“Mines, explosive remnants of war, and improvised explosive devices continue to cause death and injury, especially in situations of armed conflict. On average, one person is killed or injured by such explosive device every hour,” the United Nations said in a statement regarding the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
“Many children are among the victims. The use of improvised explosive devices has expanded, terrorizing civilians and threatening humanitarian actors and United Nations missions and personnel.
In 2024 to commemorate the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, UNMAS is advocating for a greater awareness of the needs and rights of all people with disabilities in conflict and peacebuilding settings. Bringing attention to the five-year anniversary of Security Council resolution 2475, which calls upon Member States and Security Council members to protect persons with disabilities, ensure they have access to assistance and are included in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.
In light of the appointment of Giles Duley as the United Nations Global Advocate for persons with disabilities in conflict and peacebuilding situations, the UN mine action community will seek to strengthen the implementation of resolution 2475 and focus attention on ensuring that no one, included persons with disabilities, is left behind.
On 8 December 2005, the General Assembly declared that 4 April of each year shall be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
It called for continued efforts by States, with the assistance of the United Nations and relevant organizations, to foster the establishment and development of national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and explosive remnants of war constitute a serious threat to the safety, health and lives of the civilian population, or an impediment to social and economic development at the national and local levels.
For over 20 years, the work of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has been driven by the needs of affected people and tailored to the threat of explosive hazards faced by civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarians.
UNMAS works to save lives, to facilitate deployment of UN missions and the delivery of humanitarian assistance, to protect civilians, to support the voluntary return of the internally displaced and refugees, to enable humanitarian and recovery activities and to advocate for international humanitarian and human rights law.
Guided by its inter-agency policy, the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action (IACG-MA), consisting of 12 departments, agencies, funds and programmes, and with observer entities, such as the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research and World Bank continue to ensure system-wide coherence in all mine action pillars and activities.
The United Nations Mine Action Strategy serves as an accountability framework for the United Nations system and participating entities, guiding efforts to prevent and address explosive ordnance threats during and after armed conflicts while supporting affected communities. As agreed by IACG-MA Principals in June 2023, this Strategy will no longer be timebound and will continue to be subject to periodic review every two years to coincide with the biennial report of the Secretary-General on assistance in mine action. The Principals of the IACG-MA endorsed the UN Strategy on 13 December 2023. The Strategy came into effect as of 1 January 2024,” the UN added.
