In conflict and post-conflict settings, children face daily the risk of being killed or maimed from mines and explosive remnants of war.
On the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Vanessa Frazier, calls for urgent and renewed attention and resources for the protection of children from these deadly threats. Landmines, explosive remnants of war, and improvised explosive devices continue to pose a devastating threat to civilians in conflict-affected areas and post-conflict settings.
Read more…
Source: Reliefweb News
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- South Sudan: Floods hampering UNMAS demining work in Jonglei State’s Pigi County
January 17, 2022
It may look idyllic, but the presence of a minefield is a threat to these villagers in Pigi County. Floods have so far made clearance of the area impossible. Residents in Pigi County, on the Jonglei State side of the river border with Upper Nile State, need to tread carefully. Floods mean that the recommendation by ...
- Beijing clears US bombs before constructing China-Laos railway
January 14, 2022
Despite ending nearly 50 years ago, US military operations in Laos have left behind a legacy of destruction that still endangers lives today. On Dec 3, 2021, the China-Laos railway opened to traffic, connecting Kunming in southwest China’s Yunnan province with Lao capital Vientiane. Read more… Source: The Express Tribune
- Magawa, ‘hero rat’ who sniffed out 71 land mines, dies in retirement
January 13, 2022
Cambodia’s landmine-sniffing rat Magawa, who found more than 100 landmines and explosives during a five-year career, has died at the age of 8, leaving a lasting legacy of saved lives in the Southeast Asian nation. Magawa, who died over the weekend, was the most successful “HeroRAT” deployed by international charity APOPO, which uses African giant pouched ...
- Cambodia: Temple tourist sites are mine clearing priorities
January 9, 2022
The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) has cleared more than 40ha of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in two temple areas in Preah Vihear province and continues to do so at the request of the National Authority for Preah Vihear (NAPV), according to an NAPV Facebook post. The post added that CMAC began clearing landmines there ...
- First graduation ceremony for 28 female deminers in Sudan
December 27, 2021
After a month-long training, the first batch of 28 young women graduated in basic humanitarian demining, joining only one other female deminer in Sudan. The successful completion of the training is an unprecedented achievement for both mine action and Sudan and was celebrated at a graduation ceremony organized by UNMAS and the National Mine Action Center ...
- Mechanical Equipment in IED Clearance: Observations from Iraq
December 24, 2021
Mechanical equipment has been in the inventory of conventional military forces for the purposes of military engineering—including demining—since the Second World War. The integration of mechanical equipment into UNMAS Iraq clearance activities may have therefore seemed a natural evolution from what might be considered ‘conventional’ mine clearance, yet it brought with it a number of ...
- Connecticut: Greenwich students learn how mine detection dogs make ‘this planet a safer place’
December 22, 2021
Sammy, a Belgian shepherd, paid a visit to local students recently as part of the Marshall Legacy Institute’s annual CHAMPS presentation on the importance of her former work as a mine detection dog. Sammy, who retired from her work in the fall of 2019 as a mine detection dog, visited with the third-, fourth- and fifth-graders ...
- Russian peacekeepers destroyed explosive objects detected in Nagorno-Karabakh
December 20, 2021
Servicemen of the Russian peacekeeping contingent destroyed the ammo detected at the territory of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). During one day sappers destroyed eight ammo for hand-held antitank grenade launcher detected in Martuni district. Disposal of the detected explosive devices (EDs) was carried out by detonating the overhead charge in compliance with all necessary safety measures, the Russian ...
- Croatia: Zadar County cleared of mines left over from Homeland War
December 19, 2021
Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović attended a ceremony in Zadar on Friday marking the completion of mine clearance activities in Zadar County. Zadar County head Božidar Longin was presented on that occasion with a certificate showing that the county is no longer among areas suspected of being infested with mines while Civil Protection Directorate head ...
- Cambodia: CMAC animal deminers get boost from APOPO
December 17, 2021
The Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) and APOPO, a registered Belgian non-governmental organisation and US non-profit which trains southern giant-pouched rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis, entered an agreement of cooperation to boost demining activities in Cambodia using animal detection systems. The two parties signed a MoU on Animal Detection System Integrated yesterday with CMAC’s director-general ...
- Israel Defense Ministry completes demining operation near Egypt border
December 16, 2021
Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Alon Schuster congratulated the Ministry of Defense’s Israel National Mine Action Authority on Wednesday for completing an operation to clear an area of the Negev Desert near the Egyptian border of mines. The area, stretching out 2,700 dunams (1 square mile), has been made safe for setting up farmland and building new ...
- Azerbaijan, UK sign MoU in mine clearance
December 16, 2021
The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) and the British non-governmental organization (NGO) Mines Advisory Group (MAG) have signed a memorandum of understanding, Trend reports citing the ANAMA. “According to the plan jointly prepared within the framework of the document, the British organization will conduct special trainings to train new supervisors of the Azerbaijan Mine ...
- Switzerland Avails US$1 Million For Demining In Zimbabwe
December 16, 2021
Switzerland, through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), has provided US$1 million to APOPO Mine Action for clearing a dense minefield in the Sengwe Wildlife Corridor in Southern Zimbabwe for the next two years. The project, meant for the safe return of land to the local communities is set to save lives and improve ...
- Cambodia: Some 82,000 landmines and UXOs destroyed in first eleven months
December 14, 2021
Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) destroyed 82,138 landmines and UXOs in the first eleven months of this year. The update was shared yesterday by the Director General of CMAC, Heng Ratana, highlighting that the move has freed over 91,919,972 square metres of land from landmines and UXOs, about 92 percent more than this year’s target. Cambodian Mine ...
- Unexploded ordnance bring endless nightmare to Iraq
December 9, 2021
In the northern Iraqi hamlet of Hassan-Jalad, almost every family has a story to tell about a time when a child, nephew or brother was lost to wartime munitions. Located near Mosul, a former stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group, the area is littered with unexploded ordnance, sometimes dubbed UXO. “We are afraid for the ...