IMPACT
Since 1989, about45,300 Afghan civilians have been recorded to have been killed or injured by landmines and explosive rermnants of war (ERW). The average monthly civilian casualties from explosive devices in Afghanistan currently stand at around50 individuals. ERW from armed clashes caused nearly 86 percent of the casualties recorded during January 2023 to August 2024. In the same year, more than 89% percent of the ERW casualties were children.
Humanitarian mine action partners in Afghanistan have cleared more than14 million items of ERW, some759,752anti-personnel (AP) mines, some35,052 anti-vehicle (AV) mines, and some12,938 Abandoned Improvised Mines since 1989. A total of 35,642 hazardous areas have been cleared or otherwise canceled since 1989. This represents over 3,800square kilometers of land released for productive use to3,300 gazetteer communities.
Some5,245 identified hazards remain, representing nearly1,210 km2 of land, threatening about1,746 communities, impeding safe movement of civilians and humanitarians, reducing safe access to socio-economic opportunities and impeding development.
Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) has reached10.7 million beneficiaries (1.67 million women, 1.89 million men, 2.84 million girls and 4.28 million boys) since the start of the program.
The Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) was established in 1989. In 2012, the Afghan Directorate for Mine Action Coordination (DMAC) began to execute aspects of the programme management of the MAPA in direct collaboration with UNMAS and obtained ownership on 1 June 2018 after progressive transition when DMAC absorbed all Afghan technical mine action personnel previously employed by UNMAS. At the request of the former Afghan Government, UNMAS stayed to provide continued technical support. After August 2021 the DMAC was no longer able to carry out the daily coordination of mine action operations. In the absence of a strong coordination function, the operations of MAPA were at risk of failing to address humanitarian priorities, duplication of effort, lack of adherence to safety standards and IMAS, and inability to record clearance and issue land release certificates. UNMAS continued to support the coordination of the humanitarian mine action sector through the provision of technical assistance to DMAC by directly contracting technical consultants, and from October 2023, through the setting up of the UNMAS-led Mine Action Technical Cell.
The UN Security Council Resolution 2626 (2022) adopted on 17 March 2022, and renewed in 2024, mandates the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in the para 5 (j), to “support, within its mandate, existing mechanisms to improve the overall security situation in Afghanistan, provide assessments of the explosive ordnance threat and its impact on civilians, including children, advise and coordinate explosive ordnance threat mitigation measures in support of humanitarian and development initiatives, support the coordination of the humanitarian mine action sector…”.
Contribution to the creation of peace and stability in Afghanistan
UNMAS provides explosive ordnance threat assessment to UNAMA including developing and sharing information management products; advises and coordinates mitigating measures - such as survey and clearance, explosive ordnance disposal, and risk education that are bilaterally funded by donors to humanitarian mine action organizations - against explosive ordnance threat, as a Mission component.
UNMAS supports the coordination of the humanitarian mine action sector. Since October 2023, the UNMAS-led Mine Action Technical Cell has been carrying out successfully essential coordination functions including planning and prioritization, quality management, and information management, which backstopped impactful humanitarian mine action operations in the country, ensuring humanitarian prioritization of mine action, and facilitating overall humanitarian response.
Concurrently, UNMAS continued advocacy efforts for the importance of continuous support to mine action activities in particular through bilaterally funding, ensuring that mine action needs are well represented under multiple UN documents and engagement platforms. UNMAS as the lead of the Mine Action Sub-Cluster (MASC) in the country under the Mine Action Area of Responsibility (MA AoR) of the Global Protection Cluster, collaborated closely with other UN agencies and humanitarian organizations in the areas of planning, prioritization, information sharing, and operations, to support humanitarian delivery and access to essential services with a greater synergy.
IMSMA data indicates that explosive hazards are blocking approximately 133sq.km of agricultural land, 878sq.km of grazing areas, 167sq.km of housing areas and public facilities, and 32sq.km of irrigation canals and roads. Furthermore, there are 400 educational facilities and 210 health facilities across Afghanistan located within 1 km of hazardous areas.
Mine Action is among the severely underfunded sectors in Afghanistan, with several donors having either stopped or significantly reduced their contributions. There are 6 national implementing partners with 30 years of experience in mine action. These organizations are on the verge of closing in 2024 as they were mostly dependent on UNMAS supported mine action interventions.
MAPA workforce: There has been an 82% decline in the size of the MAPA workforce since 2011 when the program received its highest funding and employed more than 14,900 people. Currently, only 2,750 people are employed under MAPA. Despite mine action services having more access than any time in recent history.
Starting from November 2022, UNMAS receives funding support from UNAMA as a Mission component, in addition to receiving voluntary contributions from institutional donors. UNMAS thanks the following donors for their generous support in 2023 and 2024:Denmark, Germany, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the UN
Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the UN Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF) and the Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA).
UNMAS also thanks the following donors for continued bilateral support to the MAPA:The United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), European Union (EU) Japan, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia, PATRIP, AHF, and UNDP.
For more information, please contact: Mr. Nicholas Pond Mine Action Programme in Afghanistan.
Data as of October 2024
