A number of events will take place in April to mark the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
Perseverance, Partnership, Progress
The vision of the United Nations is a world free from the threat of mines, explosive remnants of war, cluster munitions, and improvised explosive devices. It is a world where individuals and communities live in safe homes, on safe ground, in safe environments. Where human rights, the right to life, liberty, personal security and basic needs are met and no one is left behind, including the survivors of explosive ordnance accidents, those wounded and disabled, who must be fully integrated as equal members of their societies.
Wars and insurgencies may end, but explosive contamination lasts for decades. Clearing explosive ordnance restores security, enables humanitarian response and paves the way for sustainable development.
Realising the vision requires perseverance and partnership. Twenty-two years ago the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention came into force and its vision was that by the end of the 2020s, if not before, all known landmines could be cleared, their manufacture permanently halted and all stockpiles destroyed.
Despite ongoing and protracted conflicts, new insurgencies, fresh contamination and the COVID-19 pandemic the people affected and the women and men working with and for them are steadfastly and diligently determined. This exhibit portrays their perseverance: the painstaking patience, concentration and stamina required to find and disarm landmines and explosive remnants of war; the internal strength to go the extra mile to inform populations at risk, even if it means repeating the same instructions 20 times a day; the long and gruelling battle to ensure that physical rehabilitation and reintegration is possible; and the vital importance of partnership, strong and equitable, from nomads to celebrities, to get the job done.
The UN Secretary-General Ant¨®nio Guterres during his visit to Mesetas, Colombia, in 2018. UN Photo
Â鶹´«Ã½ Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is an efficient and effective undertaking that coordinates the United Nations response to explosive ordnance, and deploys teams to survey, clear and dispose of these deadly devices.
In any year, that work poses tremendous challenges. But 2020 was a year like no other. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNMAS quickly adapted its work to tackle dramatically changed circumstances. Despite the impacts of lockdowns, social distancing and overall societal upheaval, UNMAS delivered.
Thousands of explosives were found and destroyed; hundreds of thousands of square meters of land were made safe and put to productive use, and millions of people living in, or returning to, contaminated areas, were provided with explosive ordnance risk education, incorporating, in many cases, lifesaving World Health Organization COVID-19 prevention guidance.
Ant¨®nio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Climbing a mountain on your knees, come rain or snow, demining demands resilience and determination in Afghanistan. ? United Nations. UNMAS
Mechanical clearance operation in Zabul province, Afghanistan. ? United Nations. UNMAS
Let¡¯s realize the UN vision of a world free from the threat of landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, where communities live in safe homes, on safe ground, in safe environments.
#IMAD2021
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This exhibit was launched in April 2021