NEW YORK/OSLO, 22 April 2024 – Between 2018 and 2022, explosive weapons were responsible for nearly half – 49.8 per cent – of the more than 47,500 instances of children killed and maimed that were verified by the United Nations, in more than 24 conflict zones globally.
The vast majority of these instances occurred in populated areas. The use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) poses an immense threat to children worldwide. As urban warfare increases, the use of weapons designed for open battlefields is now a common reality in cities, towns, villages, and other populated areas, with devastating effects on young populations. In the five years up to 2022, explosive weapons killed or seriously injured almost twice as many children as were killed or injured by gunshots and other firearms.
Read more…
Source: UNICEF
Related:
- Sri Lanka: UN pre-deployment team scheduled to inspect troops for deployment in Mali
March 24, 2023
A high-level UN Assessment and Advisory Team are scheduled to inspect self-sustenance equipment, combat vehicles and accessories, de-mining devices, Explosive Ordnance Devices, logistic and medical equipment, military hardware and witness mock demonstrations during their visits (March 20-25) to the 1 Sri Lanka Army Ordnance Corps, Engineer Division, School of Military Engineering at Embilipitiya, Sri Lanka ...
- UN report: Uranium particles enriched to 83.7% found in Iran
March 1, 2023
Inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog found uranium particles enriched up to 83.7% in Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site, a report seen Tuesday by The Associated Press said. The confidential quarterly report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency distributed to member states likely will raise tensions further between Iran and the West over its ...
- Afghanistan’s demining program needs $18.3 million – OCHA
February 28, 2023
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Afghanistan has one of the highest levels of explosive ordnance contamination globally. The statement tweeted on Monday saying that in 2023, some $18.3 million is needed for survey, explosive ordnance disposal, and landmine clearance. Read more… Source: Khaama Press
- Cambodia deploys 98 deminers to Central African Republic
February 23, 2023
Cambodian deminers departed Phnom Penh on Tuesday to the Central African Republic to as part of the UN peacekeeping force. They will be part of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). Read more… Source: Khmer Times
- Mali: Three UN peacekeepers die in a roadside bomb explosion
February 21, 2023
Three United Nations peacekeepers were killed and five others seriously injured on Tuesday when their convoy struck a roadside bomb in central Mali, the UN mission said. “A MINUSMA Force convoy hit an Improvised Explosive Device IED today,” it said in a tweet that gave a preliminary toll. Read more… Source: Punch News
- Japan contributes to UN Mine Action Service for humanitarian mine action and peacebuilding in Sudan
February 7, 2023
The Government of Japan has contributed USD 980,000 to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), a component of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), to advance Sudan’s peacebuilding efforts through humanitarian mine action. Aiming to mitigate the threat of explosive ordnance posed to Sudanese population as well as humanitarian and development ...
- Chinese peacekeepers safeguard peace with practical actions
February 3, 2023
Leaving Beirut, capital of Lebanon, all along the coastal highway southward and passing through bustling towns, you can see more checkpoints and armored vehicles of the United Nations peacekeeping force on road. In the south Lebanese city of Tyre about an hour and a half drive from here lies the barrack of the Chinese peacekeeping ...
- UN reports tense situation in eastern DR Congo after rebel attacks, deadly blast
January 28, 2023
Attacks by the M23 Movement rebels and an explosion wounding 18 civilians leave a tense situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a UN spokesman said on Thursday. One clash was in the southeast of Kitchanga, in North Kivu province, while other fights, including heavy weapons, occurred in Kishishe, about 25 km northwest ...
- At Least 32 Peacekeeping, Associated Personnel Killed in Malicious Attacks during 2022, United Nations Staff Union President Says
January 20, 2023
At least 32 United Nations peacekeeping personnel — 28 military and four police, including one woman police officer — were killed in deliberate attacks in 2022, the United Nations Staff Union said today. For the ninth year in a row, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was the deadliest for peacekeepers with ...
- Central African Republic: Weapons and Ammunition Management Country Insight
January 16, 2023
UNIDIR defines WAM in a comprehensive manner covering the oversight, accountability and governance of conventional arms and ammunition throughout their management cycle, including the establishment of relevant national frameworks, processes and practices for the safe and secure production and acquisition of materiel, stockpiling, transfers, end use control, tracing and disposal. This holistic approach is essential ...
- UNDOC: Opium cultivation in Afghanistan
October 31, 2022
Since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, opium cultivation increased by 32%, or 56,000 hectares, compared to the previous year. This represents the third largest area under cultivation since the beginning of systematic monitoring. The area under opium poppy cultivation in the 2022 cropping season was estimated at 233,000 hectares. Opium ...
- 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 ...
- 2021 Year in Review: UN support for countries in conflict
December 28, 2021
Long-running conflicts continued in Syria and Yemen this year, whilst fresh unrest caused serious instability in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Sudan. United Nations “Blue Helmet” peacekeepers suffered losses and injuries, particularly those serving in the peacekeeping missions in Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR). Nevertheless, the UN reaffirmed its commitment to protect those caught ...
- ‘Everything Living Is Dying’: Environmental Ruin in Modern Iraq
December 21, 2021
As far back as 2005, the United Nations had estimated that Iraq was already littered with several thousand contaminated sites. Five years later, an investigation by The Times, a London-based newspaper, suggested that the U.S. military had generated some 11 million pounds of toxic waste and abandoned it in Iraq. Today, it is easy to ...
- How is the reconstruction of Iraq going?
January 31, 2019
In July 2017, the last Islamic State fighters left in the city of Mosul attempted to flee by swimming across the mighty Tigris River that runs through Iraq’s second largest city. They had been defeated. As patriotic music blared out of portable speaker systems, Iraqi soldiers danced on tanks and re-raised their national flag. But, as ...
- Police in Nigeria confirm killing of 16 people in Borno triple suicide attacks
August 17, 2017
UN restates support to combat terrorism in Nigeria The Borno State Police Command has said that 16 people were killed in Konduga town of the state when three suspected suicide bombers attacked a livestock market by detonating their strapped Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs) on Tuesday. The triple market bomb blasts also injured 82 traders and passers-by who ...
- Civilian killed in IED blast in western Baghdad
August 6, 2017
A civilian was killed as an IED blast took place in western Baghdad, a police source said on Sunday. “A bomb placed under a civilian’s vehicle exploded on Sunday evening while passing at al-Hayakel region in al-Ghazaliya district, causing the driver’s immediate death,” the source told AlSumaria News. Security troops, according to the source, who asked to ...
- Qatari charity on new terror list has ties to USAID, UN
June 15, 2017
A charity in Qatar that was recently sanctioned for links to terrorism by some Arab countries has worked with the U.S. government’s main aid agency and several United Nations agencies, Fox News has learned. The sanctions came as a result of fallout from a growing diplomatic fight between a Saudi Arabia-led coalition and Qatar over what ...
- Yemen: Children tormented by landmines and unexploded ordnance
July 30, 2013
Unexploded remnants of Yemen’s conflicts have killed and injured dozens of children and threaten the country’s fragile return to peace. Thirteen-year-old Nakhlah Ramadhan was tending sheep with her younger sister Fatima on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, when she stepped on a landmine. She was killed instantly; Fatima was seriously injured. Read more… Source: United Nations ...