Mine action

Soeun Rem, 27, stepped on a mine while working with her father in their soy beans field in Pailin, Cambodia. She now runs a grocery shop, started through a micro-loan from the Australian Government funded Landmine Survivor Assistance Program. Photo: Somira Sao / Australian Red Cross

Landmines and other explosive remnants of war are serious obstacles to sustainable development in many of the world's poorest countries. They can be found anywhere and often deprive affected populations of basic needs such as access to water and health facilities, use of fertile agricultural land, and communication.

Australia is a significant contributor to international mine action, with a focus on providing assistance to the Asia-Pacific region. The Australian aid program includes support for mine clearance, mine risk education, victim assistance and advocacy activities, in collaboration with a range of international, regional and local actors.

The Australian aid program’s engagement in reducing the threat and impact of landmines and other explosive remnants of war is guided by the new Mine Action Strategy for the Australian aid program 2010-2014.

Under the strategy, Australia has pledged $100 million to work towards a world free from landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war over the next five years.

Landmines and other explosive remnants of war

Anti-personnel landmines and other explosive remnants of war remain serious obstacles to sustainable development in over 70 countries, including many of the world's poorest.

These devices pose a serious and ongoing threat to civilian populations. There is often no record of their location, particularly after civil wars. They can be found anywhere - on roads, forests, along borders, in schools or houses. They often lay waste to large tracts of potentially productive land, and restrict transport and communication.

Landmines and explosive remnants of war deprive affected populations of basic needs such as water and access to markets to sell their produce. They prevent the repatriation of refugees and internally displaced people, and hamper the delivery of humanitarian aid.

They cause more than 5,000 casualties each year, mostly civilians and many of them children. The continuing need to care for and rehabilitate landmine survivors, their families and communities, also places great strain on local health care services.

The international community’s response to these challenges is provided through mine action, which refers to a range of activities aiming to reduce the social, economic and environmental impact of landmines and other explosive remnants of war.

International instruments guiding mine action

Mine action is guided by a number of international instruments, or conventions, which prohibit or restrict the use of landmines and other devices which may become explosive remnants of war. Australia has taken an active role in the development and elaboration of these instruments.

The Mine Ban Convention

The 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (also known as the Mine Ban Convention) is the principal international instrument prohibiting the use of anti-personnel landmines.

The Mine Ban Convention obliges signatory countries to clear landmines on their territory, and sets up a framework for international assistance. It recognises that mine action is not just about removing dangerous landmines from the ground; it is also about understanding how people interact with mine-affected environments.

The Convention identifies five pillars, or key areas, for action:

victim assistance
clearance of mines areas
mine risk education
stockpile destruction
advocacy to universalise the Convention

Australia was one of the original signatories to the Convention in 1997 and passed legislation in 1998, giving effect to the Mine Ban Convention under Australian criminal law. A year later, Australia destroyed its stockpile of anti-personnel landmines, years ahead of the deadline agreed to under the Convention.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions

A more recent development in mine action is the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was opened for signature on 3 December 2008. Australia was proud to be one of the original signatories to this Convention.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions. Broadly defined, cluster munitions are weapons that, when launched or dropped by aircraft, disperse large numbers of sub-munitions over wide areas.

These sub-munitions, or bomblets, are usually designed to explode upon impact but often fail to do so and remain unexploded on the ground, posing considerable threats to civilian populations.

The Convention also creates a new standard for victim assistance which takes into account the broader socio-economic impact of cluster munitions, with provisions to assist the survivors of cluster munitions, their families and communities.

The Convention on Conventional Weapons

Unexploded ordnance (UXO) found in Uruzgan province in Afghanistan. Photo: Jacob Simkin / MACCA

Unexploded ordnance found in Oruzgan province in Afghanistan. Photo: Jacob Simkin / MACCA

The 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, or the Convention on Conventional Weapons, also provides elements guiding mine action activities.

Under this Convention, States Parties and parties to armed conflict are required to take action to clear, remove or destroy explosive remnants of war and record, retain and transmit information related to the use or abandonment of explosive ordnances. Australia ratified the convention on 29 September 1983.

Mine action through Australia’s aid program

Australia has made significant contributions towards global efforts to reduce the threat and impact of landmines and other explosive remnants of war, providing over $175 million since 1997.

Through the aid program, Australia is a leading contributor to international mine clearance efforts, victim assistance, mine risk education and integrated mine action programs that help survivors to rebuild their livelihoods.

Australia has supported partner governments in 16 affected countries across the Asia–Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

Reflecting the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to mine action, the new Mine Action Strategy for the Australian aid program (2010-2014) will guide Australia’s assistance for the next five years, supported by a $100 million pledge. This is an increase of $25 million over the previous five-year strategy from 2005 to 2010. It is the biggest ever commitment to mine action by Australia over a five-year period.

The goal of the strategy is to reduce the threat and socioeconomic impact of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war.

This goal will be achieved through the following four outcomes:

Improved quality of life for victims and their affected families and communities
Reduced number of deaths and injuries
Enhanced capacity of countries to manage their mine action programs
Effective leadership and advocacy by Australia on mine action

Australia’s assistance will focus on the most heavily contaminated countries in the Asia–Pacific region, while maintaining the flexibility to respond to other emerging needs and priorities.

Implementation of the strategy will support the Australian aid program’s overarching objectives of poverty reduction and sustainable development and contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It will also support the achievement of Australia’s disability-inclusive development strategy for the aid program, Development for All 2009-14.

The strategy will be delivered primarily through our bilateral country programs, targeting priorities identified by partner governments. It will contribute to the work of multilateral bodies, such as the United Nations, and of Australian and international non-government organisations engaged in mine action at country, regional and international levels.

Examples of Australian mine action activities

Advocacy and the universalisation of the Mine ban Convention

Australia provides funding to organisations that undertake activities contributing to the universalisation of the Mine Ban Convention and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. This includes support to:

the Implementation Support Unit of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, which fulfils a secretariat role for the Mine Ban Convention.

the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, assisting it to publish the annual Landmine Monitor Report. In 2009, this report summarised progress made in implementing the Mine Ban Convention over the past ten years, including information on mine action efforts, landmine casualties and mine action funding.

Mine clearance

25 year-old Kheun Sokhon is employed as a deminer by MAG in Cambodia, ridding the land of the hidden legacy that nearly took her life in 2002 when she stood on a landmine. She carefully checks the ground for landmines using a metal detector and a prodder. After it has been cleared, this land will be used by the community to safely access the river. Photo: Sean Sutton/MAG

25 year-old Kheun Sokhon is employed as a deminer by the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in Cambodia, ridding the land of the hidden legacy that nearly took her life in 2002 when she stood on a landmine. She carefully checks the ground for landmines using a metal detector and a prodder. After it has been cleared, this land will be used by the community to safely access the river. Photo: Sean Sutton/MAG

In Afghanistan, a key outcome of Australia’s support has been the establishment of a new Community Based Demining Project in Oruzgan province, in the south of the country. To date, around 71,000 square metres of land has been cleared through the removal of 18 anti-personnel mines and 6,968 explosive remnants of war, allowing affected communities to move freely again and to cultivate their lands. Australia’s assistance has also contributed to the clearing of 16 square kilometres along the border with Pakistan, freeing 549 communities from the threat of mines.

Australia has provided assistance to the United Nations Mine Action Service to address challenges facing southern Lebanon following conflict in 2006, which resulted in widespread contamination from unexploded ordnance, in particular cluster munitions.

In Sri Lanka, following the end of hostilities in May 2009, an Australian-supported project has cleared more than 1,000 square metres of mine contaminated land after the completion of the training of teams of deminers in two villages in the Rice Bowl area, Mannar district. It has removed 78 anti-personnel mines and two unexploded ordnance. It is envisaged that 96 families will be resettled in these areas soon after full clearance is completed.

In Cambodia, Australia continued its multi-year funding for the Clearing for Results program, a multi-donor mine clearance fund supporting Cambodia’s mine clearance efforts. Managed by the United Nations Development Programme, funding is directed to priority mine clearance tasks in accordance with Cambodia’s national and provincial development plans. During 2008, 6.8 million square metres of land was cleared of mines, exceeding the annual clearance target of 5.9 million square metres.

Victim assistance

Victim assistance activity in Iraq. Photo: Victor Mello / UNDP Iraq

In Cambodia, the Australian Red Cross receives support through the Landmines Survivor Assistance Fund, which provides small grants to non-governmental organisations to provide rehabilitation services. Since 2007, the fund has supported more than 10,000 beneficiaries to receive prosthetics, wheelchairs, physiotherapy and livelihood training and support, as well as access to adequate health care, clean water and latrines.

Australia’s recent support to the United Nations Development Programme in Iraq allowed the extension of the successful Conflict Victim Assistance Project. This project provides physical and socio-economic rehabilitation through victim assistance centres in the Erbil, Dahuk and Sulaymaniyah Governorates.

Integrated mine action

Integrated mine action is an approach to improving the social and economic well-being of mine-affected communities that involves undertaking complementary programming across more than one of the five pillars of mine action and incorporating mine action activities into development programs.

In Cambodia, Australia provides support to ActionAid to improve the livelihoods of people living in mine-affected villages in Banteay Meanchey Province. The project has improved socio-economic conditions for these communities through an integrated approach of clearing mines, providing water and community infrastructure, and agricultural and vocational skills training for vulnerable groups, particularly landmine victims.

In Laos, Australia’s support for the Reducing UXO (unexploded ordnance) Risk and Improving Livelihoods of Ethnic Communities project in Sekong Province has helped to reduce the vulnerability of poor ethnic communities affected by unexploded ordnance contamination. The project incorporates unexploded ordnance clearance, community-based planning and land use allocation, mine risk education and small scale rural development initiatives to improve livelihood security. CARE Australia is implementing the activity in partnership with the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action.

A School teacher trained by MAG presents a Mine Risk Education lesson to children in Bavel, Cambodia. Photo: Sean Sutton/MAG

A school teacher trained by the Mines Advisory Group presents a mine risk education lesson to children in Bavel, Cambodia. Photo: Sean Sutton / MAG

Mine risk education

In Cambodia, CARE Australia receives support for a project in Pailin Province which aims to address unexploded ordnance-tampering issues and reduce the rate of casualties from explosive remnants of war, through community mine risk education.

Also in Cambodia, World Vision Australia, in collaboration with the International Women’s Development Agency and with support from the Australian aid program, is piloting approaches to better target mine risk education to men and boys who experience the highest rate of mine and unexploded ordnance accidents.

International progress towards a mine-free world

Since 1997, 156 countries—more than three-quarters of the world’s states—have joined the Mine Ban Convention
The number of states reporting that they use landmines has dropped from 15 in 1999 to two in 2008
Since 1999, at least 1,100km² of mined areas and a further 2,100km² of battle areas, an area twice the size of London, have been cleared in more than 90 states and other areas. Operations have resulted in the destruction of more than 2.2 million emplaced antipersonnel mines, 250,000 antivehicle mines, and 17 million explosive remnants of war
86 States Parties have completed the destruction of their stockpiles, and four more are in the process. Together, they have destroyed about 44 million antipersonnel mines

While the international community has achieved much, as of August 2009, more than 70 countries were still believed to be mine-affected, and more than 5,000 mine and explosive remnants of war casualties are still being recorded every year.

Useful external links

Last reviewed: 21 April, 2011