International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

UNMAS Press conference related to the 28th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and United Nations Advisers. Speakers:Ilene Cohn, Director UNMAS. Ambassador Tobias Privitelli, Director GICHD. Watch the UNMAS - Press conference related to the 28th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and United Nations Advisers!

The  UNMAS helps ensure that United Nations Peacekeeping missions can implement their complex mandates in spite of explosive threats. At the Peacekeeping Ministerial, Member States will have the opportunity to help protect communities and peacekeepers against this growing threat .

  Mine action   encompasses activities aimed at mitigating the risks posed by explosive hazards, including landmines and unexploded ordnance , through  Clearance,  Mine risk education,  Victim assistance,  Advocacy  Stockpile destruction.

The United Nations mine action community will commemorate the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action 2025 on April 4th under the theme “ Safe Futures Start Here ”. The community will bring attention to the progress made over the last year and the challenges that remain in countries around the worl d. Building on the Pact of the Future , considering the condemnation of the devastating impact of armed conflict on all persons including persons with disabilities (Action 14) and seizing “on opportunities provided by new and emerging technologies to empower and advance equity for persons with disabilities, including through promoting the availability of assistive technologies” (Action 29), events and campaigns will focus on raising awareness about the needs of people around the world. Events at United Nations Headquarters On 3 April 2025, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions, Mr. Alexandre Zouev, and two other UN officials will b...

The UNMHA supports mine action coordination efforts in Hudaydah, working with Yemeni counterparts and mine action organizations to address landmine and ERW contamination in Hudaydah, ensuring a safer future.    Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #Yemen , #IMAD2025 , #SafeFuturesStartHere .

The threat of landmines has been a reality since 2014 in Ukraine & worsened since 2022. The UNOPS_Ukraine with France funding in 2024: Cleared 220 hectares in former active hostilities areas Neutralized 500+ explosives

Since December 8, 2024, Syria has witnessed a tragic rise in casualties from explosive ordnance. Between then and March 25 this year, 748 casualties have been reported— 500 of them since January 1 alone. This, compared to 912 casualties reported for all of 2024. Landmines and explosive ordnance have claimed the lives of children while playing in Dara’a and Hama, women have been injured while collecting firewood or scrap metal in Deir ez Zor and Idleb, farmers have been maimed while working their fields in Douma. The recent surge in casualties is linked to the developments of the past few months in Syria. Abandoned military vehicles, potentially loaded with ammunition or explosives, and neglected weapons stockpiles have increased civilian exposure. Meanwhile, military strikes across the country on weapon and ammunition storage sites have further scattered deadly explosive ordnance, putting more communities at risk. With a growing number of displaced people returning to their locations o...

Speakers: Richard Boulter, Chief of Design, Operational Support and Oversight, UNMAS (in person); along with Edwin Faigmane, Chief of the Mine Action Programme in Nigeria (virtual), and Fatma Zourrig, Chief of the Mine Action Programme in Libya (virtual) Topics: IMAD 2025 . Watch the Press Conference of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) ahead of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action 2025;April 4th!

  Upcoming events From 14 Apr 2025 – 25 Apr 2025 In  Kenya ; the Gender Focal Point (GFP) Development Programme will held a event. From 28 Apr 2025 – 09 May 2025, in the  Pacific Region , the Operations Analyst Course will held several training sessions From 05 May 2025 to 15 May 2025, the  Programme de coopération régionale francophone du GICHD (FRCP)  will held a ''Formation pour gestionnaires de projets d’Education aux Risques des Engins Explosifs (EREE)''

Around the world, more than 100 million people are at risk from landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices. From Afghanistan to Myanmar, from Sudan to Ukraine, Syria, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and beyond, these deadly devices litter rural and urban communities, indiscriminately killing civilians and blocking vital humanitarian and development efforts. Even when the guns fall silent, these remnants of war remain, lurking in fields and on pathways and roadways, threatening the lives of innocent civilians and the livelihoods of communities. Year in and year out, the brave mine action personnel of the United Nations work with partners to locate and remove these weapons, provide education and threat assessments, and ensure people can live, work and travel safely. They do so at great risk – as demonstrated most recently in Gaza. This year’s theme for the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action — Safe Futures Start Here — reminds...

For communities in landmine-affected areas, mobility & the journey back to normalcy are severely disrupted. Efforts to remove landmines and remnant explosives are essential for a safer future. Follow the conversation with the hashtags:   #IMAD2025 , #MineAction , #SafeFuturesStartHere

ERW refers to unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) . Ordnance is a general term that covers military weapons and ammunition (not to be confused with ordinance – which refers to a law or regulation). Unexploded ordnance or UXO refers to munitions (bombs, rockets, artillery shells, mortars, grenades and the like) that have been used but failed to detonate asintended. Failure rates may be as low as 1 or 2 per cent, or as high as 30 to 40 percent, depending on a range of factors, such as the quality of original manufacture, the age of the weapon, storage conditions, the method of use and environmental conditions. Abandoned ordnance or AXO refers to explosive ordnance that has not been used during an armed conflict, but which has been left behind or dumped by a party to an armed conflict, and which is no longer under the control of the party that left it behind or dumped it. Abandoned explosive ordnance may or may not have been primed, fuzed, armed or otherw...