienceDaily] Scientists have developed a simple, cheap, accurate test to find undetected landmines. Students from the University of Edinburgh have created a custom-made bacteria that glows green when it comes into contact with chemicals leaked by buried explosives. The bacteria can be mixed into a colourless solution that, when sprayed on to the ground, forms green patches to indicate the presence of landmines.
Glowing Green Bacteria vs Deadly Hidden Land Mines
[Discover] A small crop dusting-style aircraft skims the land, spraying a mysterious solution onto the ground. Within hours, a few spots begin to glow bright green. No, this scene isn't some hair-brained Homer Simpson scheme to use nuclear waste as a fertilizer. Rather, it could be a new way to locate one of humanity's most vile creations: land mines.
Glowing bugs could find landmines
[BBC] Bacteria which glow green in the presence of explosives could provide a cheap and safe way to find hidden landmines, Edinburgh scientists claim. The bugs can be mixed into a colourless solution, which forms green patches when sprayed onto ground where mines are buried.
United States
Anti-landmine activists see hope for U.S. shift
[Reuters] Campaigners to halt the use of landmines hope finally to bring the United States under President Barack Obama into the fold of countries that have banned a weapon that maims and kills thousands every year. They said the United States has registered to send a delegation to a major review conference of the Mine Ban Treaty which will be held in Cartagena, Colombia from Nov. 29- Dec. 4.
Yemen
Yemen army, Shiite rebels clash near Saudi border
[AFP] The region borders Saudi Arabia, whose forces have been shelling and bombing rebel positions in on Jebel al-Dukhan mountain since November 4, after rebels killed a border guard and occupied two small villages inside Saudi territory the previous day.. The Saudi military has shelled some of these areas, military sources said. UN children's organisation UNICEF said last week that the Saudis had evacuated 240 villages and closed 50 schools as the fighting spilled over the border from Yemen. The Yemeni Defence Ministry said on Monday said that the army regained control of several hills in the Gharaz area southeast of Saada and cleared them landmines.
Zambia
Zambia declares mined areas are safe once again
[Gaurdian] Zambia has become the third country in Southern Africa to declare that all mined areas are now safe for normal human activity. The announcement puts the country ahead of schedule regarding its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, which it joined in 2001."This will enhance cross border trading, open rail and road routes to the coastal towns and a railway to Angolan ports, and revitalize tourist zones," said Sheila Mweemba, Director of the Zambia Mine Action Center (ZMAC).
11 November 2009
Road to Cartagena
Colombia
Juanes lends his voice to the world summit against anti-personnel mines
[CartagenaSummit] the Colombian music superstar, has announced he will lend his voice to the world summit against anti-personnel mines which will take place in Colombia. Juanes, a 17-time Grammy Award Winner, founder of the Mi Sangre Foundation, and mine eradication activist said he is proud to support The Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World.
Press Release
United Nations
Ban urges more States to adhere to global pact on explosive remnants of war
[UNNewsCentre] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on those States that have not yet done so to adhere to the global pact dealing with explosive remnants of war, noting the deadly toll that these weapons which are left over after conflict takes on society. "Armed conflict leaves in its wake not only chaos, grief and hardship, but also explosive remnants of war that kill and maim long after the end of hostilities," he told the opening of the Third Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).
UAE is committed to maintaining world peace and security
[SABA] The UAE is committed to honour its international obligations towards maintaining international peace and security, UAE News Agency (WAM) reported on Tuesday. ''The UAE will spare no efforts to respect provisions of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons especially the fifth Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), UAE's Permanent Representative to the European Headquarters of the UN Obaid Salem Al Za'abi said in a statement before the third conference the contracting parties of the convention being hosted by Geneva and will continue until 13 November.
Sudan
UNMAO Clears Routes throughout Blue Nile State
Currently, 19 out of Sudan's 25 states are affected by mines or explosive remnants of war (ERW). Mines were laid in routes, villages, wells, as well as on arable land. The perception that many roads are
mined has led to road closures, some as long as 20 years, resulting in considerable cost to the communities through restricted movement and development.
09 November 2009
Colombia
Juanes lends his voice to the world summit against anti-personnel mines
[Tolerance.ca] Geneva, Switzerland – JUANES, the Colombian music superstar, has announced he will lend his voice to the world summit against anti-personnel mines which will take place in Colombia.
Georgia
Humanitarian mine action training in Tbilisi
[APA] humanitarian mine action training began in Tbilisi, Georgian Defense Ministry told APA. Representatives of defense ministries and humanitarian mine action organizations of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia are participating at the training. The participants will be informed about the humanitarian demining standards during the training.
Laos
Norway gives more aid for unexploded ordnance clearance
[TheKoreaHerald] A total of US$1.6 million has been committed to organise further surveys and clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos' Xekong province. The funding was part of an MoU signed by Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) in Vientiane early this week. Xekong is among the most UXO-contaminated provinces in Laos.
Nicaragua
Cluster bomb ban gains momentum in Central America and the Caribbean
[CMC] Two signatures and one ratification in Central America and the Caribbean have given a boost to the global campaign against cluster bombs. Nicaragua is the 24th country to ratify the Convention, leaving only six ratifications needed for the treaty to become binding international law. Nicaragua's ratification instrument was deposited on 2 November. Caribbean countries Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the 101st and 102nd countries to sign the Convention. Ambassador H. E. Mr. Léo Mérorès, Permanent Representative of Haiti to the United Nations signed the Convention on 28 October and Ambassador H.E. Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations signed the Convention on 10 November.
09 November 2009
United Nations
UN chief urges world to disarm in favor of investment in peace and development
[Xinhua] UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has warned that global military spending now tops 1 trillion U.S. dollars per year while funding for development remains woefully low by comparison, UN officials said here on Monday.
The Secretary-General's Message to Religions For Peace Global Youth Campaing on Disarmament for Shared Security
[E-mine] The secretary-general made the statement in a message to the Religions for Peace Global Youth Campaign on Disarmament for Shared Security conference in Costa Rica, urging leaders to harness the growing political will to reduce stockpiles of weapons and redirect expenditure toward peaceful goals.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Slovenia sign five documents
[APA] The presidents signed a joint statement on the establishment of strategic partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Slovenia. Memorandum of cooperation between the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) and Slovenian International Trust Fund for Demining and Support to Mine Victims was signed by ANAMA director Nazim Ismayilov and his Slovenian counterpart Goran Gachnik.
Some 2,827,520 sq m. area demined in Azerbaijan in October
[TrendNews] Some 2,827,520 sq. m. of area was cleared from mines and unexploded ammunition in October, 2009.
China
Mine-affected Countries Hail China-sponsored Demining Training
[CriEnglish] "We would like to express our gratitude to the Chinese government for training our demining personnel, as numerous undiscovered landmines are threatening the lives of Iraqis all the time," said Rahman L. Muhsin, an official with the Iraqi Embassy in China Monday. There are about 25 million landmines beneath the country's soil after three decades of warfares, he said when attending the closing ceremony of China's humanitarian demining training course for heavily mine-affected Iraq and Afghanistan.
China trains deminers for nearly 20 countries
[Xinhua] China has trained some 300 deminers, and instructed clearance of more than 200,000 square meters of minefield for foreign countries over 10 years, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to a press release from the ministry's Department of Arms Control, a humanitarian demining training course for Afghanistan and Iraq was concluded in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, on Monday.
Demining training course for Afghan, Iraqi nationals concluded
[AssociatedPressofPakistan] A humanitarian demining training course for Afghanistan and Iraq concluded in Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, on Monday. As many as 38 people from Afghanistan and Iraq took the two month course at the University of Science and Technology of the People's Liberation Army in Nanjing, said a press release from the Foreign ministry's Department of Arms Control.
Lebanon
Nearly half of Lebanon's land mines cleared
[DailyStar] Three years later and Guy is back in the south, joined by delegates to Lebanon from across the world, Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) chiefs and more than 400 field workers to celebrate the clearance of 13 million square meters of contaminated Lebanese soil by the Mine Action Group (MAG) since 2006. Another 14 million square meters remains to be cleared.
Lebanon: MAG celebrates lifesaving clearance milestone
[Reliefweb] The deminers who risk their lives daily to rid Lebanon of deadly munitions have been honoured in a special ceremony celebrating MAG's clearance of more than 13 million square metres of land in the country since 2006. After the conflict with Israel, vast areas of southern Lebanon were littered with unexploded cluster munitions. MAG already had teams in the country but stepped up its emergency clearance operations, responding to the worst affected areas first.
Sri Lanka
India sends more demining teams to sri lanka
[DailyMirror] In an effort to expedite re-construction work on the northern railway line, India has increased the number of de-mining teams sent to the country to seven, as three more such teams arrived in the island to add to the four already operating here, which they said has cost them Rs. 500 million.
SRI LANKA: Landmines, unexploded ordnance a barrier to return
[IRIN] Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) are a key obstacle to the return of thousands of conflict-displaced to their homes in northern Sri Lanka, say government and UN officials. The government estimates over 1.5 million landmines and UXO contaminate more than 400sqkm in the north.
06 November 2009
Road to Cartagena
Side Events Calendar
In partnership with the Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines (SCBL), the United Nations Mine Action Team is conducting an awareness-raising campaign with Member States, civil society and relevant mine action actors to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in the official Conference documents, including the Cartagena Action Plan. The following documents illustrate the relevance of gender-sensitive programming in the main pillars of mine action.
Gender Mainstreaming the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World:
Community Liaison and Mine Risk Education
Mine Clearance
Victim Assistance
Afghanistan
Poppy Fields in Afghanistan
[WorldPress.org] Washington has long been frustrated with Karzai's near-total inability to staunch the flow of drugs—one of the Taliban's principal funding sources. This was also echoed last month by a U.N. report citing Afghan opium—50 percent of which emanates from Helmand—as causing more deaths than any other drug worldwide. In all, Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the planet's opium and, thus, 80 percent of its heroin. This campaign would hardly clean up Karzai's cabinet. But with more than 50 NGOs—with mandates ranging from mine clearance to food assistance—active in Afghanistan, much has already begun. But these groups are both under-funded and under fire. This would be improved were they able to work more openly with farmers to gradually cease their opium production under more heightened security. Already they have demonstrated that, with the right kind of assistance, Afghan farmers can live off licit crops like wheat, vegetables, fruit trees, sesame, flax and other types of alternative crops based on their geographic location and seasonal temperatures.
Cambodia
Former child soldier undoes past, one landmine at a time
[CNN] Aki Ra was forced to be a child soldier in the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the early 1980s, taught to shoot a gun and plant deadly landmines. He was later seized by the Cambodian army and the Vietnamese, who were fighting together against the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge, and he again planted explosives in the ground as war raged in the Southeast Asian nation.
Years later, when the United Nations came in to help restore peace to Cambodia, Aki Ra decided he needed to undo the damage he and others had done, so he began demining on his own after spending a year training with U.N. deminers.
Sri Lanka
UNHCR demining machines to arrive in Sri Lanka
[UNHCR] This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 6 November 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Some 90,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned to their villages in Sri Lanka's north and east over the past three months, under the ongoing return plan of the Sri Lankan government. UNHCR is also discussing with the government the situation in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu to ensure that minimum return standards, such as completion of demining and access to services, are adhered to.
Displaced Sri Lankans increasingly returning home from camps – UN
[UNNewscentre] About 90,000 Sri Lankans displaced by the conflict between Government forces and Tamil separatists have returned to their homes in the past three months, and the pace of returns has begun to accelerate, the United Nations refugee agency reported today. UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told journalists that in the past two weeks alone, an estimated 39,000 people have returned to their former villages – mostly in the north and east of Sri Lanka – as part of the Government's return plan. About 90,000 Sri Lankans displaced by the conflict between Government forces and Tamil separatists have returned to their homes in the past three months, and the pace of returns has begun to accelerate, the United Nations refugee agency reported today. In Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts, the agency has held talks with Government officials to ensure that minimum standards for safe returns, such as the completion of mine clearance activities and access to services, are met.
Tajikistan
OSCE supports setting up demining unit in Tajikistan
[Reliefweb] A ceremony to mark the establishment of an OSCE-supported operational humanitarian mine clearance unit within the Defence Ministry was held at the OSCE Office in Tajikistan today.
05 Novembe2009
Cambodia
A world traveler, Morse has moved to Southeast Asia on a mission to help his new neighbors
[Mydesert.com] Bill Morse of Palm Springs has joined with well-known ex-Cambodian child soldier Aki Ra on his campaign to rid Cambodia of the deadly landmines that pock the country's beautiful landscape.
Israel
Israel seizes ship with alleged Hezbollah-bound arms
[Latimes] Israel's navy intercepts a vessel off Cyprus that it says contained 300 tons of weapons being smuggled by Iran to Syria, bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Iran and Syria deny the charge. Hundreds of dark green rockets, mortar shells and boxes of grenades and ammunition were displayed on the dock in Israel's port of Ashdod hours after the predawn naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea near Cyprus. In the evening, Israeli forces were still unloading the 40 containers of armaments reported to have been found aboard the Antigua-flagged vessel, Francop, which remained under guard in the port. The weapons, which included Grad-type Katyusha rockets, had been concealed beneath civilian goods and enclosed in a plastic material capable of fooling electronic scanners, Israeli officials said.
Israel views arms shipment as card against Iran
[France24] Israel's capture of a weapons-laden ship allegedly sent from Iran and bound for Hezbollah will underscore its case against Tehran in the international community, observers said Thursday. "Officials in Jerusalem had not dared even to dream of better timing for the capture of the vessel carrying so much arms and ammunition bound for Hezbollah," an editorial in Israel's Maariv newspaper said.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka lifting mines
[News24] The government has stepped up clearing mines in former rebel-controlled areas in northern Sri Lanka in an operation aimed at resettling 159 000 war refugees before the end of January, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said on Thursday.
UN supports demining process
[Reliefweb] The Government has taken the initiative to import more de-mining machines to expedite the de-mining process in the North and to facilitate the speedy resettlement of the displaced civilians now living in welfare centers.
04 November 2009
Mine Action commended in the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly
Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, addressed the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly last week on behalf of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group for Mine Action on the issue of assistance in mine action and introduced the report of the Secretary-General on Assistance in Mine Action (A/64/287).
Mr. Titov praised the outstanding contribution and sacrifice of the men and women dealing with the threat of mines and explosive remnants of war in the field.
He shared the story of Steven Fantham, an Operations Officer for the United Nations Mine Action Office based in Juba, who suffered a lower limb amputation in the course of his duties this year. Not only has Mr. Fantham rehabilitated since the accident, but he has resumed his duties in Sudan - a stunning example to us all.
Mr. Titov also paid tribute to Felisberto Novele, a Mozambican national working as a deminer in Cyprus who was killed on 28 October while clearing mines in the buffer zone, many decades after the active conflict. [UN News Centre article]
ASG Titov also drew attention to a number of key elements of the Secretary-General's report. "The Secretary-General seeks support of the General Assembly to continue the development of a United Nations capacity for rapid mine action deployment, most recently used in Gaza, that could contribute considerably to the protection of civilians and the efficient work of humanitarian operations."
He noted, "The Secretary-General also asks Member States to acknowledge the potential role of the United Nations Mine Action Service in providing advice and assistance to peace operations in regard to improvised explosive devices and other explosive remnants of war. In light of recent events in Mogadishu, Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas where UN personnel have been gravely affected, this task is particularly urgent."
Recent achievements in mine action include a drop in casualty levels from mines and explosive remnants of war in a number of affected countries. For example, in Mozambique, casualty rates dropped to almost zero in 2009; Sudan is also reaching the near-zero rate; and in other countries and territories - such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tajikistan and Uganda - the number of reported casualties has not increased, while the movement of internally displaced persons has accelerated, thanks to mine clearance and emergency education efforts.
The importance of mine action was discussed further in relation to the draft resolution on "Assistance in Mine Action", which was adopted by the Fourth Committee without a vote. It is co-sponsored by at least 51 Member States.
Lebanon
U.S. Donates $2.35 Million for De-Mining Activities in Lebanon
[naharnet] U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison visited on Wednesday the headquarters of the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC), and announced that the U.S. Government has provided an additional $2.35 million in funding to support LMAC's de-mining activities in South Lebanon.
Sudan
Sudan: "Sweet" smell of success"
[UNMAO] Before the civil war broke out in 1983, the Southern Sudan town of Yei was booming due to its proximity to the Ugandan and Congolese borders. However, more than 20 years of conflict have not helped the town's poorly developed infrastructure, trade and industry. Following the signature of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, signs of recovery have been encouraging. The city is surrounded by lush farmlands and its location ensures that the business potential is immense. Still as you walk through the streets of Yei you notice children playing among the rusty military tanks that litter the roadsides, and you come across villagers with missing limbs, a stern reminder of the landmines that were laid during the war.
03 November 2009
Colombia
Landmine kills four soldiers
[ColombiaReports] Four members of the Colombian armed forces were killed by a landmine Monday afternoon in the southern department of Caquetá. The army said Tuesday that they believe the landmine was set by the FARC.
Mozambique
MOZAMBIQUE: How to demine: The devil is in the detail
[IRIN] The conversations of deminers are often illustrated with sketches on the reverse side of old reports or the toe of a boot drawing lines in the sand to show how a single mine can close 35km of road, make a bridge redundant or deny a community a swathe of farming land. They are a meticulous fraternity that knows the devil is very much in the detail.
Turkey
For a Mine-Free World
[Bianet] The participants of the "Mine Ban Treaty 1. National Review Conference" for a mine-free Turkey and a mine-free world urgently call the Republic of Turkey to fulfil the commitments of the Mine Ban Treaty.
United Kingdom
Preparing for 'the longest walk'
[BBC] Lt Martell said becoming a bomb disposal expert was initially a "selfish decision, because you're thinking about your career, but it becomes more about what you can do for other people - your team, the British army, the civilians living near bombs". He said that one of the biggest skills required was diplomacy, being able to deal with people - civilian and military - to take command of the situation. "Once you have command you can think about what you're going to do. "You do get an adrenalin rush, there's sweat pouring off your face, the nerves are kicking in and if your hairs stand up on the back of your neck that's your sixth sense telling you something. "Personally I just focus on the job, I wouldn't even think about family or friends at that time."
United Nations
Fourth Committee sends draft on assistance in mine action to General Assembly, aimed at reducing risks posed by landmines, explosive remnants of war
[Reliefweb] Speakers Cite Perverse Nature of Mines, Activated by Victims, Whether Civilians Or Combatants; Committee Postpones Action on Outer Space Draft, Pending Consensus. The General Assembly, deeply alarmed by the number of mines laid each year, as well as the presence of a decreasing but still very large number of mines and explosive remnants of war as a result of armed conflicts, would urge all States to assist countries affected by those weapons in the establishment and development of national mine-action capacities, according to a draft text approved today without a vote by the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization).
Efforts bearing fruit to end landmine scourge, as 41 million in stockpiles destroyed since 2008, Assistant Secretary-General tells Fourth Committee
[Reliefweb] Introducing the Secretary-General's report on mine action assistance as the Committee took up that issue, Dmitry Titov said that 2008 and 2009 had been remarkable for the mine action sector. More than 41 million of those stockpiled weapons had been destroyed, and their production, sale and transfer had effectively stopped. Improved risk-reduction tools and methods had contributed to a global reduction in the number of casualties, and survivors and their families were increasingly recognized as having rights to social and economic integration.
United States
Remnants of War
[Breezejmu] Mine Action Information Center hopes to create a series of tours throughout the Holy Land to promote healing and reflection for victims . Three JMU faculty members traveled to Jordan last week to oversee a course they developed at JMU's Mine Action Information Center. Dennis Barlow, Suzanne Fiederlein and John Noftsinger taught the senior mine action managers training course. Developed by the Mine Action Information Center, it was given five times to visiting U.N. officials at JMU between 2004 and 2007 before the curriculum was given to the Jordanian government this year.
29 October 2009
Malta
Boy finds anti-personnel bomb
[TimesofMalta] An 11-year-old boy found, and picked up, a wartime anti-personnel bomb at Wied Qirda near Qormi on Sunday before hiding it until AFM personnel detonated it this afternoon. The small bomb, of a type which killed a farmer in Rabat in 1981, was discovered embedded in a rubble wall. The boy, Andrew Worley, picked it up and showed it to his father, who immediately realised what it was. It was then hidden beneath the carcass of a rusting, long abandoned car until the AFM bomb squad was called to the scene this afternoon.
United Kingdom
CAMPAIGN CALLS ON GOVERNMENTS TO STOP FUNDING PRODUCTION OF CLUSTER BOMBS
[CMC] Almost one year on from the historic signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in December 2008, campaigners have today launched a call on governments to stem the flow of money to producers of these indiscriminate weapons. The new CMC campaign is entitled 'stop explosive investments'.
UK banks cluster bomb shame
[Thisismoney] A host of UK High Street banks that do business with firms producing deadly cluster bombs - notorious for maiming innocent civilians - have been named and shamed in a new report.
Cluster bomb trade funded by world's biggest banks
[Guardian.uk] The deadly trade in cluster bombs is funded by the world's biggest banks who have loaned or arranged finance worth $20bn (£12.5bn) to firms producing the controversial weapons, despite growing international efforts to ban them. HSBC, led by ordained Anglican priest Stephen Green, has profited more than any other institution from companies that manufacture cluster bombs. The British bank, based at Canary Wharf, has earned a total of £657.3m in fees arranging bonds and share offerings for Textron, which makes cluster munitions described by the US company as "leaving a clean battlefield".
United States
Top banks fund cluster bombs as ban nears - report
[Reuters] Leading banks have funded cluster bomb-makers to the tune of $5 billion in the past two years despite an international accord to ban the weapons, a study said on Thursday. Nations agreed to outlaw cluster bombs in May 2008. The resulting convention will come into force when 30 countries have ratified it -- 23 have already done so. Neither the United States nor Britain, where the top five loan providers are based, have yet ratified the treaty.
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund Supports US Campaign to Ban Landmines
[USCBL] United States Urged to Join Mine Ban Treaty. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund has awarded a grant to the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines & Cluster Bombs (USCBL), which is being used to increase media interest, build public support and urge greater action by the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress.
28 October 2009
UNMAS - Cyprus
De-miner dies in accident
[UNFICYP] A member of the Mine Action Centre Cyprus (MACC) was killed today in a de-mining accident, the group's first fatality in five years of work on the island. Felisberto Novele, a MACC member from Mozambique, died in an explosion at approximately 8 this morning in a minefield near Geri, some 10 kilometres south east of Nicosia.
Cyprus: UN deminer killed in accidental bomb blast
[UNNEWCENTRE] A United Nations bomb disposal expert died today in an accidental explosion while clearing landmines in Cyprus' buffer zone separating the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides of the Mediterranean island. Felisberto Novele, from Mozambique, was killed in a minefield south east of the UN protected area of Nicosia, the first demining accident in the country in five years, according to the UN peacekeeping mission
UN deminer killed in Cyprus
[Earthtimes] A UN expert was killed Wednesday in the divided eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus while clearing landmines, the United Nations said. Felisberto Novele, a national from Mozambique, died in an explosion while clearing away a minefield near Geri, about 10 kilometers south-east of the capital Nicosia.
UN mine clearer dies in accident in Cyprus
[PeopleDailyOnline] The dead mine expert was Felisberto Novele, a member of the Mine Action Center Cyprus (MACC). It was the group's first fatality in five years of work on the island. The incident took place at at about 8:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) in a minefield inside the 180 km long buffer zone under UN control. Taye-Brook Zerihoun, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of UN Peacekeeping Forces In Cyprus (UNFICYP), said he was saddened and shocked to learn of the accident, which he called "a tragic reminder of the dangers landmines still pose in Cyprus."
UN deminer killed in Cyprus blast
[Reuters] A mines expert was killed in Cyprus on Wednesday while clearing landmines on the divided island, the United Nations said. Felisberto Novele, a 49-year-old from Mozambique, was the first fatality since a project to clear the "Green Line" between Turkish and Greek Cypriot forces began five years ago.
Mozambique
MOZAMBIQUE: Demining is not a never ending story
[IRIN] Mozambique's effort to become the first of the world's major mine-contaminated countries to be declared mine-free is faltering on the home straight. There are a variety of reasons: Mozambique's donor-dependent government no longer sees demining operations as a priority; the withdrawal of humanitarian demining operations, sending the wrong signals to donors that the job was done, and that the focus of global demining activities has largely shifted to Iraq and Afghanistan.
USD 2 million for landmine assistance in Mozambique
[Ptinews] The US today announced USD 2 million in financial assistance to help Mozambique safeguard its citizens from abandoned landmines and unexploded munitions remaining from decades of conflict. The aid, announced in October 19 in Mozambique's capital Maputo, will fund survey and clearance teams from The HALO Trust, a Britain-based non-governmental organisation and leading US humanitarian demining partner, the State Department said in a statement.
Sri Lanka
De-mining in eastern Sri Lanka completed
[Reliefweb] De-mining in Sri Lanka's entire Eastern Province has been completed and the process is being accelerated in the north, a senior government minister said on Tuesday.
United Nations
As United Nations strives to keep pace with peacekeeping demands, Fourth Committee speakers say blue helmets need clear guidance for protection of civilians mandates
[Reliefweb] ZACHARY D. MUBURI MUITA ( Kenya) said that peacekeeping was one of the primary instruments available to the United Nations for achieving its aspiration of saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war. The African Union had intervened in the past to stabilize conflict situations in Darfur, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The United Nations had subsequently taken over. With that, the African Union had demonstrated sufficient political will to tackle the challenges confronting the continent. However, the African peace and security architecture required increased support, especially in the area of peacekeeping capacities. Towards that goal, he urged support for the East African Standby Brigade, the International Peace Support Training Centre and the International Mine Action Training Centre, all based in Kenya. That would augment regional efforts to mitigate incidents that gave rise to conflicts.
CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS STRONGLY PROMOTED AT UN DISARMAMENT DISCUSSIONS
[CMC] The Convention on Cluster Munitions featured prominently in governments' statements to the UN First Committee on disarmament and international security. During the debate on conventional weapons around 25 countries made particular reference to the Convention, calling on other states to join it and providing updates on steps they are taking to adhere to it.
United States
San Rafael couple's 'Mines to Vines' is on the climb
[Marinij.com] Gary and Heidi Kuhn love traveling to places where there are no McDonald's or Starbucks to be found. What they do when they get there far exceeds your typical vacation. For the past nine years, the San Rafael couple has been spearheading Roots of Peace, a nonprofit organization that has focused on removing mines from war-torn areas and then turning those abandoned mine fields into an asset to the local economy. Since 2003, the group has focused largely on Afghanistan, the country with which the United States has been at war since October 2001 and which has been the subject of widespread debate in recent months as the Obama administration reviews its strategy there.
26 October 2009
UNMAS/GICHD
Mine Action Technology Newsletter
[E-mine] This is the tenth issue of the Mine Action Technology Newsletter, produced by UNMAS and GICHD,dedicated to the promotion and development of related mine action technology.
Germany
Germany - The Federal Foreign Office helps refugees in Georgia by providing prefabricated houses built to withstand winter conditions
[Isria] The Federal Foreign Office Deputy Director-General responsible for Civilian Crisis Prevention and Humanitarian Aid, Dr Georg Birgelen, today (23 October) handed over 300 prefabricated, winterproof houses to the Georgian Government in Gori/Georgia. The aim is to provide permanent accommodation for residents of South Ossetia displaced by the armed conflict in Georgia at the beginning of August 2008, who cannot return to their home towns for the foreseeable future. The Federal Government is thereby responding to a request from the Georgian Government to implement pilot projects which can serve as models for further necessary humanitarian aid measures on the part of the international community. All in all since the armed conflict in August 2008, the Federal Foreign Office has so far provided Georgia with over 2 million euro for immediate humanitarian relief, including mine clearance, as well as 12 million euro for conflict management measures
Nepal
Nepal starts largest demining operatio
[Xinhua] Nepal Army (NA) has started its largest ever demining operation with a target of defusing within one year at least 19 major minefields that it had been planted during the decade-long conflict, The Kathmandu Post reported on Monday. NA plans to inactivate all of the identified landmines by the end of 2011, said a senior officer at NA's Mine Action Team. So far, the Army team has cleared 17 of the total 53 landmines and 105 out of a total of 274 improvised explosive devices planted by the NA, whereas the UCPN-M have destroyed a stockpile of 46,850"dangerous items" with technical support from the United Nations Mine Action Team (UNMAT). NA claims that after receiving training from UNMAT and technical assistance from Britain, Norway and Canada, its demining team has attained international standard and is capable of carrying out UN-facilitated demining operations anywhere in the world.
United Kingdom
Martin Bell comes out of retirement for BBC MAG documentary
[BBC] Campaigning charity the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is set to be the subject of an upcoming documentary presented by former BBC war corespondent Martin Bell. The show, airing on 2 November at 7.30pm on BBC One, will chart the success of MAG and its growth from a caravan in Cockermouth - the brainchild of brothers Rae and Lou McGrath - to an organisation that is currently active in 17 countries and employs 3,500 personnel across the globe.
23 October 2009
Peru
Presidents of Ecuador and Peru hold 'historic' talks
[Examiner] After over a century of armed confrontation, conflicts, and disagreements, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Peruvian President Alan García met yesterday in Piura, Peru. By the end of the end of 3rd Bilateral Ministerial Cabinet Meeting, the two leaders had signed seven cooperation agreements, according to Xinhua news service. In one of the agreements, Correa and García vowed to clear their countries' shared border in the Amazon region of landmines used in conflicts dating back to 1941.
DRC
MACC - DRC: Landmines kill 2 000 in DRC
[TheSouthernTimes] Speaking on the first world day for the fight against explosive devices, the centre's director Harouna Ouedraogotold AFP that landmines kill people every month in the vast African country, the size of western Europe. "Their presence has a psychological impact on the population, who live in fear because mines do not go quiet after a war, they do not recognise any peace agreement," he said. The UN operation lacks funding to de-mine DRC, Ouedraogo said. He called for stronger national and international action against landmines. The centre has identified 1 250 "danger zones" where the presence of landmines is known or strongly suspected.
D.R. Congo: 'I heard an explosion and ran out to find my son wounded'
[Reliefweb] "The next thing I knew, I heard an explosion and ran out to find my son wounded. He was unconscious, and I picked him up and carried him to the health centre. I was in grief, I thought he would die. I was crying." Unexploded ordnance (UXO) threatens people every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo – the legacy of a series of armed conflicts between 1996 and 2003. Your donation helps MAG to lessen the threat of death and injury for communities in current and former conflict zones.
Turkey
Land mines to be cleared in ancient city of Karkamis
[Today'sZaman] A tender for the clearance of land mines by hand in the ancient city of Karkamis, located on the mined Syrian border in Gaziantep, has been won by Nokta Yatirim with a bid of TL 1.1 million.
United Nations
World Leaders Call for Full Support of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention
[Tolerance.ca] Colombia, Norway, Switzerland and civil society representatives called today upon world leaders to fully support the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and to rally behind the goal of a mine-free world. The call for action was made during a meeting at the United Nations in New York. The meeting is one of the events leading up to The Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World the name given to the Second Review Conference of the Convention.
United States
EPPN seeks support for ban on cluster munitions
[Episcopallife] The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) has issued an appeal to church members to urge U.S. President Barack Obama to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions and work for its ratification by Congress. EPPN's alert asks its 25,000 recipients – Episcopalians and others -- to write to ask Obama to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions and urge the Senate to see that it is ratified promptly. This international treaty prohibits cluster munitions, requires clearance of areas contaminated by unexploded cluster bomb duds, and establishes provisions for assistance to victims of these weapons. Once 30 countries have ratified the treaty the convention will become binding in six months. As of Oct. 22, 23 nations have signed.
22 October 2009
Bosnia
Boy killed by landmine in Bosnia
[Javno] Almost 15 years since the war ended, over three percent of Bosnia's territory is estimated to be littered with landmines. A 12-year-old boy was killed and his older brother injured in Bosnia on Thursday in the explosion of a landmine left over from the country's 1992-1995 war, national radio reported.
Colombia
Swiss will lead Colombia intl. demining conference
[Genevalaunch] Switzerland will lead efforts to backup a major conference that opens 29 November in Colombia, the Cartagena summit on a mine-free world. The conference marks the 10th anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty entering into force and provides the opportunity for its second review conference to assess progress and how well the convention is being respected.
India
Boy killed, girl injured in explosion in India-controlled Kashmir
[Xinhua] A 15-year-old boy was killed and a 17-year-old girl critically hurt after an explosive device they were fiddling with accidentally went off in India-controlled Kashmir, police Thursday said. The explosion took place in Sadnia-Tulail near line-of-control (LoC) in Gurez area of Bandipora, 155 km north of Srinagar, the summer capital of India-controlled Kashmir.
Lebanon
Berri hails UAE demining efforts in south Lebanon
[DailyStar] Speaker Nabih Berri hailed Thursday efforts by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to demine swathes of land in south Lebanon infested with cluster bombs remaining from Israel's war on Lebanon in 2006.
Lebanon celebrates end of UAE demining program in south
[DailyStar] Three-year-long sweep cleared over 7,700 mines, 156 booby traps A ceremony was held on Wednesday at the Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut to mark the end of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) mine-clearing program in south of Lebanon. The program, which helped demine over 8 million square-meters of land in the last three years, was part of UAE Program to Support and Rebuild Lebanon and was sponsored by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nhayan with the support of UAE vice president and prime minister, ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
Pakistan
Pakistan urges tightened border control to prevent arms, militants movement
[Xinhua] As Pakistan Army is engaged in a bloody conflict against hardcore Taliban and al-Qaida militants in South Waziristan tribal region, Islamabad has alleged that the insurgents are receiving arms supplies from the neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan Army spokesman said the security forces have erected barbed wire and spread landmines along the border to check border-crossing by the militants. Neither Afghan, nor American or NATO officials have so far responded to either of the charges made by the Pakistani officials and media.
Sri Lanka
Over 41,000 IDPs resettled
[DailyNews] The resettlement of the largest number of Internally Displaced Persons of the North took place yesterday, with 41,685 persons resettled in Vavuniya, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, resettled in 108 Grama Niladhari Divisions of these districts. Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP said though Sri Lanka is a small country, we have been able to resettle a large number of IDPs in a short time though some countries were still not able to resettle displaced persons for years. "For instance some victims of the storm Katrina are still living in containers but we will resettle all our IDPs very soon.
UK commits to clear mines and rebuild lives in Sri Lanka
[Reliefweb] The UK will clear landmines from Northern Sri Lanka and help thousands of civilians displaced by recent fighting to return home and rebuild their lives it was announced today. International Development Minister Mike Foster allocated three new grants to help clear the way for civilians to return home from the camps for displaced people, provide them with a safe route home and the means to restart their lives.
United States
US: Join the Landmine Ban
[HRW] Obama Should Reverse US Stance as Treaty Event Approaches. The United States should participate in a milestone meeting of the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines and make a commitment to the join the agreement, Human Rights Watch said today.
UN: States Urged to Support Swift Global Ban on Cluster Bomb
[CMC] Only Seven Ratifications Needed for Treaty to Become Binding International Law. Governments should redouble their efforts to sign and ratify the 2008 global treaty banning cluster bombs, the Cluster Munition Coalition said today at a special event held during talks on disarmament and international security in the UN General Assembly.
21 October 2009
United Nations
Divergent paths emerge as First Committee debates issues of cluster munitions, transparency of weapons sales, viability of international arms trade treaty
[Reliefweb] Delegates Seek to Balance National Defence Needs with Devastating Humanitarian Impact of Cluster Munitions; Several Lament Absence of Protocol to 1980 Convention
Cyprus
Cyprus - The President of the Republic received the credentials of the new Ambassador of Austria
[ISRIA] Presenting his credentials, Mr. Weiss said: "It is both an honour and a privilege for me to convey to your Excellency the very best wishes of the President of the Republic of Austria, Mr Heinz Fischer, for your personal well being, as well as for a peaceful future and prosperity for the people of Cyprus. The relations between our two countries have been characterized by a long-standing friendship that dates back to the first half of the 18th century and the Government of Austria is committed to further deepen these already strong ties between our two countries. Itake this opportunity to express my Government's deep appreciation for Austria's commitment to Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. In addition, we acknowledge Austria's leading role as one of the pioneers for the Convention of Cluster Munitions, which Cyprus signed on 23 September 2009.
Jordan
Much work remains to rid Kingdom of landmines - Prince Mired
[TheJordantimes] Despite recent progress, much work remains to be done to rid the Kingdom of landmines, HRH Prince Mired, chairman of the National Committee for De-mining and Rehabilitation (NCDR), said on Tuesday. In remarks to the NCDR's semi-annual mine-action donors working group meeting yesterday, Prince Mired stressed that sustained international funding and support is required for Jordan to clear its landmines and other explosive remnants of war, according to a statement released by the NCDR.
Laos
Vietnam War Bombs Still Killing In Laos
[Channel3000] The world economic crisis caused a steep drop in the price of metal, but that hasn't stopped a strange and extremely dangerous enterprise in the jungles of Laos. Every day, kids and adults trek into the forest looking for scrap metal they can sell for cash. They find fine gauge steel -- bombs, or pieces of them -- left over from the Vietnam War. Many of these bombs never exploded.
Lebanon
Operation Emirates Solidarity in Lebanon concluded
[WAM] The UAE Embassy in Lebanon celebrated the end of Operation Emirates Solidarity (OES), an initiative launched and partly funded and executed by the UAE to assist mine clearing in south Lebanon.
Cluster-bomb clearing teams call for cash
[DailyStar] The ambassador looks a little nervous. Crouching behind a boulder, she takes the detonator switch in her hand and presses its red button. A dull thud trembles the parched scrubland as a plume of grey smoke rises from up the hill. Jean Dunn, the new Australian ambassador to Lebanon, has only been in the job 10 days and is already blowing things up. Newly arrived in Beirut, she took a trip to the country's south on Tuesday to survey the mine-clearance work carried out by the Mine's Advisory Group (MAG).
Norway
Norway - Stepping up to stop armed violence
[ISRIA] Every day, armed violence kills more than 2000 people. The vast majority are civilians. Backed by Norway, UNDP is stepping up to support affected governments in their efforts to reduce the demand for arms by developing comprehensive Armed Violence Prevention Programmes. "It is evident that in many countries, there is a need to strengthen the justice sector. A first step is to get control of illegal weapons and address impunity. In order for this to happen, we need global coordination and local action. The same approach was used when we worked on the ban on cluster munitions, and working with UNDP, we believe we can also fight armed violence effectively," says Mr Støre. "Together we will work to build a framework for practical action - between governments, international organizations, and civil society - aimed at achieving measurable reductions in the global burden of armed violence by 2015," Clark said.
Pakistan
Pakistani Taliban assault may see 250,000 refugees
[The China Post] Pakistan is bracing for as many as 250,000 refugees to flee the mountainous region of South Waziristan, as the army mounts its biggest offensive against the Taliban stronghold. Three columns entering the Taliban stronghold had advanced about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) and seized bombs and landmines, the army said. It said "terrorists are vacating their posts" and "leaving behind arms and ammunition."
Senegal
Confronting Aid Challenges in Volatile Casamance
[AllAfrica] Aid workers are evaluating the needs of families recently displaced by armed conflict in Casamance, southern Senegal. Some of the displaced persons have joined families who were themselves forced out of their villages a decade ago. Aid groups in Casamance face a context of irregular and multiple displacements, sporadic armed conflict, uncertainty over landmines and increasingly violent crime.
Turkey
Unexploded ordnance major cause of death in southeast Turkey
[Today'sZaman] Unexploded grenades and other explosives laid in rural areas of southeastern Turkey by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and by terrorists are a major cause of death in the region, according to data compiled by the Human Rights Association (IHD).
19 October 2009
United Nations
Ban welcomes humanitarian group's efforts to rid Afghanistan of mines
[UNNewsCentre] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has praised a humanitarian organization committed to eradicating landmines worldwide for its efforts to turn minefields into agricultural land in Afghanistan. Each mine cleared, each square metre rendered free of unexploded ordnance, helps to build a foundation for development and peace," Mr. Ban told a gathering on Sunday at the annual Roots of Peace Harvest of Hope event in Connecticut, United States.
UN - Secretary-General, in Message to 'Roots of Peace' Event, Commends Support for United Nations Effort to Rid World of Anti-Personnel Mines
[ISRIA] This is the text of a message from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the third annual Roots of Peace "Harvest of Hope" programme in Greenwich, Connecticut, on 18 October 2009 (delivered by Under-Secretary-General Vijay Nambiar, Chef de Cabinet):
Afghanistan
60 Taliban dead in Pakistan assault
[RAdioAustraliaNews] The Pakistani military says it has killed 60 militants as troops carry out a major offensive in the tribal region of South Waziristan. Five soldiers have also been killed and 11 wounded. The Pakistani military says troops are making slow progress because of the difficult terrain and the risk of landmines.
Jordan
NCDR to open 2009 Explosive Remnants of War Training Course
[Al Bawaba] The National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) is holding the 2009 Explosive Remnants of War International Senior Managers Training Course from October 11 to November 5 at the UN building at the University of Jordan.
Explosive remnants of war a global problem - Prince Mired
[TheJordanTimes] Landmines and other explosive remnants of war are a global problem that can only be solved through international cooperation, HRH Prince Mired, chairman of the National Committee for De-mining and Rehabilitation (NCDR), said on Sunday. The first such programme to be held in the Middle East, the four-week course brings together 30 participants from 20 countries, who will be trained by instructors from the NCDR and several of its institutional partners, including James Madison University, the Mine Action Information Centre, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian De-mining, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UNDP, the Mines Advisory Group and Norwegian People's Aid, according to the statement.
Russia
Nord Stream schedules disposal of unexploded ordnance in pipeline route
[Offshore] Nord Stream in the fourth quarter will begin disposal of unexploded ordnance in the security corridor of its pipeline route in Finnish and Swedish waters. Installation and operation of the pipeline system requires clearance of 28 munitions. Clearance of historical naval mines and ordnance in the Baltic Sea is regularly carried out by the navies of the Baltic Sea countries in order to reduce risks to shipping, fishing, and ecology.
Senegal
SENEGAL: Confronting aid challenges in volatile Casamance
[IRIN] Aid workers are evaluating the needs of families recently displaced by armed conflict in Casamance, southern Senegal. Some of the displaced persons have joined families who were themselves forced out of their villages a decade ago. Aid groups in Casamance face a context of irregular and multiple displacements, sporadic armed conflict, uncertainty over landmines and increasingly violent crime.
Tajikistan
Mine Risk Education for the Military Frontier Staff
[E-mine] The DFIAT supported with the fund of $ 21 848 the realization of the MRE Project in Frontier Posts of Khatlon and GBAO within the period of May – August, 2009 in Tajikistan. The project indicated to what degree mine risk education has accepted as an important subject for the frontier officers and soldiers. The Frontier Checkpoints located in the areas of Tajik-Afghan border benefited by arranging trainings on safety behaviour against landmine/antipersonnel hazards. In the target period 152 frontier officers and 210 ordinary soldiers participated in trainings. Dissemination three types of MRE Educational Material – coloured posters valued as an important method by commanders and officers of the frontier posts and checkpoints. MRE Program established the environment of good cooperation with the frontier checkpoints located in remote border areas of Tajikistan.
United States
Environet, Big Island thankful for Waikoloa cleanup jobs
[BigIslandvideoNews] The Big Island appreciates the chance to clean up its own backyard. That was the message being delivered by county officials and business executives during a new hire orientation seminar at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, presented by Hawaii-based Environet Inc, the firm contracted to clean up unexploded ordnance in Waikoloa.
Treaties Prompt Redesign Of Cluster Bombs
[Aviationweek] International pressure is driving militaries to adopt alternatives to cluster bombs. The weapons are controversial because they leave unexploded ordnance (UXO) on a battlefield, where it can injure or kill civilians. Treaties may limit their use, and suppliers are looking at ways of adapting weapons to new requirements. These could include a shift toward unitary warheads, enhanced fuzes and fail-safe measures that eliminate UXOs.
16 October 2009
Croatia
Croatia: New mine search and demining operations
[Reliefweb] On October 16, 2009, the Croatian Mine Action Centre will introduce the company Terrafirma Ltd. from Zagreb to mine search and demining operations as per project ''Border zone with the Republic of Hungary on the area of Malo Kneževo in Popovac municipality'' in Osijek-Baranja County. Project layout area is 195.762 square meters and the operations are financed by state budget funds in the amount of 1.394.191,47 HRK. The ultimate deadline for the completion of operations is January 31, 2010.
Gaza
UNICEF Ambassadors Focus on Plight of Children in Gaza
[WAFA] World renowned actress Mia Farrow and award winning Egyptian actor Mahmoud Kabil, both UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors, concluded a two-day visit to Gaza today to witness first-hand the hardships that children continue to face. Kabil said. "The blockade and the recent fighting have left an indelible impact on children. "Children remain at risk of death or injury from unexploded ordnance. Sixty per cent of the population of Gaza does not have daily access to water."
Japan
'JAPAN HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A CONSTRUCTIVE GLOBAL PLAYER'
[IPS] Japan should play an active role in supporting efforts toward a nuclear weapons free world, without jeopardizing its close and trusted relations with the United States, says Natsuo Yamaguchi, president of the New Komei Party, the country's third largest political party that has promoted and pursued initiatives to enhance peace and protect the vulnerable in Japanese society since 1964. Considered by his peers both within the party and in parliament as an authority on a wide range of policy issues, Yamaguchi led the Japanese government?s effort to support demining programs worldwide and ban cluster bombs.
Lebanon
Iran steps in as demining work slows in Lebanon
[TheNational] In a sun-bleached, breeze-block town just outside of Nabatiyeh in south Lebanon, a new-looking billboard has been erected. It announces the headquarters of a recently established non-governmental group called the Peace Generation Organisation for Demining (PGOD). In the corner of the billboard is a discreet representation of the Iranian flag. Although the organisation is Lebanese, the director of PGOD, Mahmoud Rahhal, confirmed that "most" of the group's funding comes from their partner organisation, ISOP, an Iranian demining company, which also provides supervision and training expertise.
Spanish PM stresses commitment to Lebanon's stability
[Xinhua] Visiting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Friday stressed here Spain's commitment to Lebanon's future and stability, adding that his country is constantly working for regional peace, the local Now Lebanon news reported on its website. Suleiman thanked Spain for its ongoing support to Lebanon and for its participation in South Lebanon's peacekeeping force. He also praised the various role played by Spanish contingent of UN Interim Forces in Lebanon, notably its role in assisting the Lebanese Army's training and demining missions.
Nepal
Mine menace persists
About 800 people have fallen victim to landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of November 2006. This puts Nepal among countries with the highest civilian casualty from mine explosions. Worse, the death toll is likely to further shoot up as the de-mining process is taking much longer than estimated when the CPA was signed. As a result of non-compliance, large areas continue to remain danger zones with undefused explosives. Not surpri-singly, Nepal had the highest rate of child causality from explosions globally in 2008. Government records show that out of 794 explosion victims since the CPA, 113 have died with children accounting for over 50 percent of the deaths.Civil society groups observe that despite the alarming death toll, the parties have never prioritised this issue. "There's no scientific mapping of the fields where IEDs may have been left," said INSEC Chairman Subodh Pyakurel.
Sri Lanka
Another area in Northern Sri Lanka is free of land mines
[Colombopage] Sri Lankan government has concluded the demining activities in another area of the Northern part of the country, the Ministry of Nation Building today announced. The demining was carried out by the engineering units of the Sri Lanka Army with the assistance from several foreign demining agencies.
Sudan
SUDAN: MAG destroys two 500kg aircraft bombs
[Reuters] The two bombs found by Paul Brown of MAG Sudan's Small Arms and Light Weapons team midway along the Yei-Juba road in Lainya County, Central Equatoria, were far from ordinary. Using an excavator donated by UNMAO (the United Nations Mine Action Office in Sudan), MAG cleared an access path to the bombs without disturbing the local community, then dug them out, lifted them and transported them to the site. On 1 October, the bombs were safely destroyed in a demolition witnessed by representatives from the US Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement and the Southern Sudan Demining Commission, as well as MAG Sudan
SUDAN: What do you do when your neighbour is a landmine?
[Reuters] In Eastern Equatoria, landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) lie hidden in the ground, caves, former battle areas, piled in school classrooms and spread throughout the bush. To help minimise the risks for people living, working and travelling through areas contaminated with landmines and UXO, MAG Community Liaison teams provide Mine Risk Education.
15 October 2009
United Nations
U.N. set to elect 5 Security Council members
[CNN] The United Nations General Assembly is expected to elect five nations to the Security Council on Thursday, marking the first time since 2004 that the seats are uncontested. Five new counties will be elected Thursday as nonpermanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The five countries -- Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina -- are expected to be chosen as nonpermanent members of the Security Council for two-year terms starting January 1.
Colombia
Colombia holds record for most landmine victims in the world
[ColombiaReports] With over 8,000 deaths between 1990 and August 2009, Colombia holds the record for highest number of deaths from land mines in the world, according to the country's authorities. More than 1,100 new victims each year, said General Freddy Padilla de Leon, commander of Colombia's Armed Forces, at the Humanitarian Demining event in Cartagena Wednesday.
Sudan
Al Lafa returnees free from the danger of mines
[Reliefweb] The people of Al Lafa can now look forward to the reconstruction of their community, after UNMAO and its partner Mines Advisory Group cleared over 44,000 m2 of land in the eastern state of Kassala.
Road to Cartagena
From ERWs to Art
NEW YORK, New York, 14 October 2009 - "Impact" a unique mine action art exhibition featuring work by ten Cambodian artists is coming to the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World with the United Nations Mine Action Team. In a UNDP-funded project, ten artists were given the opportunity to meet with people living on mined and cleared land, as well as survivors of mine accidents, deminers and others working in the mine action sector. Months in the making the exhibition highlights the ongoing crisis involving landmines in Cambodia as well as the successes achieved in mine eradication over more than a decade. "Impact" was recently shown at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre in Phonm Penh, Cambodia from 1 to 10 October and will be in Cartagena, Colombia from 29 November to 4 December.
Battling Landmines with Artistry
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, October 2009 - Months in the making and involving the dedicated efforts of 10 artists whose works spotlight the ongoing crisis involving landmines in Cambodia as well as the successes achieved in mine eradication over more than a decade, the UNDP-funded exhibit "IMPACT" opens tonight at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre.
Albania announces that it is free of anti-personnel mines
TIRANA, Albania, 8 October 2009 – "Today we can say that the vision of an Albania free from anti-personnel mines has come true." According to Petrit Karabina, Chairman of the Albanian Mine Action Committee, his country has become the second state in South Eastern Europe to have cleared all its known mined areas in accordance with its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
14 October 2009
Cambodia
The message in the music for Cambodian landmine educators
[RadioAustralia] There's long been a focus on land mine education in Cambodia, but now the message is being delivered in a new way that's designed to capture the imagination of the country's youth. Young people from three villages in north-western Battambang province are part of a pilot program to create hip hop and rap music carrying the mine risk message.
China
Mine sweeping technologies training program kicks off
[Xinhua] A team of Afghanistani military officers prepare to lay the detonator during a humanitarian de-mining training course in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Oct. 13, 2009. The two-month training program on mine sweeping technologies for 20 military officers each from Afghanistan and Iraq kicked off on Sept. 15, undertaken by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) University of Science and Technology.
China introduces new-type mine-sweeping device in naval exercise
[Defpronews] A mine-sweeping vessel formation of the PLA Navy organized a mine-sweeping exercise in complicated electromagnetic environment in a sea area of the East China Sea in early October. During the exercise, a new-type cutting-and-explosion mine-sweeping device independently developed by China was put into use under close-to-real-war conditions. It's introduced that the new-type mine-sweeping device has effectively tackled such problems as difficulty in finding mine under the circumstance of low transparency of sea water and difficulty in destroying mine by coordinated efforts of different military strengths. Its function of directly exploding the mine has greatly raised the mine-sweeping operational ability of the troops.
Falklands
Falklands de-mining receives go-ahead with U.K. contract
[UPI] More than two decades after the Falklands Islands conflict between Britain and Argentina, clearing mines from the old battlefields is set to start with the award of a new contract to BACTEC International Ltd., officials said.
Mozambique
US government to donate US$2m to demining in Mozambique
[BusinessDay] The US government will donate US2 million to the British demining agency Halo Trust to remove landmines in Maputo, Manica and Tete provinces, the US embassy in Maputo said today.
Sri Lanka
Army clears 'Rice Bowl' area from landmines
[DailyMirror] A total area of 32.8 square kilometres, out of 37 sq kms. of land in Mannar 'Rice Bowl' area have been cleared from landmines by the Army's Engineer Troops that commenced humanitarian de-mining.
United Kingdom
Clearing the Way for Peaceful Solutions
[Tonic.com] There's a three-month window of opportunity open right now for people to use their talents or great ideas to make the world a safer place.
From September to December, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is promoting their Music Beats Mines festival of music poetry and the arts to raise funds for MAG to clear landmines, weapons and other remnants of conflict.
Yemen
UNICEF alarmed by deteriorating humanitarian situation in northern Yemen
[AlBawaba] It has been eight weeks since fighting escalated in northern Yemen and humanitarian agencies are yet to be allowed access to the vast majority of the 150,000 persons, mostly children and women, displaced by the conflict and to the thousands of others who remain stranded inside the conflict zone. United Nations agencies and humanitarian organizations still have no access to the affected population in Saada due to the ongoing fighting. Roads are blocked, there are reports of landmines, and telephone connections are down.
13 October 2009
United Nations
Migiro lauds extensive partnership between UN and European Union
[UNNewsCentre] Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today highlighted the vital partnership between the United Nations and the European Union (EU) in helping to improve the lives of millions of people around the world, particularly through their support to countries emerging from crises. A new report entitled "Renewing Hope, Rebuilding Lives." cites, among other elements, European Commission-sponsored UN interventions to enhance communities' physical security by removing landmines, curbing the circulation of weapons and protecting individuals and groups at risks.
Afghanistan
God's work in Afghan minefields one cautious step at a time.
[Canada] Ghulam Bahaudin believes he is doing holy work and that one day God will reward him. Considering what he does, that day might come in a thunderous blast at any given moment on the job. Clearing mines is a vast undertaking in this country and the Mine Action Co- ordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) continues to make solid progress. MACCA is supported by the government of Afghanistan and the United Nations.
Locals take comfort in 'holy work' of pulling mines from Afghan soil
[CanadianPress] Their progress is slow, the sun is hot and the work is dangerous - but that doesn't seem to matter to the loyal Afghans who are working to restore their country's former glory. Community-based demining team No. 2, part of the ongoing efforts by UNMACA, the Afghan division of the United Nations Mine Action Centre, consists of 14 men, including 10 deminers, a team leader, two section leaders and one medic.
Albania
Albania announces that it is free of anti-personnel mines
TIRANA, Albania, 8 October 2009 – "Today we can say that the vision of an Albania free from anti-personnel mines has come true." According to Petrit Karabina, Chairman of the Albanian Mine Action Committee, his country has become the second state in South Eastern Europe to have cleared all its known mined areas in accordance with its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
Algeria
Algerian army defuses French landmines
[AFP] The Algerian army in September destroyed 5,163 landmines laid by French troops along the country's eastern and western borders, the APS news agency said. The weapons were part of a total of 415,829 mines destroyed by the army in a latest operation by September 30, according to APS. The landmines date back to Algeria's war of liberation from French rule in 1954-62.
Angola
ANGOLA: Village chief highlights the continuing need for MAG
[Reuters] Although Luanga has sprung back to life since the end of the civil war in 2002, quickly growing from a desolate landscape riddled with landmines and remnants of conflict to a bustling village, the community and its chief are under strain. From May to October 2005, teams of deminers from MAG cleared more than 45,000 square metres of terrain in the village and surrounding areas, providing a safe environment for the returnees to begin rebuilding their lives.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Minefield Mayhem
[ISN] Fourteen years after the war ended in Bosnia and Herzegovina, mines continue to claim lives and cause serious injuries, and it would seem that the deminer's job is never done, Anes Alic writes for ISN Security Watch.
Cambodia
Defusing landmines with hip-hop
[RadioAustralia] Young people at risk from landmines in Cambodia are being targeted by hip-hop and rap music, warning them of the hazards of abandoned munitions. Kristin Rasmussen from the Integrated Mine Action project says a song competition has brought young people together and featured original songs they composed. "The reason that we decided to do this through rap and hip-hop messaging is because we wanted to reach out to one of the highest risk of tampering, which is young boys between the ages of 12 and 22," she said. She hopes the winning song from the competition will become an anthem for the cause. The Integrated Mine Action project is working with the International Women's Development Agency and World Vision Cambodia, with funding from the Australian aid agency AusAid.
Cambodia denies laying landmines near Preah Vihear
[TheNation] Phnom Penh, Cambodia - The Cambodian military has rejected recent Thai media reports that its soldiers have laid landmines in the disputed border region around Preah Vihear temple, local media reported Thursday.
Guinea-Bissau
Farms free of landmines after 35 years
[DailyNation] Hundreds of villagers can finally farm their land after 35 years. The farmers living in Suar in the Cacheu region of northern Guinea-Bissau have been too scared to cultivate the land around their villages for fear of landmines.
Lebanon
Danish donation speeds clearing of cluster bombs
[DailyStar] Clearing of unexploded cluster munitions in three areas of south Lebanon will be complete by January next year, thanks to a donation to the Danish non-governmental organization, DanChurchAid. The organization last week received a 1,000,000 Danish kroner (about $198,466) donation from the Ole Kirk Foundation (The Lego Foundation) to complete the clearing of unexploded cluster bombs in Aytarun and two areas of Tulin, where DanChurchAid have already disposed of 300 unexploded bombs.
Probe into blast at home of Hezbollah member
[iloubnan] The Lebanese army and UN force stationed in south Lebanon were on Tuesday investigating the reasons behind a rocket explosion overnight that wounded a member of the militant group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah man wounded by rocket he tried to defuse
[iloubnan] A member of the militant group Hezbollah was seriously wounded in southern Lebanon late Monday when a rocket he found near his home and was trying to defuse exploded, a security official said.
Lybia
Libya pressing for landmines payout
[Independent] Libya is pressing Britain for compensation for the deaths and injuries caused by thousands of landmines left behind by the British Eighth Army during its North African campaign fighting the Germans and Italians in North Africa in the Second World War. Last year Italy agreed to pay Libya millions of pounds in compensation partly for those mutilated by mines laid by the Italian military. Libya wants Britain to follow suit and pay compensation as well as help with the ongoing mine-clearance operations.
28 September 2009
Angola
Over 500 explosive devices destroyed in Bie
[AngolaPress] At least 556 several explosive devices will be destroyed on Wednesday in Kunje commune, Kuito district, southern province of Bie by Non Government Organization "Cassamba Minas LDA".
France
Deposit by Bernard Kouchner of France's instrument of ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (September 25, 2009)
[FranceDiplomatie] The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, deposited in New York France's instrument of ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, signed in Oslo on December 3, 2008. The Convention on Cluster Munitions bans the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of these weapons. It will enter into force within six months of the 30th ratification. The deposit ceremony took place at the United Nations Headquarters. It was opened to the press.
Laos
Laos calls on countries to ratify UN-backed pact banning cluster munitions
[UNNewsCentre] Laos, which has suffered more from the deadly effects of cluster munitions than any other country, today urged Member States to sign and ratify the United Nations-backed convention that bans such munitions so it can enter into force as soon as possible.
Lebanon
UN blue helmets help advance de-mining effort in southern Lebanon
[UNNewsCentre] Some 7,500 square metres of land in southern Lebanon that was cleared of mines by United Nations peacekeepers were returned this week to farmers and landowners in the town of Hiniyyeh, the world body reported. The de-mining was carried out by the Italian battalion of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), according UN spokesperson Michele Montas.
Italians Clear Lebanese Farms of Mines
[Tonic] According to an article by Mohammed Zaatari in the Lebanon Daily Star, the Italian forces stationed in southern Lebanon cleared more than 7,000 square meters of farmland in Sidon. This dangerous work was performed by "the Italian battalion of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)." Zaatari writes that UNIFIL's Sector West Commander General Carmello Di Cicco, who oversaw the de-mining of the fields, turned the land back over to the farmers this week and and held a big party -- again, you have to love Italians -- in a field that had formerly been chock full of nasty little explosives in the city of Hiniyyeh.
Nigeria
Getting Rid of Dangerous Weapons
[Newswatch] The programme of making areas affected by the Nigerian civil war free of dangerous weapons has led to the discovery of over 1000 unexploded bombs. Thirty-nine years after the Nigerian civil war, some people in the former Eastern Region and parts of Rivers State are still living with unexploded bombs from that war. Recently, about 1, 340 of such unexploded bombs were evacuated from some locations in Rivers State through a de-mining exercise.
Sri Lanka
The Prime Minister tells the international community that resettlement programme in the north is being carried out according to international standards.
[SLBC] Prime Minister Rathnasiri Wickremanayake says activities relating to resettlement of displaced in the north are being carried out according to the specifications of the United Nations and to the other international standards. Maximum transportation facilities have been provided to the welfare villages.
Two Sri Lanka refugees wounded by military fire
[Reuters] "On Saturday evening a group of people were trying to escape and a man tried to lob a grenade. Our people (soldiers) fired towards that area for self defence and to prevent escape," said Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. The two wounded Tamils were admitted to hospital and 19 people were arrested, he added. The United Nations, is pushing the Indian Ocean island to let refugees go home following its victory in May over separatist Tamil Tiger fighters, after 25 years of war. Sri Lanka says it must clear thousands of landmines and weed out remaining rebels hiding among the civilian population before it can fulfil its pledge to resettle 80 percent of the 280,000 Tamil people in camps.
25 September 2009
Road to Cartagena
World Leaders Announce their Commitment to a Mine-Free World
GENEVA, Switzerland – 23 September 2009 – WORLD LEADERS reaffirm their commitment to a mine-free world by announcing their participation in the Second Review Conference of the Anti- Personnel (AP) Mine Ban Convention, referred to as The Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World taking place in Colombia from 30 November to 4 December 2009.
Angola
Angolan Army destroys weapons in Andulo District
[AngolaPress] At least 2,352 mortars in obsolete state were destroyed from January to June 2009, in Andulo District, in the central Bié Province, by the engineering team of the 42nd Infantry Brigade of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) in this region.
Ethiopia
Germany Donates Heavy Waste-Disposal Trucks, Mine Detectors
[AllAfrica] German Development Bank (KfW) on Thursday handed over seven heavy trucks for urban waste-disposal worth 600 thousand EUR to the City Administrations of Dire Dawa, Gonder, Kombolcha and Awassa.
Iraq
Iraq: Living with the threat of unexploded ordnance and landmines
[Reliefweb] A key part of MAG's work is to help minimise the risks for people living, working and travelling through areas contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance, until clearance teams can remove the threat.
Lebanon
Swathe of demined land returned to southern owners
[DailyStar] SIDON: Farmers and landowners in the south Lebanon town of Hiniyyeh on Wednesday were returned some 7,500 square meters of their land cleared of mines by the Italian battalion of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). UNIFIL's Sector West Commander General Carmello Di Cicco presided over the operation that followed UNIFIL's ongoing efforts to rid southern territories of land mines and cluster bombs.
Slovenia
Slovenia - Minister Žbogar attends the 64th session of the UN General Assembly
[ISRIA] At the meeting of the Human Security Network, hosted by Costa Rica, Minister Žbogar emphasised Slovenia's commitment to the concept of human security, which is one of Slovenia's priorities. He also underlined the utmost importance of demining activities, the protection of women and children during armed conflicts, as well as efforts to counter AIDS and trafficking in human beings. Slovenia also welcomed the adoption of the ministerial statement on 'Peace and Justice' drafted by Costa Rica.
Sri Lanka
Mangala for removal of landmines before IDP resettlement
[DailyNews] Mangala Samaraweera MP yesterday accepted that landmines should be removed before IDPs could be resettled. He said the Government was currently proceeding with this task. While the MP was calling for the speedy resettlement of the IDPs in Parliament, he was interrupted by Chief Government Whip Minister Dinesh Gunawardena who asked the former: "Hon. member prior to resettling the IDPs we need to clear those areas of landmines. Do you accept this". To which Mangala Samaraweera MP replied saying: "Yes I accept it.The Government is proceeding with the task. That is reasonable. I accept that landmines should be removed".
United Nations
Inclusive Multilateralism, Fully Democratic United Nations Needed to Combat Poverty, Terrorism, Other Threats, Speakers Tell Assembly General Debate
[MediaNewswire] To effectively tackle terrorism, entrenched poverty and the threat of weapons proliferation, a more equitable multilateral system that valued diversity and fostered a "climate of dialogue" was urgently needed, world leaders attending the General Assembly's annual debate stressed today, as they pushed for a more democratic United Nations. In the area of security, Spain said the new multilateralism allowed for the prohibition of antipersonnel land mines and cluster bombs, and now there was a chance to abolish nuclear weapons. Countries today were discussing the greatest arsenal reductions ever seen. Spain renounced nuclear weapons and called for strengthening the Non-Proliferation Treaty ( NPT ), a goal that coincided with Spain's Presidency next year of both the European Union and the NPT Review Conference.
24 September 2009
France
FRANCE IS 20TH COUNTRY TO RATIFY CLUSTER BOMB BAN
n 24 September, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, formally ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on behalf of France at the United Nations headquarters in New York. After ratification by Malta and Uruguay the same day, it makes France the 20th State to do so. In addition, yesterday Cyprus and St Vincent and Grenadines signed the Convention, bringing the number of signatories to 100. Last week, during the debate on the adoption of the ratification law by the French Senate, Bernard Kouchner declared: "This Convention represents a tremendous hope for civilians who live under the threat of being mutilated or killed by these weapons in more than 30 affected countries. I am delighted at seeing that international humanitarian law and disarmament, when they are driven by a real political will from States, can go far and quickly to get strong results".
France - Press release - Ratification process of the Convention on Cluster Munitions
[ISRIA] On Thursday, 24 September in New York, the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner, will submit the instrument of ratification by France for the Convention on Cluster Munitions of 3 December 2008, also known as the Oslo Convention.
New Zealand
Army Should Ban Training With Cluster Amunitions
[NZPA] The Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill would forbid the use, acquisition, possession, retention and transfer of the weapons, but allow them to be used by the military for bomb clearance training.
Uganda
Landmine kills two pupils in Masaka
[NewVision] TWO pupils of Kasijagirwa Army Primary School were blown up on Tuesday when a landmine exploded at the UPDF armoured brigade barracks in Katwe-Butego Division in Masaka. "This is the first such incident. The UPDF initially engaged in a detonation exercise to clear the barracks of the land mines, which were planted by armies in the 1979 liberation war. We are surprised that one of the landmines remained unnoticed."
United Kingdom
WORLD LEADERS PUSH CLUSTER BOMB BAN FORWARD IN NEW YORK
[CMC] Gathered in New York for the global summits this week, the Foreign Ministers of St Vincent and the Grenadines and of Cyprus signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in New York on 23 September. They are the 99th and 100th signatories to the ban. This significant milestone of 100 signatories demonstrates the growing global norm against cluster munitions and intensifies the momentum for the Convention.
23 September 2009
Egypt
Egypt: Demining efforts get a boost
[BikyaMasr] Egypt's Ministry of International Cooperation has begun implementing the first phase of a project aimed at the modernization of demining devices along the country's northern coast. The effort comes as land mines in Egypt's Western Desert left over from the carnage of World War II continue to wreak havoc on the area. The Ministry of Social Solidarity, in coordination with the government effort, is allocating around 43 million Egyptian pounds for victims of land mine blasts and families of persons killed as a result of the remaining mines.
Ethiopia
Germany donates 70 mine detectors to EMAO
[Waltainfo] The government of Germany today donated 70 mine detectors worth 150,000 euro to the Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO).
EMAO Director General Etsay Gebreseilassie said at the hand over ceremony that today's donation from the government of Germany is not the first time and Germany has been supporting the Ethiopian mine action for quite some time.
Serbia
NO FIELD DEMINING WITHOUT INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE
[GlassSrbija] Owing to assistance from the International Foundation for Demining and some governments, fields in Serbia are being cleaned of unexploded devices, left after the wars in 1990s and the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. However, without a significant engagement of donors, this problem will not be solved for many years to come, said the director of the Demining Centre in Belgrade, Petar Mihajlovic
Sri Lanka
UN envoy on human rights of displaced due in Sri Lanka
[Earthtimes] A United Nations human rights envoy was due to arrive in Sri Lanka Wednesday evening amidst growing local and international concern about delays in resettling refugees affected by the country's three-decade-long civil war, officials said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, battling criticism of the government's resettlement plans, defended the delays in allowing the displaced to return home, the ministry said. Bogollagama, told his Danish, Indian and Jordanian counterparts on the sidelines of a Climate Change Summit at the United Nations in New York that the large number of landmines in the affected areas was one of the reasons for the delays.
United Nations
Secretary-General Remarks at Peace Bell Ceremony
[ModernGhana] This annual observance is a global call for ceasefire and non-violence. It is a time to reflect on the horror and cost of war, and on our duty to resolve disputes peacefully. .. Citizen activists have a proven track record on disarmament. Thanks to them -- and thanks to all of you -- we have international bans on landmines and cluster munitions.
United States
Don't undermine this treaty
[Bostonglobe] A DEFENSE contractor's commercial interests should not override an important international treaty - even when the contractor in question has employees in Massachusetts. The Convention on Cluster Munitions would protect civilians, particularly children, from bomblets that explode long after a war has ended. Yet Textron Inc., which manufactures the Sensor Fuzed Weapon in Wilmington, is pushing a campaign to discard the treaty in favor of new rules that would allow the company's version of "smart'' anti-tank cluster bombs to be sold, used, and stockpiled around the world.
Yemen
Ireland - Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power announces €700,000 for de-mining and emergency humanitarian supplies
[ISRIA] Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power, today announced funding of €700,000 for de-mining in Iraq and emergency humanitarian assistance for Yemen. The funding will be provided through Irish Aid, the Government's programme of overseas development.
16 September 2009
UNMAS
Report of the Secretary-General on Assistance in Mine Action
[E-mine] A/64/287 The present report outlines the achievements of the United Nations Mine Action Team since the previous report of the Secretary-General (A/62/307 and Corrs.1-3) in the areas of anti-personnel mine clearance, mine-risk education, victim assistance, stockpile destruction and advocacy pursuant to the four strategic objectives set out in the inter-agency mine action policy and Strategy.1 The report also includes a proposed forward agenda for mine action.
UNMAS Annual Report 2008
[E-mine] 19 Donors contribute $92.5 million to Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action
Mine Action at the Vanguard of Victim Assistance Efforts
[E-mine] Updates on Victim Assistance on www.mineaction.org.
United Nations
Late US Senator Ted Kennedy wins top UN award for aiding refugees
[UNNewsCentre] The late United States Senator Edward Kennedy has been awarded the most prestigious United Nations refugee award for his record of more than 45 years as an unparalleled champion of refugee protection and assistance. Last year the award went to the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanonfor its efforts to rid the region of cluster munitions and other dangerous remnants of war to allow the safe return of civilians uprooted by fighting between Israel and Hizbollah in 2006.
Mine Ban Treaty steadily gaining ground
[IRIN] It was both audacious and ambitious, but unlike similar international agreements where the original ire cooled, the Mine Ban Treaty has survived for a decade and remains active, relevant and effective, and is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
Afghanistan
UN and Afghan NGOs call for ceasefire ahead of Peace Day
[ReliefWeb] With just a week until Peace Day 2009, the United Nations today called on all parties to "silence their guns" and declare a ceasefire. This message was reiterated by Sanjar Sohail, a member of a prominent NGO, the Peace Campaign Committee, at a media conference organised by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday in Kabul and, simultaneously, in Mazar, that brought together civil society leaders from across the country. Bamyan, too, is joining in the celebrations: Citizens will take part in a picturesque 'Trek for Peace', using a mine-cleared route to Shah Foladi on 25 September, that has been organised by various UN agencies, including United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Mine Action Coordination Centre for Afghanistan (MACCA).
Cambodia
Film shows boys living with disabilities – and land mines
[Phnompenhpost] THE young boy points to a large metal object. "This one is Bouncing Betty," he says. The next one is tall, with ridges all around. "This is a pineapple mine." He could be talking about his favourite lollies, or rides at a fun fair - but he's not. At just 12 years of age, Boreak has an encyclopaedic knowledge of land mines, and he's giving us a tour of the exhibits at the Cambodian Land-Mine Museum where he lives. It's a scene from Aki Ra's Boys, an observational documentary made in 2007 by Singaporean filmmaking team James Leong and Lynn Lee of Lianain Films.
Colombia
Colombia: ICRC activities from April to June 2009
[ReliefWeb] The armed conflict in Colombia is having a major impact on public health. Attacks on medical personnel are hindering community access to basic health services, and many of those injured are not receiving effective and appropriate medical attention. In response to these concerns, in April the ICRC took part in the first national seminar on the delivery of medical services in wartime.
Shipping clothing to Colombia's landmine victims
[ReliefWeb] Landmines don't choose their victims. Most people who set one off escape with their lives, but suffer permanently disabling injuries. And in Colombia's impoverished countryside — home to one of the highest concentrations of landmines in the world — survivors have few places to turn for help.
Chile
Chile hosts regional meeting on cluster bomb ban treaty
[CMC] From 14-15 September 2009, Chile will host the fourth regional meeting on cluster munitions for Latin America and the Caribbean - the first to take place since the Convention on Cluster Munitions opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008.
Lebanon
Landmine Survivors come from across Lebanon to play soccer
[JerusalemPost] Every Wednesday evening, an unexceptional sports complex in Lebanon's third largest city, Sidon, plays host to an exceptional event: "The Landmine Survivors." A soccer team made up of Lebanese victims of land mine explosions prepare for a soccer game in Lebanon earlier this year.
Senegal
Mine Survivors Need Opportunities Not Handouts
[IRIN] This club does not want any new members. One of the principal goals of Senegal's Association of Mine Victims (ASVM) is to ensure that its membership will not grow, by travelling around Casamance, southern Senegal, to educate people about the hazards of mines.
One landmine gone, hectares of farmland gained
[IRIN] Three women walk through lush forest with bowls of rice plants on their heads. It is a spectacular scene in the verdant Casamance region of southern Senegal, but the beauty is marred by red and white-striped warning tape demarcating areas where a team is scanning the land for deadly mines.
South Africa
Third Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines adopts new African common position
[Reliefweb] From the 9th – 11 September 2009, representatives from African states participated in the 3rd Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines. The conference was hosted by the Government of the Republic of South Africa, in collaboration with the African Union (AU) and with the financial support of the European Union. The AU had previously convened two Continental Conferences of African Experts on Landmines: the first in South Africa in May 1997 "Towards a Landmine-Free Africa" that resulted in the adoption of the Kempton Park Plan of Action and; the second in Addis Abba September 2004, "Kempton Park – Seven Years After" which resulted in the adoption of an African Common Position on Anti-Personnel Landmines.
United States
Coast Guard bans fishing off Maine island
[WGME] Lobstermen are objecting to a new Coast Guard rule that closes down fishing grounds around a remote Maine island following the discovery of unexploded ordnance from the days when the Navy used the rocky outcropping as an aerial bombing range.
10 September 2009
Angola
NPA clears over 8,000 square metres of landmine
[AngolaPress] A total of 8,354 square metres of land were de-mined in Utende village, Cangandala district, 16 kilometres south of Malanje city (northern Angola), in August this year by the Non-Governmental Organisation, Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), Angop learnt Wednesday.
Mexico
UN - Secretary-General Stresses Plan to 'Stop the Bomb' as Annual Dpi/Ngo Conference Opens on Theme 'For Peace and Development: Disarm Now!'
[ISRIA] Kicking off the sixty-secondannual gathering of non-governmental organizations this morning, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon made a passionate call to States parties to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to negotiate in good faith a convention to rid the world of its nuclear and conventional arsenal and to civil society to pressure leaders worldwide to stem the more than trillion global weapons industry. Moreover, many countries have agreed to ban anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions, but some major players had chosen to remain outside of these commitments. And an international Programme of Action has been agreed to stem the illicit trade in small arms, yet it, too, faced many challenges in achieving its goals. No multilateral legal norms existed concerning missiles.
Nigeria
121 bombs, landmines excavated in Rivers State
[DailySun] No fewer then 121 unused bombs and landmines were excavated in Rivers State during the 2009 demining exercise by the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday. Speaking at the excavation site at Igwuruta near Port Harcourt, the Chief Consultant of the Humanitarian Demining Project, Ministry of Defence, Dr Balla Yakubu said that the second outing of the exercise recovered over 834 unexploded ordinances.
Sri Lanka
2,000 more acres cleared of mines in Mannar of Northwestern Sri Lanka
[ColomboPage] About 2,000 acres of paddy fields in Yodha Wewa area in the Mannar District have been cleared from mines by the Sri Lanka Army. The Army said that the farmers would now be able to commence cultivations in these lands for the next season.
United States
SAFE PASSAGE: A Newsletter for the Humanitarian Mine Action and Small Arms/Light Weapons Communities, September 2009
[State.gov] Safe Passage Newsletter . In This Issue: High School Students Learn About Landmines | Post-Clearance Land Use Study: Huambo Province, Angola | South East Europe Regional Approach to Stockpile Reduction Workshop | Meet Our New Fellows and Interns | Kudos to the Marshall Legacy Institute and Spirit of Soccer.
Yemen
Yemen blames Sadrists for rebel support
[UPI] The Sadrist Movement in Iraq has teamed up with Iran to offer support for Shiite al-Houthi rebels combating national forces, the Yemeni president said. Saleh also said militants in the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon had trained al-Houthi rebels in how to make and use landmines, grenades and small arms, the Yemen Post reports.
08 September 2009
Afghanistan
Q+A-Problems of aid work in Afghanistan
[Reuters] Large swathes of the country are so dangerous that it is almost impossible for aid groups to deliver any services or collect any information about the needs of the communities there. Farmers going to fields to tend to crops or herders taking cows to grazing land face the risk of stumbling across landmines. The same threat makes it difficult for communities to access health centres, markets and sources of clean water, aid workers say.
Kandahar Break
[Britfilms.com] Film review: - Kandahar, Afghanistan. 1999. A team of British mine clearance engineers are working for the Taliban government in the scorching deserts of Southern Afghanistan, clearing the vast minefields after decades of conflict.
Colombia
Colombia's rebels step up a brutal tactic
[CSmonitor] The three-room schoolhouse in this tiny rural community in Colombia's Antioquia Province has been abandoned for more than four years. The families of the 40 children who used to study in Boquerón fled after 15 neighbors fell victim to land mines planted by leftist rebels along the only trail that connects them to the nearest town, San Francisco. Today, government demining teams are advancing inch by inch along the trail, clearing the area of land mines and booby traps left behind by rebels. But even as Colombia undertakes the cumbersome and dangerous task of trying to rid its countryside of land mines, leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, have given the order to plant more as the Colombian Army advances in its campaign to beat back the rebel army of about 9,000 fighters.
DRC
UN - DR Congo: local official hails UN's de-mining work as 'priceless'
[ISRIA] The work of the United Nations in de-mining land provides 'priceless' security, a local official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said, as the world body handed over a strip of land cleared of mines along a runway in the vast African nation's north. The UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) coordinated the verification and mine clearance, carried out by the South African firm Mechem, of the 7.5 kilometre strip of land at the Kisangani International Airport, which was fought over during the wars of 1997 and 2000.
Kisangani airport area demined by UNMACC with MONUC's support
[MONUC] On 3 September, the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) officially handed over newly demined areas of the Kisangani airport to the local authorities. The demined areas consist of 7.5 square kilometres around the runway. Mine detection and clearance was carried out by the South African MECHEM Deming company, under the coordination of UNMACC.
England
Protests hit London as Libyan arms dealers arrive
Of the 53 countries invited by UK Trade and Investment's Defence and Security Organisation (UKTI DSO) to attend the event, several have been blacklisted by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for human rights violations. However, the event claims that conventional weapons of torture and landmines will not be on display and all exhibits will comply with UK law and the provisions of the Oslo Accord.
Handicap International launches "Voices from the Ground" report: Landmine survivors call on governments to live up to their Mine Ban Treaty promises
[CMC] A groundbreaking new report, "Voices from the Ground - Landmine and Explosive Remnants of War Survivors Speak out on Victim Assistance", was released globally by Handicap International and other members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) around the world. This is the first ever report surveying survivors' opinions on assistance, and shows that despite progress in stockpile destruction and landmine clearance, governments around the world are not living up to their promises to treat and reintegrate landmine survivors into society.
Libya's 30-year link to the IRA
[BBC] The IRA's relationship with Tripoli intensified in the 1980s, particularly after 1986 when American planes, stationed in the UK, took part in a bombing raid on Libya. More than 100 people died in the attack, including Hanna Gaddafi, the adopted baby daughter of the Libyan leader. Semtex supplied by Libya became the IRA's most devastating and infamous weapon. The IRA began using it to create landmines for attacks against soldiers in border areas. But instead of using up supplies as a primary explosive, the IRA used Semtex as a "booster" for large home-made bombs. BBC political editor Mark Devenport said a source with access to high grade intelligence said there was no question that Libyan arms had greatly enhanced the IRA's deadly force and transformed their ability to mount a wide range of operations.
Lebanon
Donors losing interest in demining Lebanon
[DailyStar] Their situation is similar to mine clearance groups across county. These people save lives every day and have already made more than 11 million square meters of the country safe to inhabit, yet Lebanon's clearance initiative is threatened by a "dire" funding crisis. "We have a big lack of funding and we need money to continue working. I don't know why the donors have stopped," says Brigadier General Mohammad Fahmi, director of the Lebanese Mine Action Center (LMAC). Ruedas attributes the lack of donations to two factors: the state of the world economy and what she terms "donor fatigue." "The international community has been providing the bulk of the funding that goes on the ground. We need to get the donors interested again. It's a little bit difficult now with the global economic crisis," she says.
Switzerland
Launch of an advocacy kit on gender and mine action
[Reliefweb] The Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines has launched an advocacy kit on gender and mine action. This kit has been developed as a tool to empower local women's grass roots organisations wishing to advocate for gender mainstreaming in mine action in seven (7) countries: Colombia, Croatia, Lebanon, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Yemen.
Sri Lanka
Resettling the nearly three lakh refugees is a major challenge for the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.
[Hinduonnet] MORE than three months after the Sri Lankan forces militarily decimated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and killed its leader Velupillai Prabakaran, the 2.6 lakh people internally displaced by Eelam War IV, now housed in government-run transitional welfare camps, find themselves in a state of siege from within and from outside. Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen told Parliament that the government had resettled 59,608 displaced families in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Mannar, Ampara and Jaffna Divisional Secretariat divisions in the past few months. It is Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu that pose the worst challenge. Resettling IDPs in these districts is ruled out in the immediate future owing to landmines. The government says it is taking measures to remove the large number of landmines, supposedly laid by the Tigers all over the North.
'Unlock the camps' call by post-war Tamil protesters
[Scoop] Up to 300,000 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians are still being held in government-run "displaced persons camps" more than four months after the country's 26-year civil war ended in May. Conditions in the camps are reportedly "horrendous", and international NGOs and independent media are denied access. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid and chickenpox are spreading rapidly with the onset of the monsoon season. The Times recently reported that around 1400 people a week are dying in the biggest camp – Manik Farm – that holds around 200,000 Tamils. The Sinhalese-led Sri Lankan government has claimed the camps are crucial for the screening of former LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) fighters. The government also claims that the areas the Tamil civilians came from are unsuitable for their return for various reasons, such as landmines.
Yemen
Civilians' plight worsens in north Yemen war zone
[Reuters] A month ago a new wave of fighting - the "sixth war" in an intermittent five-year-old conflict - erupted in the mountainous north between rebel Shi'ite Muslims and government forces trying to impose central authority. U.N. agencies estimate this has added up to another 50,000 people to the 100,000 or so already left homeless by earlier rounds of the fighting in the poorest Arab nation. Most of them are women and children. "We asked for a ceasefire but the clashes continued, and we will reach a really shameful humanitarian situation," Laura Chedrawi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said by phone from a flat, rocky expanse in Amran region near Saada, that from Wednesday will be the area's newest camp. She said many displaced people were still on the move seeking safety. Apart from the fighting, reaching them was made harder by a curfew, landmines and other unexploded ordnance on the roads and numerous checkpoints.
04 September 2009
Angola
Angola: Over 30 antipersonnel landmines destroyed in Bengo
[Reliefweb] At least 32 anti-personal landmines and 33 non-detonated explosive ordnances were destroyed from January to August 2009 in northern Bengo province by the demining companies operating in the region.
Cambodia
Land mine victims face bleak prospects: survey
[PhnomPehnPost] DISCRIMINATION and poor education are among the factors preventing land mine victims from finding jobs, depriving many of access to basic necessities such as food, water and housing, according to a new survey of land mine survivors. The report, released Wednesday, was tied to the launch of a campaign calling on an upcoming mine action conference to increase assistance to amputees and other land mine survivors. At that conference, to be held in Cartagena, Colombia, Cambodia will present its national strategy for clearing all antipersonnel mines, a requirement under the 1997 Ottawa Treaty.
Colombia
Colombia wants former rebels to help clear mines
[Reuters] Colombia wants to use former rebels to remove landmines they laid to stop them from killing and maiming hundreds of people, the country's vice president said. "Those who fought five or 10 years ago and have been demobilised can help with reconstruction. It sends a good signal," vice president Francisco Santos told a news conference in Geneva on Thursday where he is attending a meeting on mines. Colombia plans to deploy 360 deminers by year-end, against 240 now, Santos said. The aim is to recover farm lands and rebuild rural areas where dormant mines threaten civilians and their livelihoods for years. Colombia is hosting an upcoming review conference of a 1999 international pact banning the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines. The Ottawa treaty, ratified by 156 countries but snubbed by the United States, Russia and China, also sets deadlines for destroying stocks.
FARC build increasingly sophisticated landmines: Santos
[ColombiaReports] The FARC use "increasingly sophisticated and undetectable [landmines]. And a very serious problem is that the locations of illicit crops and of landmines overlap more and more. That means they use the mines to protect the coca fields," Santos said.
DRC
DR Congo: Kisangani airport demined by UNMACC with the support of MONUC
[Reliefweb] The UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) yesterday officially handed over the demined zones in Kisangani airport to the local authorities, consisting of seven and a half kilometres of land around the runway. Verification and mine clearance was completed by the South African demining company Mechem, under the coordination of UNMACC.
MAG DRC Programme Update, July 2009
[Reuters] MAG DRC received a visit from the MAG Head of Operations for Africa, which coincided with a visit of the Director of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS)to DRC. Discussions were held with UNMAS regarding the expansion of the mandate of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) to cover the safe management and destruction of ammunition stocks in DRC.
Sri Lanka
De-mining in the North expedited
[ITN] De-mining in the North is being expedited under the mediation of the Uthuru Wasanthaya Task Force. The Slovakian Government has expressed support to the programme at the request of Senior Presidential Advisor and Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa.
More equipment for demining in Northern Sri Lanka
[ColomboPage] Sri Lanka has air lifted another five demining machines from Slovakia this morning to accelerate the de-mining process in Northern Sri Lanka.
No sooner demining completed, Sri Lankan IDPs to be resettled
[AsianTribune] Sri Lanka assured that the internally displaced persons will be resettled as soon as the demining process is completed and infrastructure and basic services restored. Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe met with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday 3 September at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on the sidelines of the World Climate Conference.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan Mine Action Center Mine Victims summer camps
[TMAC] A significant way for 25 mine victims of different age to rehabilitate, benefit of the medical care, get psychological support and learn some useful skills about mine risk education, first aid and develop knowledge on their legal rights of disability. The Government of Sweden through the Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery supported financialy the summer camp for the Tajik survivors offering opportunities to learn about issues such as sustainable rehabilitation, knowledge development, mine risk education, first aid, environmental protection, supportive psychological attitude and learning the rights on disability.
02 September 2009
Afghanistan
Aynak copper mine predicted to create 8,000 direct jobs once landmines are cleared
[MACCA] The Aynak Copper deposit in Logar, was discovered in 1974 and is estimated to contain 11.3 million tons of copper. Once the landmine clearance is completed and the mine can be developed, it is expected to provide a much needed boom to the economy of Afghanistan. The Ministry of Mines of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has signed a contract with a Chinese company (MCC) for the development and extraction of copper from the mine.
Colombia
Police captures local FARC leader
[Colombia] After eleven months of investigation the police arrested Alberto 'the Butcher of Landazuri' Chaparro. The suspected guerrilla earned his name because he allegedly is a ruthless killer who literally butchered his victims in the Santander department. "He was specialized in the installation of antipersonnel landmines and ... injured or killed a little more than 150 Colombians through these explosives.
Gaza Strip
Hamas fighters killed in Gaza Strip
[Aljazeera] Two members of the armed wing of the Palestinian faction Hamas have been killed by the Israeli army, medical sources have said. Moawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza's emergency services, said on Tuesday "the two men were killed near Jabaliya by shells" fired from the Israeli side of the border. The men were believed to be involved in planting landmines on the Palestinian side of the border.
Lebanon
Increasing Casualty Rates in Lebanon
[Reuters] Approximately 1 million cluster bombs were left in Lebanon, in the wake of the war bewteen Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. DCA has been dedicated to clearing cluster bombs in Lebanon since 2006. Read more on our Humanitarian Mine Action. The effect of reduced funding has resulted in a rise in the number of civilian casualties caused by cluster bombs.
Myanmar
Refugees at Risk
[RFA] Ethnic Karen refugees fleeing armed clashes in Burma face grim conditions, and children are the most vulnerable.
Sri Lanka
Explosive kills boy, injures two others
[DailyMirror] An explosive device that had been found by three children playing in the Achchaweli area in the North had exploded late last evening, killing one boy and the injuring two others. The two other children - a girl aged 9 years and a boy aged 7 -have been addmitted to the Jaffna Hospital for further treatment.
Switzerland
Countries do little to help landmine victims: report
[Reuters] Many countries which have signed the 1999 treaty banning landmines are failing in their obligation to help rehabilitate people wounded by the weapons, according to a report issued on Wednesday.
Landmine Survivors Still not Getting Help They Need
[VOA] A new report finds survivors of landmines and other explosive remnants of war continue to suffer discrimination and general neglect from the governments that promised to assist them. The so-called "Voices from the Ground" report is issued by Handicap International and the Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Yemen
HRW concerns over humanitarian situation in northern Yemen
[NewsYemen] Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the consequences of the current fighting on the humanitarian situation in that region, based on reports coming from the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies in Yemen, as well as media reports. When Human Rights Watch visited Yemen in July 2008, researchers gathered information on the fifth round of fighting, including allegations of aerial bombing and artillery shelling attacks on populated villages by government forces as well as other serious laws of war violations by both sides, including use of children under 18 in combat, use of anti-personnel landmines in civilian areas, and taking civilians and combatants hostage.
01 September 2009
Afghanistan
NATO-caused civilian deaths down, Meanwhile citizens killed by Taliban have increased: Data
[CarlgaryHerald] The number of civilian deaths caused by NATO this year has plummeted more than 80% since the alliance's new Afghan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, issued a stern "tactical directive" to his 68,000 troops at the end of June, ordering them to take much greater care to avoid civilian casualties when fighting the Taliban. McChrystal's tactical directive followed intense criticism of NATO air strikes by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and others earlier this summer. The controversy also was fuelled by a United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report that coalition air strikes were responsible for nearly one-third of the 1,013 civilian deaths during the first half of the year. The same UN report found that Taliban landmines and suicide bombers were responsible for 59% of civilian casualties during those six months.
Civilians killed and wounded by Taleban mines
[Reliefweb] Squeezed out of their normal haunts, the Taleban have retaliated by planting thousands of mines and other "improvised explosive devices", IEDs, all over the province, causing numerous casualties to both military and civilian populations. Due in large part to the increase in these homemade devices, August was the deadliest month ever for US troops in Afghanistan, with 51 killed. "We have changed our tactics," said Taleban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi. "The mujahedin are now being told to plant mines, conduct guerrilla warfare, and increase suicide bombings." "The Taleban have lost their morale," he said. "They can only challenge the foreign forces with these mines. Helmand has become the home of land mines. Many civilians will be killed as well as the military."
Angola
Demining commission implements statistic project on landmines victims
[AngolaPress] The first phase of statistic project for landmine victims in Angola, an initiative of the National Inter-Sectoral De-mining Commission and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH), begins this month.
Norway
Norway - A UN for our times
[ISRIA] Nearly two weeks ago, millions of Afghans dipped their fingers in ink and voted. Were it not for the UN, they could not have done so. The UN has at its disposal the world's leading experts on elections in countries that lack strong democratic traditions. It is also a key interest for Norway to ensure that it is not power and the right of the strongest that prevail. And it is through the UN we can seek to ensure that right wins over might. It is within the framework of the UN that we develop rules and measures to combat sexualised violence, such as the horrific wave of rape that is ravaging Congo. In our efforts to promote the Convention on Cluster Munitions it was the UN – and UNDP representatives in the field – that supported us vis-à-vis other countries' authorities by facilitating practical matters and giving us greater legitimacy.
Sri Lanka
Mega irrigation projects commence in NP
[MinistryofDefense] The Government has taken several expedited measures to reconstruct, renovate the irrigation system in the Northern Province on the directives of the Chairman of the Northern Task Force, Senior Presidential Advisor and Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa, Governor of Northern Province Major General G.A Chandrasiri said. The demining process is successfully carried out in areas surrounding the Giant Tank and Iranamadu Tank. The demining work is expected to be completed prior to the commencing of next Season enabling the paddy cultivation in these areas.
Sudan
Cambodian deminers train, awaiting Sudan's dry season
[Phnompenhpost] After arriving in Sudan, the troops received six weeks of demining training from the UN before taking an exam to secure their demining licences. So far, Taing Bunkry said, the company has focused on unexploded ordnance, clearing about 10 to date, as well as on educating the local population about the demining process. They will begin demining in earnest in October, after the east African rainy season ends.
31 August 2009
Angola
Demining of country's railways complete
[AngolaPress] The process of demining of the Luanda, Moçamedes and Benguela railways is complete, Angop learned Sunday in Luanda, The information was released by the director general of the National Institute of Demining (INAD), Leonardo Severino Sapalo, who added the State demining operators involved in landmine clearing operations from January to June this year have responded to expectations.
ANDA rehabilitates over 400 landmines victims
[AngolaPress] At least 468 disabled people all victims of landmines were rehabilitated in the past two years with the support of the National Association of the Angolan Disabled People (ANDA).
Colombia
Colombia: Investigate Massacre in Southern Region
[MediaNewswire] Human Rights Watch has met with Awá leaders in Nariño on several occasions, most recently in July. The Awá leaders reported a wide array of abuses, in addition to the killings, including death threats, the use of antipersonnel landmines in their territory, recruitment of children to serve as combatants in armed groups and massive forced displacement by various armed actors, including the FARC and new armed groups that the UNIPA describes as paramilitaries.
Pakistan
Amputees bear lifelong cost of Pakistan's conflict
[Reuters] Fourteen-year-old Asmit Ali has no hands -- they were blown off while he was playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance 10 days ago. The Pakistani schoolboy, his face dotted with scars from the explosion, sits on a plastic chair outside his ward at a field hospital run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Sudan
UN Mine Action Office Sudan: Newsletter Summer 2009
[UNMAO] The whistle signals the end of the morning shift. As the heat is reaching a peak of 40 degrees, six deminers emerge from the tall grass, taking off their protection equipment and walking back to the rest camp for lunch, each carrying a metal detector under their arm. They are all Sudanese women.
27 August 2009
Belarus
EU to hold talks on landmine destruction project
[Naviny] The Belarusian Council of Ministers has authorized Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Dyrman to hold negotiations with the European Commission on a landmine destruction project.
Colombia
Cheap and lethal
[Economist] The FARC flouts the Ottawa treaty. A SINGLE footpath connects the tiny village of Boquerón, in Colombia's Antioquia department, to the nearest town, but for more than four years few have dared tread it. Over that period 15 civilians, including three children, and 45 soldiers have been injured by scores of home-made landmines laid along some three miles (5.5 kilometres) of the trail by the leftist guerrillas of the FARC. The problem is getting worse. In an intercepted e-mail, Alfonso Cano, the FARC's commander, last year ordered his fighters to sow more mine fields to halt army offensives "since we know it's the only factor that stops and intimidates them." This is borne out by testimony from FARC deserters. Colombia is a signatory to the Ottawa treaty banning landmines. In November it will host the treaty's second review conference. But the FARC recognises no such moral and humanitarian constraints on its war against Colombia's armed forces and its democracy. It is sowing Colombia with a lethal problem that will take decades to clear.
Senegal
Senegal: Heavy fighting in Casamance
[AfricaNews] Heavy fighting between the regular army of Senegal and alleged separatist troops yesterday perturbed the relative peace the Casamance region in Senegal has been enjoying since a ceasefire deal in 2002. Local residents fled the streets, shutting shops and hiding out in plantations. Rebels turned bandits constantly attack innocent civilians. Landmines have killed and injured hundreds of people since 1990. Observers say the latest events underscore the need for a sound peace agreement that would bring permanent stability to the region.
26 August 2009
Afghanistan
Two Estonian soldiers killed in Afghanistan
[Telegraph.co.uk] Eerik Salmus and Raivi Kang, both 26, died after their patrol came under attack while clearing explosives from a road at Nad-e-Ali in southern Helmand province.
Cambodia
The banning of Miss Landmine Cambodia violates rights to freedom of expression
[PhnomPenhPost] The beauty pageant had received the endorsement of the Cambodian Mine Action Group and the Cambodian Disabled People's Organisation. lt is apparent that the decision to cancel this pageant is entirely disproportionate and constitutes yet another violation of freedom of expression.
Colombia
The Corporeal World
[Citypaper] Dancer/choreographer Meghan Flanigan brings all bodies into her work Many of the people that Flanigan worked with were badly disabled from land mines that still dot rural Colombia as a result of a long civil conflict. According to UNICEF, Colombia has the highest rate of land-mine victims in the world. Flanigan not only wanted to bring awareness to the land-mine issue, but hoped to influence people's perceptions about its victims. "I wanted to change how people saw disabled people," she says. "I wanted to have them recognize them as people with information, with their own knowledge base, as every person has something to contribute that they do as well."
Iraq
Iraq still suffers from war remnants
[Alsumaria] 30 years after the war with Iran, 20 years after first Gulf War, and six years after 2003 US invasion, Iraq still suffers from radioactive wreckage, war remnants and tens of millions of landmines.
Sri Lanka
14 Anti-tank mines planted along Giant Tank bund
[DailyMirror] The Indian De-mining Organization, Sarvatra, said yesterday that it had recovered 14 anti-tank mines planted along the one kilometre stretch of the Mannar Giant tank bund which is now under renovation with Japanese financial assistance. Sarvatra has been engaged in de-mining operations in Sri Lanka since 2003.
Sudan
Girl Soldiers Are Neglected Casualties of War
[TheEpoctimes] In Sudan, as well as in many other conflicts throughout the world, girls (sometimes as young as 13) are unwilling warriors or soldiers' sexual partners. Although in some cases girls voluntarily become soldiers, in most cases they are abducted and obliged to participate in combat operations, forced into sexual relations with commanders or fellow soldiers or required to perform other duties off the front lines that are equally as abusive, such as planting landmines, acting as spies or carrying heavy loads. Former girl soldiers who have escaped or been released have explained that the lack of opportunities in their future, such as access to education or means of earning a livelihood led them to join without knowing the harsh consequences it would entail.
24 August 2009
Angola
Armed Forces remove over 3,000 explosive devices
[AngolaPress] At least 3,200 explosive devices have been removed and destroyed in Cunene province, from January to July this year, by demining brigade of Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).
Iraq
Radioactive wreckage, landmines blight Iraq: minister
[AFP] Radioactive wreckage and tens of millions of landmines still blight Iraq after decades of war and the deadly violence that engulfed the nation after the 2003 invasion, the environment minister has said.
Laos
Landmine quest for brave Ramsbottom woman
[Lancashiretelegraph] A woman took a break from her day job as an accountant to detonate four landmines in South East Asia as part of a clearance operation.
UNMAS
Achieving zero new victims of landmines
[UNICRI] As we think about how we can continue to reduce and if possible eliminate new victims of landmines, we are reminded of the remarkable advances during the evolution of mine action work which began with the establishment of the mine action operation for Afghanistan in 1989. It is my fervent hope that a world with zero new victims of landmines will become a reality in my lifetime.
United Nations
Ever closer to cluster bomb ban
[UNDispatch] The global Campaign against cluster bombs has received a major boost with the ratification of the treaty banning the weapons by three additional countries. Croatia deposited its instrument of ratification at the UN headquarters on Monday 17 August followed by its neighbour, Slovenia, on Wednesday 19 August. Subsequently, on 24 August, the UN Office for Legal Affairs sent its official notification that Zambia had deposited its instrument on 12 August, making it the 15th country to do so. Seventeen countries have now ratified this crucial treaty in less than nine months. Thirteen more ratifications are needed to reach 30 and trigger entry into force six months later.
Zambia
Zambia, Croatia and Slovenia bring cluster bomb ban even closer to entry into force
[CMC] The global Campaign against cluster bombs has received a major boost with the ratification of the treaty banning the weapons by three additional countries. Croatia deposited its instrument of ratification at the UN headquarters on Monday 17 August followed by its neighbour, Slovenia, on Wednesday 19 August.
21 August 2009
Croatia
German government to fund demining in Croatia
[CroatianTimes] The German government will contribute 770,000 Euros for the demining of an area of 660,000 square metres in five counties of Croatia this year.
Slovenia
Slovenia Deposits Cluster Munitions Convention Ratification
[STA] Slovenia has deposited to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ratification documents for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions. Slovenia has thus become the 17th party to the convention, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
Sri Lanka
Army steps up removal of landmines
[TheMercury] The army was boosting operations to demine former rebel-held areas of northern Sri Lanka so that hundreds of thousands of Tamil war refugees could be released from internment camps and return home to the region, a military commander said yesterday.
US provides $ 6 million for demining northern Sri Lanka
[ColomboPage] The United States announced today that it is contributing an additional $6 million for demining activities Northern Sri Lanka to help expedite the resettlement of the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) in their original homes.
Vietnam
Keep digging
[Vietnamnet] On July 10, after helping his parents to clean the house and taking care of his two younger sisters, 12-year-old Dao Ba Thanh led his two friends and the family's herd of buffaloes to a nearby hill for grazing. As usual the three children, who live in Hai Chanh commune's Cau Nhi hamlet in Quang Tri central province, played hide-and-seek on the hillside. One of the boys happened on a number of strange metal objects and called the other two over. Fuelled by curiosity, and unaware of what the mines were, they tried to smash them open. None of the boys survived.
17 August 2009
Angola
Over 90 km of road cleared off landmines
[AngolaPress] At least 94 kilometres of road previously believed to be infested with landmines in the central Bié province were cleared out during the first half of this year, by the de-mining company "Cassamba Minas Lda", operating in the region. Speaking Monday to Angop, the "Cassamba Minas Lda" supervisor in Bié province, Manuel Monico, underlined that the project covered the districts of Kuito, Kunhinga and Andulo.
United Kingdom
CMC Memo to Experts of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meeting this week in Geneva
[CMC] The Group of Governmental Experts of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) is meeting informally this week in Geneva to discuss a possible new Protocol regulating the use of cluster munitions. Any instrument to emerge on cluster munitions within the CCW appears likely to contain less far reaching provisions than the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which is the new international treaty banning cluster munitions adopted in Dublin in May 2008 and signed in Oslo in December of that year. The draft new Protocol under negotiation falls far short on the issues of prohibitions on use, production, stockpiling and transfer as well as on the obligations on clearance, stockpile destruction and victim assistance
Sri Lanka
Ex-armymen clear landmines in Lanka, this time with govt funding
[ExpressIndia] Fifty former armymen belonging to Pune-based Horizon Group left for Sri Lanka early this month to clear landmines there. It's not the first time the Horizon Group, founded by Maj General (retd) Shashikant Pitre, comprising ex-servicemen are on landmine deactivating mission in Sri Lanka. They have been doing it since 2003, but the current projects has a new edge, as, for the first time, the Indian government has given the group two projects of Rs 2.62 crore each to clear the mines. All their funding so far for the deactivation had been from the Royal Norwegian government.
Restoring glory to North
[SriLankaWatch] Northern Province Governor Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri outlines the post-conflict development, rehabilitation and resettlement plans for the province in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer. He expressed confidence that the North would return to its days of prosperity soon.
Thailand
One giant step for jumbo: Amputee elephant Motola is fitted with state-of-the-art artificial leg
[Dailymail] One small step for Motola the elephant, a giant leap for the world's injured animals. Motola lost her foot and most of her left leg when she walked over a landmine ten years ago. But yesterday, she stepped out happily - if a little tentatively - after being fitted with a state-of-the-art artificial limb.
14 August 2009
Chechnya
Laureate rights group denounces Chechen killing
[HumanRightsTribune] ICBL strongly denounces the killing of civil society activist Ms Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov. "Ms Sadulayeva was a tireless activist who was committed to creating public awareness about the landmine problem in the region and advocating for the rights of landmine survivors and other people with disabilities," said Ms Kasia Derlicka, ICBL's Advocacy and Campaign Officer. "Her death is a huge loss to the mine action community."
France
French homes evacuated as bomb defused
[TheAge] Two thousand people have been evacuated from their homes in the French port of Le Havre as mine clearance experts made safe a 500kg British bomb from World War II.
Kashmir
Troops' vehicle hits minor in IHK
[PakistanTimes] In occupied Kashmir, massive anti-India and pro-freedom protests erupted at Langate in Kupwara after an Indian troops' vehicle ran over a minor who was stated to be critical, KMS reported on Friday. Another report says that in occupied Kashmir, the residents of Keegam in Kupwara have expressed concern over the danger posed by the landmines planted in their proprietary land near an ammunition depot of Indian troops.The residents said that the troops had occupied more than 1800 kanals of their proprietary land located around and inside their camp and planted landmines outside the barbed fence which had claimed several human lives during the past 20 years.
Lebanon
Hizbullah's Musawi accuses UNIFIL of inaction on Israeli cluster bombs
[DailyStar] UN peacekeeping forces in the south are "standing around and watching" the devastation being caused by Israeli cluster bombs, according to a Hizbullah official. At a ceremony in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, MP Nawaf Musawi said that "UNIFIL is very interested in implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, and if they hear about an explosion in Khirbet Silim, they move to investigate. Did UNIFIL hear about the cluster bomb explosion and the wounding of two children?" he asked.
Three years on, Israeli cluster bombs keep killing and maiming
[DailyStar] At the latest count, 350 people have been injured in cluster bomb-related incidents in Lebanon. On Wednesday, two young siblings were wounded by a cluster bomb as they gathered firewood in Toulin, close to the Israel border. Half the problem is knowing where to find them. Israel has provided the United Nations with information on the whereabouts of its attack sites, but a dispute is raging over its accuracy. In June, Lebanon's ambassador to the UN sent a letter to the Security Council charging that the Lebanon Mine Action Center had collected data suggesting up to 600,000 cluster bomb fragments have not been accounted for by Israel.
One killed, two hurt by Lebanon cluster bomb
[AFP] A Syrian man was killed and two others wounded when a cluster bomb exploded outside their home in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria, a security official said.
Most Lebanese say combatants' actions must be restrained
[DailyStar] More than half of the Lebanese population thinks there should be limits to what a combatant should be allowed to do during armed conflict, according to a new study by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Around 4,000 people in conflict-riddled Afghanistan, Colombia, Congo, Georgia, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia and the Philippines were asked about their perceptions of appropriate behavior during armed conflict for the report, which was commissioned by the ICRC and compiled by international research agency Ipsos. In all eight countries, the most widely rejected practice against civilians was planting landmines.
Sri Lanka
Australian support for demining in Sri Lanka
[ColomboPage] The Government of Australia has introduced a new technology for Sri Lanka's de-mining process, Sri Lanka's Government Information Department said. This would be a great support for completing the de-mining process as well as the resettlement process in the North as the main obstacle in expediting the resettlement process is the delay in de-mining, Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa has stated.
12 August 2009
Germany
Towards Global Zero:New Momentum for Disarmament
[premiumpresse] Statement by the German Minister of State on Disarmament
England
"Never again" - campaigners remember cluster bomb attacks in lebanon and georgia
[CMC] Israel, Georgia and Russia were urged today to join the global ban on cluster bombs as members of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) held events and activities throughout the world to remember the victims of cluster bomb strikes by those countries.
Lebanon
Lebanon brothers wounded by cluster bomb
[AFP] Two young Lebanese brothers were injured by a cluster bomb on Wednesday, the 60th anniversary of the Geneva conventions on conflict, the Cluster Munition Coalition said. Abbas Awali, 13, and Hussein Awali, 10, were gathering wood when they were hit by the blast in the southern village of Tulin, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Israeli border, the London-based organisation said.
Landmine Victims Turn to Soccer
[TheMediaLine] Lebanese landmine victims attempt to turn disability into ability with the world's first 'Landmine Survivors' soccer team. All of the team members are victims of conventional mines. But since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, there's a new danger scattered on the Lebanese soil: cluster bombs, or small bomblets dropped over vast swaths of Lebanon by Israel during the war. "The density is very high and it has been in the houses, in the garden of the houses, on the roads to the houses and in the agricultural land from where the people make their living," says Habouba Aoun, coordinator of the Land Mine Resource Center at Lebanon's Balamand University.
11 August 2009
Angola
Travel Diary: Humanitarian Mine Action Promotes Post-Conflict Recovery in Angola
[State.gov] When Secretary Clinton arrives in Angola as part of her 11-day trip to seven African nations, she will find a nation working to emerge from nearly 40 years of conflict. Angola's wars have left behind a deadly legacy: abandoned landmines and unexploded munitions. Today, more than 2 million Angolans living in nearly 2,000 villages throughout the country face daily risks from abandoned landmines and unexploded munitions, according to the latest edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, an annual report from the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs' Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement.
Chechnya
Head of Chechen children's charity found shot dead with husband
[Timesonline] The head of a children's charity was found shot dead in Chechnya today, a day after she and her husband were abducted by armed men. Ms Sadulayeva and Mr Dzhabrailov were taken from the office of her charity, Save the Generation, on Monday. Save the Generation also worked with Unicef to promote the rights of disabled people and promote awareness of landmines.
Aid workers found shot dead in Chechnya
[CNN] Zarema Sadulayeva, leader of Chechnya's Save the Generation and her husband, Ali Dzhabrailov -- were found dead early Tuesday, their bodies stuffed in the trunk of their car, a prosecutor's spokeswoman said. Chechnya's Save the Generation provides social aid to disabled Chechen children and works in close partnership with UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. "Their organization was actively involved in rehabilitating kids who were crippled by landmines," said Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, a human rights activist who worked with the couple.
Nigeria
Nigeria: Demand for Compensation Scares De-Miners From Benue
[AllAfrica.com] Demands for compensation on land being cleared of un-exploded ordinances and landmines used during the Nigerian civil war are threatening the UN-backed exercise
Sri Lanka
Demining expedited under Uthuru Wasanthaya
[ITN] Head of the Task Force and Senior Presidential Advisor and Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa opined that the landmines are impeding the uphill task of resettling civilians liberated from the terrorists. However, he pointed out that the Government was successfully fulfilling this task. He revealed of five strategies adhered to by them in the demining process.
Turkey
Landmine blast kills village guard in Turkey
[Xinhua] A village guard was killed and another was wounded when a landmine planted by the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) members exploded in southeast Turkey on Tuesday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Fails To Meet UN Landmine Clearing Deadline
[RadioVOP] Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday said Zimbabwe had failed to meet the United Nations landmine clearing deadline, 29 years after the country attained its independence.
10 August 2009
Croatia
Croatian appeals for EU land mine aid
[UPI] The European Union must step up help for a slow-moving program to remove land mines in Croatia, a local official says.
Gaza
OPT: Explosives, mines and white phosphorus clean-up operation
[IRIN] The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has begun removing 600,000MT of rubble and debris left over from Israel's Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. Kerei Ruru, head of the UN Mine Action Team Gaza Office (UNMAT-GO), has been working in Gaza since the end of January to locate and neutralize the UXO. UNMAT is now working to remove UXO buried in thousands of destroyed buildings and in 12,000ha of agricultural land. Ruru's teams are still awaiting permission to access the border areas in the north and east, also a major threat.
Georgia
Report by the Government of Georgia on the aggression by the Russian Federation against Georgia
[GeorgianDaily] In 2008, the Russian Federation launched a full-scale assault against a sovereign state—its immediate neighbor, Georgia.
Myanmar
U.N. publishes Myanmar landmine map
[Reuters] The United Nations has published a map showing the location of landmines in Myanmar, a country where unmarked mines kill or maim hundreds of civilians every year.
06 August 2009
Afghanistan
5 U.S. troops killed as Afghan violence swells
[LATimes] 26 Afghans, most of them members of a wedding party, are reported killed in roadside bombings. The Americans died in two separate incidents.
Afghan attacks kill 17 including wedding-goers
[AFP] Afghan violence left 17 people dead including wedding-goers and five US soldiers in new attacks ahead of elections as the NATO chief Thursday visited insurgent hotspots in the south.
EODT to support British in Afghan east
[UPI.com] British defense authorities have contracted EOD Technology Inc. to provide British troops in Afghanistan with mine action services.
Albania
Albania Humanitarian Mine Action
[Reuters] DCA has been involved in humanitarian land mine and cluster munition clearance operations in Albania since 2002. As such, DCA has the distinction of being the longest serving operator in the mine action field in Albania.
Cambodia
Govt blocks meeting with contestants
[Phnompenhpost] The organiser of the ill-fated Miss Landmine pageant still wants to show his appreciation to the contestants, despite being told by government officials that a meeting with the women would be "absolutely out of the question".
Georgia
Poverty and insecurity after Russia-Georgia war
[Reuters] "These people face a very uncertain future," says M. Peter Leifert, the IRC's country director in Georgia. "Their houses have been destroyed and their fields are littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance. They simply can't return home to make a living." Some Georgians who escaped direct involvement in last summer's war are nonetheless also facing an uncertain future. Nearly 250,000 people, who were displaced from Georgia's secessionist territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia during earlier conflicts in the 1990s, are still awaiting a solution to their situation.
Russia - MFA - Statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
[ISRIA] August 8 marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic events in South Ossetia. On that night the regime of Mikhail Saakashvili made an ignoble and inhuman attack on its peaceful inhabitants and also on the Russian peacekeepers that had for many years defended the peace and security of the peoples living in the fragile Transcaucasian region.
Lebanon
Comics about Cluster bombs in South Lebanon
[Le Temps Chappatte] Comic book features Dalya Farran.
UK - MFA - Ivan Lewis arrives in Lebanon
[ISRIA] Minister of State for the Middle East, Ivan Lewis, arrived in Lebanon on 5 August for a two-day visit, as part of a wider regional visit including Syria. Ivan Lewis started his visit from South Lebanon where he met with local officials in Hasbaya and later visited the UN mission in Marjeyoun and the offices of the Lebanese Mine Action Centre (LMAC) and Mine Action Group (MAG) for a briefing and field visit.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Returning home in safety
[Reliefweb] When a MAG Community Liaison team first went to Marathanmadhu in April 2009, the village had been deserted for over 18 months. Sixty-year-old Mr Soosai Marathin, the owner of a rice mill, accompanied them to inform the team about what happened in the village during the conflict – it was the first time he had been back since September 2007.
UK supports mine clearance in Sri Lanka
[AssociatedPressofPakistan] The UK Thursday announced new support to clear northern Sri Lanka of thousands of mines and unexploded bombs left over from decades of fighting. The Department for International Development will give the Mines Advisory Group a 500,000 pounds sterling grant to help survey minefields and pinpoint unexploded ordinance so they can be safely disposed of.
Sudan
Hanging with South Sudan's All-Female Mine Squads
[Wired] Armor-wearing de-mining teams employed by humanitarian group Norwegian People's Aid are on the front lines of an intensive clearing effort. The teams sweep with metal detectors to locate mines, then trim back any grass and soften the hard-baked earth with water before carefully digging up the mines. It's tedious, stressful work requiring unflinching focus. For that reason, NPA prefers employing all-women teams that "don't have problems of fighting or drinking," program manager Kjell Ivar Breili told the BBC.
United States
New MCC U.S. resources on cluster bombs available
[Mennonite Central Committee] A new documentary, From Harm to Hope: Standing with Cluster Bomb Survivors, and an accompanying study guide are the latest tools in the advocacy work of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) U.S. in banning the production and use of cluster bombs.
Disarm
[Indiepix] Defined as a conventional weapon, antipersonnel mines inflict destruction upon civilian populations for decades after the initial conflict has ended. Despite thousands of casualties a year, mines continue to be used and stockpiled by governments and rebel groups. DISARM juxtaposes government and public opinion, that of outspoken Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams, diplomats, mine victims, deminers, soldiers, and aid workers, to explore the issues that both hinder and further the case against antipersonnel mines.
United Nations
The 62nd Annual DPI/NGO Conference is being held in Mexico City under the banner "For Peace and Development: Disarm Now!"
[DPI] The DPI/NGO Conference is the main NGO event of the year at the United Nations. It typically attracts 2,000 representatives from some 90 countries. This year's conference is organized by a partnership of the U.N. Department of Public Information in cooperation with the DPI/NGO Executive Committee, the Government of Mexico, and the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs.
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