To mark Poland’s official withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention or the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, Julia Głębocka, Human rights researcher for Amnesty International Poland, reflects on what the return of these indiscriminate weapons means for human rights in Europe.
Not so long ago, in 2020, the European Union was funding mine relief efforts in Lebanon and hoping to see an anti-personnel mine-free world within five years. HALO Ukraine, an EU-supported organization, had already been making tangible change, removing explosives from Ukrainian soil since 2016. In Chad, the EU-funded project PRODECO, was reintegrating anti-personnel mine victims into society through long-term medical care and rehabilitation, as well as supporting demining efforts.
Read more…
Source: Reliefweb News
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Sweden: Bag found at Stockholm festival had an explosive
August 22, 2022
A bag with an explosive charge was found in a Stockholm park during an annual cultural festival and police have opened a preliminary investigation into attempted public destruction, police in Sweden said Monday. On Sunday, a bag was found and its content was immediately “assessed as dangerous.” The surrounding area was cordoned off and traffic was ...
- France: Children discover a grenade while playing on a beach in Vaux-sur-Mer
August 20, 2022
A group of children fell on a grenade on Friday on the beach at Vaux-sur-Mer. A demining team from La Rochelle intervened to get rid of the device. It is a find that could have turned into a tragedy. On Friday, children discovered a grenade while playing in the sand, on the beach of Nauzan, in ...
- Germany: Evacuations in Berlin after unexploded World War II bomb found
August 18, 2022
The bomb in the Friedrichshain district will have to be defused. “There could be up to 12,000 people in the area of the exclusion zone, and it will take time,” a police spokeswoman said. An emergency shelter has been set up at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, which is normally used for concerts and sports events. Read more… Source: MSN News
- Russia: Anti-personnel petal mines found near Belgorod
August 18, 2022
A large amount of anti-personnel petal mines has been found after Ukraine’s shellings of the Shebekino district of the Belgorod Region. Measures have been taken to render them harmless, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said live on his page in the social network VKontakte. “We have had several attacks on the territory of the Shebekino urban district in ...
- Brazilian Military Strengthen Chemical Emergency Preparedness in Portuguese-Speaking Countries
August 15, 2022
Troops of the Brazilian Army’s 1st Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Battalion (1st Btl DQBRN) participated as instructors in the Basic Course on Emergency Response to Chemical Incidents for Portuguese-speaking Countries in Angola, June 27-July 1. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) organized the course with the coordination of the National ...
- Russia: FSB prevented terror attack on oil pipeline in Volgograd region
August 15, 2022
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday a terror attack on an oil pipeline that was plotted by Ukrainian special services was prevented in Russia’s southern Volgograd region. “The FSB prevented an attempted sabotage and terror attack on an oil and gas sector facility hatched by Ukrainian special services,” it said. Two Russian nationals, who were ...
- Killing pro-Moscow officials. Blowing up bridges. Ukraine’s guerrillas take up the fight
August 9, 2022
In a growing challenge to Russia’s grip on occupied areas of southeastern Ukraine, guerrilla forces loyal to Kyiv are killing pro-Moscow officials, blowing up bridges and trains, and helping the Ukrainian military by identifying key targets. The spreading resistance has eroded Kremlin control of those areas and threatened its plans to hold referendums in various cities ...
- Heatwave in Italy leads to discovery of WW2 Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in drought-stricken river
August 8, 2022
The heatwave gripping Europe has led to an unexploded World War II bomb being uncovered in Italy’s River Po. Water levels in the river are so low following a summer of drought that the previously submerged bomb has now been exposed. The device weighed 450kg (1000lb) and 3,000 people living nearby were asked to evacuate the area. ...
- Berlin plays safe after fire at explosive site in forest
August 8, 2022
Firefighters were seeking to fully extinguish the blaze at Berlin’s city ordnance disposal area on Monday, days after fire broke out caused by an explosion at the site. The goal was to reduce the size of the area at risk, officials said, adding that the situation was stable but not yet fully under control. A spokesperson for ...
- Russia submits to UN detailed info on Ukraine’s use of Lepestok mines
August 7, 2022
Russia on Monday submitted to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and to the UN Security Council president the details on the use by Ukraine of Lepestok anti-personnel mines against civilian targets in Donbass, said Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky. “On August 1, we sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General and to ...
- Germany: Firefighters battle out-of-control blaze at Berlin ammunitions dump
August 4, 2022
More than 100 firefighters on Thursday battled a fire at an ammunitions dump in western Berlin, using water cannons and an army robot to try to contain the blaze that has triggered explosions and was still spreading, officials said. The fire service set up a perimeter zone 1,000 metres (0.6 miles) from the centre of the ...
- The Netherlands: More self-made explosives used in attacks on houses
August 3, 2022
Criminals are shifting from hand grenades to improvised explosives when attacking houses and vehicles in the Netherlands, according to the Ministry of Defense’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal Service (EOD). The number of incidents involving self-made bombs using, for example, fireworks is on the rise, while incidents with hand grenades are plummeting, EOD Major Peter said to ...
- Ukraine: 31 German extremists have entered the country since the beginning of the war
July 29, 2022
Since the beginning of the war, the security authorities have registered 31 trips of “persons with extremist connections” from Germany to Ukraine, according to a report. According to the findings of the Federal Police, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, eight of them wanted to take part ...
- ‘Death weapons’: Inside a teenage terrorist network
July 27, 2022
When Lukas F. walks onto the site of an abandoned army barracks in the summer of 2021 as part of his training to be a terrorist, he is 16 years old, a slender boy with dark hair. The site is about 45 minutes from the center of Potsdam, a city just southwest of Berlin, Germany. Once ...
- Slovenia: World War I battlefield is on fire and exploding 100-year-old ordnance
July 23, 2022
The First World War ended 104 years ago, but thanks to wildfires burning the European continent, echoes of the Great War are being heard. And seen. And nearly killing firefighters because bombs left over from the conflict are blowing up. A massive wildfire is currently raging in the Kras region in Slovenia’s southwest. The fires are ...
