Suchergebnisse

From 9 to 12 June 2009, representatives of the Colombian government's humanitarian mine action office and the Humanitarian Demining Department of the Colombian military met to devise a way forward in planning for the expansion and enhancement of the country's program to eradicate landmines from the national territory. The Mine Action Information Center at James Madison University facilitated the Colombia Humanitarian Demining Planning Workshop (Taller de Planificación del Desminado Humanitario en Colombia) in Bogotá, Colombia. The workshop was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, and was attended by representatives from the U.S. and Colombian governments, international organizations, and key stakeholders in Colombia's work against landmines. More than 40 participants worked together to draft a Plan of Action for Colombian humanitarian demining activities. They will use the plan as a guiding document for developing future mine-action activities. The plan emphasized integration and cooperation among military forces, national authorities, and international partners. The workshop opened with speeches from Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón and Andrés Dávila, director of the Programa Presidencial de Acción Integral contra las Minas Antipersonal (PPAICMA, the Presidential Program for Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Landmines). Officials from PPAICMA and the Humanitarian Demining Department of the Armed Forces of Colombia then described for the group the current status of the country's humanitarian mine clearance program and its planned expansion. Presentations by international counterparts from the Organization of American States, Jordan's National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation, Mines Advisory Group, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Southern Command provided additional information and lessons learned from other mine-affected countries that were considered potentially useful in the Colombian context.

The Humanitarian Demining Information Center (HDIC) at James Madison University is developing a plan for identifying, analyzing, enhancing, and disseminating electronic and hard copy information relating to humanitarian demining. The first step toward realizing this objective was identifying the information needs, information availability and optimal methods for organizing and delivering information to the humanitarian demining community. Broadly conceived, the humanitarian demining community consists of ten components. • U.S. government agencies that have as part of their mission the development of programs for humanitarian demining in selected countries • volunteer organizations that are directly involved in the task of humanitarian demining • for-profit organizations that are directly involved in the task of humanitarian demining • those who devise or provide technologies for this activity • volunteer organizations whose primary mission is that of providing short emergency aid or long term development assistance to victims of natural disasters and civil unrest that brings them into contact with the landmine threat • organizations whose interest in the field of humanitarian demining lies in the area of public advocacy • academic and research organizations whose involvement in humanitarian demining is largely tangential through their broader interest in world politics • relief organizations that have a sustained and direct exposure to humanitarian demining projects • UN or international organizations' agencies that are charged with demining as a subset of responding to complex human emergencies and promoting disaster prevention and preparedness • Local or host government agencies that provide an indigenous capability to undertake humanitarian demining operations Data from these organizations was obtained by a variety of means including: telephone surveys, analysis of printed material, analysis of organizational web sites, a conference on humanitarian demining held at James Madison University, and a survey of the existing literature on humanitarian demining. When significant differences exist in the nature of the response by these organizations to the questions asked in the telephone survey or in their printed material and web sites, these differences are noted in the analysis.

Despite twenty-first-century technological advances by Western militaries for demining and the removal of improvised explosive devices, humanitarian demining relies mostly on mid-twentieth-century technology. While international legal efforts to curb the global use of landmines have been quite successful, constraints on humanitarian demining technology mean that unfortunate and preventable deaths of both civilians and deminers continue to occur. Developing devices and technologies to help human deminers successfully and safely carry out their work is a major challenge. Each phase of the physical demining process (i.e., vegetation clearance, mine detection, and removal) can benefit from the development of demining technologies. However, even with the prospect of "smart" demining technology, the human aspect of supervision remains a crucial challenge. Although current research and development hold promise for the future of humanitarian demining, the barriers to progress in the field are more than technical. The prioritization of military operations, a lack of coordination between governments and humanitarian actors, a tendency towards secrecy, and an underlying lack of funding are just some of the roadblocks to eliminating the yearly death toll associated with humanitarian demining, in addition to other impacts on post-conflict societies. This paper calls for new ideas, renewed innovation, and new sources of governmental and non-governmental support for this often-neglected aspect of international security.

2010 was an important year for everyone striving for a world free of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war. It was particularly important for the Antipersonnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) and for its implementation. The evaluation of the APMBC Implementation Support Unit (ISU) confirmed the appreciation of the States Parties and other stakeholders for the effective work of the ISU and for the role played by the GICHD in hosting it. Moreover, the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) on 1 August 2010 represented a positive legal and political step in supporting the fight against indiscriminate weapons. It is encouraging for operators in the field, who have surveyed, cleared and destroyed all kinds of ordnance over many years. Some of the procedures, methods and techniques developed for the disposal of landmines can be used directly for cluster munitions clearance; others may need adaptation. The GICHD is undertaking research and developing practical tools to meet these challenges. In December 2010, the First Meeting of States Parties to the CCM took place in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The GICHD participated in this major event and organised a side-event focusing on the implementation of the new Convention. The GICHD's dedication to support the full implementation of both the APMBC and the CCM, and towards humanitarian disarmament in general, will remain strong in 2011 and beyond. I would, therefore, like to thank our donors for their support, which enables the GICHD to fulfil its important mission.

The United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DoD) Humanitarian Demining Programme has four explicit goals: 1. TO ASSIST HOST NATIONS IN ESTABLISHING LONG-TERM, SUSTAINABLE, INDIGENOUS HUMANITARIAN DEMINING PROGRAMMES; 2. TO EXPLOIT THE SYNERGISM BETWEEN THE DOD HUMANITARIAN DEMINING PROGRAMME AND OTHER SIMILAR INTERNATIONAL, REGIONAL AND U.S. EFFORTS; 3. TO ESTABLISH A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO PROVIDING THE APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT, TECHNICAL DATA, AND OTHER SUPPORT TO CONDUCT MINE AWARENESS AND MINE CLEARANCE TRAINING PROGRAMMES AND, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, EQUIPMENT FOR NEWLY TRAINED PERSONNEL TO THE FIELD; AND 4. TO SUPPORT U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND SECURITY INTERESTS.