Every Step Could be a Threat: Children and Explosive Remnants of War


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:

  • U.N.: Denmark adds USD 3.7 mn to Iraq’s mine clearance efforts

    April 10, 2018

    Denmark has added USD 3.7 million for landmine clearance efforts in Iraq, the United Nations reported on Tuesday as the country struggles to contain hazards from explosives left over from the war against Islamic State militants. “The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Iraq welcomes a renewed contribution of twenty five million (25,000,000) Danish Kroner ...

  • Demining of Donbas: Is it worth talking about this while war continues?

    April 9, 2018

    Seven thousand square kilometers of Donbas. This is the minimum area of ​​the unoccupied part of land where you can be blown up on a mine, ammunition or some kind of explosive device. Plus 9 thousand square kilometers of the same dangerous territory on the other side of demarcation line. Since the beginning of the war ...

  • Improvised Explosive Devices continue to pose a grave threat to civilians in Somalia

    April 4, 2018

    Marking the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, a top United Nations official in Somalia today highlighted the danger posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the country’s civilian population. In his remarks at an observance event in the Somali capital, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, drew ...

  • Afghan army defuses massive bombs, landmines: government

    March 27, 2018

    The Afghan army personnel found 38 improvised bombs and landmines within the last 24 hours, the country’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. “The Afghan National Army (ANA) engineering teams recovered 38 rounds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and landmines since early Monday. And they safely destroyed the explosives across Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement. Taliban militants ...

  • UNMAS eliminates 150 tons of explosive remnants of war in Libya

    March 24, 2018

    The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said it had destroyed 150 tons of explosive remnants of war in Libya, adding that 8 EOD operations had been carried out to clear these remnants on 6550 square meters of land that could possibly contain mines and explosives. The UNMAS confirmed it will continue coordination to the international ...

  • 2 killed during land mine clearance training in Cambodia

    March 16, 2018

    A land mine exploded accidently during clearance training at a military base in western Cambodia, killing two people, including an Australian, and injuring three others, police said. National police said the explosion occurred Thursday in Kampong Speu province when a soldier who was being trained mishandled a decades-old land mine that had been removed from the ground. ...

  • 50 Libyan explosive ordinance disposal personnel reach their graduation

    March 3, 2018

    The US Embassy in Libya has announced the graduation of more than 50 Libyan explosive ordnance disposal personnel. The Embassy said in a statement on Thursday that the graduation comes as part of a training program with the support of the US, British and German governments to safely dispose of explosive hazards, including Improvised Explosive Devices ...

  • UN To Reopen Office In Libya’s Benghazi

    March 3, 2018

    The head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced Friday that the mission will reopen an office in the eastern city of Benghazi for the first time in years. “We are preparing to reopen a UN office in Benghazi and I promise you to continue to engage with people and residents of Barqa” in ...

  • Mine Action in The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Completion of demining operations

    February 22, 2018

    Humanity & Inclusion (which operates under the name Handicap International in the DRC) has completed its demining operations in the Tshopo, Ituri, Bas-Uele and Haut-Uele provinces of Democratic Republic of the Congo. From January 2016 to December 2017, HI and its local partner, Africa for Anti-Mine Action (AFRILAM) cleared 34,520 meters of land of mines, ...

  • Syria: Landmines Kill, Injure Hundreds in Raqqa

    February 12, 2018

    Homemade landmines have killed and injured hundreds of civilians, including more than 150 children, in Raqqa, Syria since the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) was pushed out of the city in October 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. ISIS had planted the antipersonnel mines when it controlled the city. They include devices often called booby traps or ...

  • Goose Green Liberated of Landmines after more than 35 Years

    February 8, 2018

    As Mercopress have reported in a series of articles over the past eight years, the Falkland Islands are slowly being cleared of the landmines laid by Argentine forces during the 1982 war. Last week this process reached a key milestone when Goose Green settlement, the site of a key battle in late May 1982, was ...

  • UNFICYP poised to facilitate dialogue for mine-free Cyprus

    February 7, 2018

    Unficyp remains poised to facilitate a dialogue between the two sides to develop a roadmap to a mine-free Cyprus, should there be the political will to do so, UN spokesman in Cyprus Aleem Siddique has said. Siddique was asked to comment on the latest Security Council Resolution renewing Unficyp’s mandate which noted with “regret that the ...

  • 200 Tonnes Of Explosives Destroyed In Libya

    February 5, 2018

    Libya destroyed more than 200 tonnes of remnants of war with the support of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), the support mission said. “At the end of January, UNMAS completed phase one of its initiative to destroy Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) which have been endangering the lives of Misratan communities, and of the wider ...

  • Sharp rise in civilian casualties across Libya in January: UNSMIL report

    February 2, 2018

    The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said from 1 January to 31 January 2018, it had documented 102 civilian casualties – 39 deaths and 63 injuries – during the conduct of hostilities across Libya. This, it reported, was a sharp rise from previous months. Victims included 33 men, one woman, and five boys ...

  • The challenge of clearing Colombia of landmines

    January 19, 2018

    One year after Colombia signed a historic peace deal with FARC rebels, a key challenge is to clear the soil of anti-personnel mines and other explosives. After Afghanistan, Colombia is the world’s most densely landmined country, with the devices responsible for thousands of deaths in recent decades. The military and an army of NGOs are now ...