Deminers train for rapid response deployment Posted: Tuesday, 30 June 2009, New York | Author: Department of Peacekeeping Operations
An exercise to train UN staff deployed in a humanitarian emergency environment within a protection cluster took place in Sandö, in Sweden at a training facility for the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB). The ten-day training organized by the United Nations Mine Action Service and MSB is giving selected staff an opportunity to test their skills in operating a mine action coordination centre during the early phase of a rapid response scenario.
The training is conducted in a fictional country "Sandland" where a recent civil war has just ended after a UN sanctioned NATO intervention. Participants are required to live in tents and the entire exercise is conducted under field conditions that simulate those that would be encountered in an actual rapid response deployment. This includes the use of "live" ammunition, engagement with Swedish military personnel who act as NATO forces and the coordination of tasking explosive ordnance disposal teams to deal with emergency clearance. 
Participants are given extensive briefing documents that include the history of the conflict, supporting UN Security Council Resolutions and reports, and each participant is assigned a role that they must play during the entire training. 
The training allows the 26 participants from seven United Nations entities, three nongovernmental organizations and two governmental mine action authorities to learn from the wealth of experience gained from previous mine action rapid response deployments in Kosovo, Lebanon and Gaza. 
Chris Clark, the United Nations Mine Action Service head of the training noted, "By the second day of this important training, participants live and breathe the scenario. There are militia leaders that storm into the camp, journalists who demand the latest facts and figures, and even civilians, played by local Swedish townspeople, who are injured by cluster bomblets. We want our UN staff members to be prepared for the next emergency situation and this is an invaluable tool to move us towards this goal." Mr. Clark has been involved in all three of the previous UN mine action rapid response deployments and was recently given the prestigious UNHCR Nansen Award for work done in Lebanon. [Previous iSeek story] 
Rapid emergency responses and effective planning are key to United Nations efforts to mitigate threats from landmines and explosive remnants of war, and assist freedom of movement, as called for under Strategic Objective 2 in the United Nations Inter-Agency Mine Action Strategy: 2006–2010. UNTV will be producing a documentary of this year's training over the summer. 
The United Nations Mine Action Service manages mine action programs in countries or territories with peacekeeping operations or humanitarian crises including: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nepal, Sudan and Western Sahara. In addition, it manages the Mine Action Coordination Center of Afghanistan. 
The United Nations Mine Action Service is located in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions. The United Nations Mine Action Service is the focal point for mine action among 14 United Nations departments, programmes, agencies, and funds that make up the United Nations Mine Action Team.