Olukayode Michael, in Maiduguri
All people have the right to live in security, and not fear their next step, the Secretary General of United Nations (UN), António Guterres has said.
The Secretary General in his message on the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, said: “Mine action clears paths and creates safe ground on which homes can be built or rebuilt. Mine action changes mindsets so that people know how to protect themselves. It gives people and communities new horizons and hope.”
He said: “The path towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development must be clear of landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices.
He noted that: “For more than 20 years, the United Nations has helped States to free themselves from the threat of mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices.
“This year, the United Nations has launched a new strategy and a campaign — “Safe Ground” — to ensure that no one, no state, and no war zone is left behind. With this global campaign, our aim is to turn minefields into playing fields, and to raise resources for victims and survivors of armed conflict.”
Guterres, whose message was read in Maiduguri at the commemoration of International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, by Lionel Pechera, Programm Officer, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Nigeria said: “I call on all States to provide political and financial support for mine action. I also call on States that have not yet acceded to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and associated Protocols, and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, to do so without delay. For prevention, protection, and lasting peace, universalization of these treaties is essential and strict compliance with International Humanitarian Law is a must.”
He said: “I pay tribute to the UN Mine Action Service and to the women and men who show extraordinary bravery in advancing this vital work, literally step by step. On this International Day for Mine Awareness, let us reaffirm our commitment to eradicating the horrendous damage caused by landmines and assisting those who have been harmed by their use.”
Reading his speech, Pechera lamented that “in areas impacted by the conflict, as much as 20 per cent of munitions fired have not exploded on impact, resulting in high volumes of contamination in areas largely vacated by the civilian communities.”
He said: “Those ERWs indiscriminately injure, maim, kill civilians, including children and can be the source of long-term socio-economic issues further contributing to this conflict.
Not only is the population under indirect threat from ERWs, it is also directly threatened by improvised explosive devises (IEDs), through the extensive use of person borne IEDs (PBIED, or suicide bombers) or vehicle borne IED (VBIED) to target mosques and other public spaces.”
He said: “With the increasing will to wrap up efforts to enable IDPs to return home and the growing number of humanitarian actors in the region, the risk of injury caused by explosive hazards has never been greater.”
Pechera said: “In this context, Mine Action actors, such as the Danish Demining Group, the Mine Advisory Group and ourselves are currently heavily engaged in reducing the impact of explosive hazards in close relationship with Nigerian Partners. This is primarily done through conducting risk education sessions for the civilian communities and humanitarian actors in the region.
“In the absence of a large-scale decontamination campaign because of the ongoing conflict, risk education sessions are proving to be critical to mitigate the risk of injury through the adoption of safe behaviour in the presence of explosive hazards by the civilian communities and humanitarian actors.
“Further efforts are also underway to enhance information collection and analysis as to precisely assess the type of contamination, define priority areas to target and secure allocate resources for the development of operations. Not only this information is essential to immediately protect the population, but it will also ease recovery and further development.”
He added that: “However, those progresses are not sufficient and more needs to be achieved to ensure sustainable and long-term results towards what could be peace. In the case of risk education sessions, further fine tuning and innovative solutions are needed to ensure that those safe behaviours are not forgotten. Information needs to be flawlessly exchanged among all actors to ensure a coordinated humanitarian mine action response.”
He said: Mine action could even be pushed further through a support to national authorities in the development of institutional capacities, specifically focused on normative frameworks, inter-ministerial/inter-agency coordination, information management, operational processes and capabilities enhancement. With a strong national capacity for mine action, the return of IDPs and the delivery of humanitarian assistance, through the clearance of agricultural land, roads and village, could be rendered safer and more sustainable in the long-run.”
