UNDP Welcomes EUR 1.5 Million Contribution From Italy To Mine Action Programme In Ukraine

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine is to receive a substantial contribution of EUR 1.5 million from the Government of Italy to bolster UNDP’s Mine Action Programme in Ukraine. This funding will significantly enhance efforts to expedite land Read More …

Leveraging new technology for a mine-free future

The devastating legacy of armed conflict – often marked by the indiscriminate use of landmines, improvised explosive devices and other explosive ordnance – poses a significant humanitarian challenge. Innovation in mine action With over 25 years of experience, UNOPS has Read More …

Lebanon: Deminers back in action as critical task awaits in southern Lebanon

Despite the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, most of the Lebanese people displaced over the past three months have already started returning to their homes. However, for most, it is not a happy homecoming. According to the World Bank, Read More …

Children at Risk: The Dangerous Impacts of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas

Conflicts across the globe illustrate the devastating humanitarian consequences when urban areas become theatres of war. The use of explosive weapons in these environments carries numerous implications for civilians, including children. What is being done at the international level, and Read More …

Demining Ukraine’s Farmland: Progress, Adaptation, and Needs

More than one thousand days into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination on Ukrainian farmland remains a complex and pervasive challenge for Ukraine’s farmers and government, its allies, and the global mine action Read More …

Japan steps up WWII bomb disposal after recent discoveries near airfields, ports

Japanese divers working magnetic surveys for the government at two sites on Okinawa discovered 20 pieces of unexploded ordnance believed to be left over from World War II. Most recently, divers found a 5-inch shell on Nov. 26 in 52-foot Read More …

An autonomous microbial sensor enables long-term detection of TNT explosive in natural soil

Engineered microbes can sense target chemicals and respond with programmed actions, using cell sensors to detect specific chemicals and genetic circuits to convert regulatory signals into observable outcomes1,2,3. Microbial sensors have the potential to carry out autonomous, long-term environmental monitoring Read More …

Cross-Border Humanitarian Demining

This guide is intended to advance the clearance of landmines from border areas when there is political will to do so. More specifically, it is meant inform affected states, as well as donor states, of some of the various approaches Read More …

Netherlands: World War II bombs safely neutralized near Moordrecht

Two unexploded World War II aircraft bombs were safely neutralized overnight from Saturday to Sunday near Moordrecht in South Holland, the municipality of Zuidplas reported. The first bomb was rendered safe at approximately 2:15 a.m. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service Read More …

Iraq: Bomb squad dismantles 27 war remnants in Diyala

Ministry of Interior’s Bomb Squad announced on Saturday that it had successfully neutralized 27 war remnants in Diyala province. In a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the ministry said that IED technicians in the Kusayrin area of Read More …

Japanese troops to defuse unexploded WWII bombs found near commercial airport

Japanese ordnance disposal experts plan to defuse two suspected World War II-era bombs found last month on Miyakojima, a popular tourist spot 170 miles southwest of Okinawa. Soldiers with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s 101st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit expect Read More …

Afghanistan: Mine Clearance Organization warns of IED contamination

The Mine Clearance Organization recently announced that over 65 square kilometers of land in Afghanistan is contaminated with improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The organization has called on the global community to increase political and financial support for clearing these devices Read More …

Laos’ Hidden Suffering: Landmines And UXO Killing More Innocent Children

In the rugged and scenic mountains of remote villages in Laos, children and farmers contend with a legacy of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) threatening their lives for over 40 years. These leftover war remnants from the horrific Vietnam War Read More …

Historic mine ban treaty at risk as clearance rates plummet amid escalating global conflict

The HALO Trust, the international landmine clearance organisation, has called for global recommitment to the Landmine Ban Treaty following a 10 per cent drop in the number of anti-personnel mines cleared in 2023. The steep fall in landmines cleared is Read More …

Cambodia: Landmine claims farmer’s life in Oddar Meanchey

Yet another life was lost to a landmine when it exploded beneath a farmer’s tractor in Trapaing Prasat district on Saturday. Prime Minister Hun Manet expressed regret over the accident, said Ly Tuch, First Vice-President of the Cambodian Mine Action Read More …

Azerbaijani serviceman injured by landmine in Goranboy District

An Azerbaijani serviceman was injured after stepping on a landmine in the Goranboy district on November 10. The incident occurred near the village of Gulustan, where the mine was reportedly planted by Armenian armed forces. The Ministry of Defense confirmed Read More …

Indian Army defuses bomb found by shepherd near Indo-Pakistan border in Jaisalmer

The Konark Corps of the Indian Army defused a bomb, which was spotted by a shepherd, in a village near the international border in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district. Army sources said that the jawans connected the bomb with wires and defused Read More …

UK: WW2 bomb found on building site in East Tilbury safely detonated

Specialists have successful carried out a controlled explosion of a World War Two bomb discovered on a construction site. The buried device was uncovered near Station Road in East Tilbury, Essex at 11:30 GMT on Tuesday before the detonation took Read More …

The European Union and Cambodia standing together for a mine-free future

Cambodia is at peace today, but for 40,000 Cambodian amputees, the past wars are still with them every day, visible on their bodies. Mobility, dignity, family and economic integration are all affected by the scourge of mines. The EU and Read More …

The Estonian Navy, Together with Allies, Hunts for Historical Explosives in Estonian Waters

On October 4th, the Estonian Navy, together with NATO’s Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1), began a ten-day mine clearance operation in Estonian waters. During this operation, the Estonian Navy will search for, identify, and neutralize historical explosives in Read More …