Provision of Explosive Ordnance Risk Education in Transit and Encashment Centres for Returnees in Afghanistan

The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) supports the Directorate of Mine Action Coordination (DMAC) to coordinate the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) through the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

More than three decades of armed conflict in Afghanistan have left widespread mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination across the country. The (MAPA) has been working to clear this contamination since 1989. The MAPA currently focuses on implementing the ten-year 2013-2023 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) Extension Request Work Plan, which will see all recorded contamination cleared by 2023, subject to the continued availability of funding.

As of 31 January 2020, there are approximately 1,484 communities affected by 4,077 hazards with an area of 1,258.82 sq. km contaminated by landmines and ERW in Afghanistan. These impacted communities are spread out across 253 districts of every province in the country, which affect an estimated number of 2.3 million people. Meanwhile, other significant challenges include the ongoing kinetic engagements which have been ongoing since 2001, and have left behind many ERW, posing significant threats to the civilians.

Returning refugee population (returnees) and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are identified as at-risk groups, prone to mine/ ERW threats, due to their unfamiliarity with the threats posed by explosive hazards and their location while en-route and upon arrival to their final destination. The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) supports the efforts of DMAC to mitigate these explosive threats to the lives and livelihoods of Afghan civilians. One tool used to do this is through explosive ordnance risk education at land border crossings.

According to the Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2020, “conflict displaced 398,000 people in the first 11 months of 2019 (averaging 36,181 people per month) … In 2019, displacement was more pronounced in the east, north east and north of the country. While returns from Pakistan are low (25,000 up to end November 2019), 430,000 people have come back to Afghanistan from Iran, driven by that country’s economic decline. Deportations from Iran (over 50 per cent of the total), Turkey (nearly 16,000) and European countries (543) are also an escalating dimension of the crisis.” 

A number of grants are available to support mine action operations in line with the APMBC Work Plan during Afghan year 1399 (2020-2021). This grant will support Provision of Explosive Ordnance (EO) Risk Education (RE) in Transit and Encashment Centres for Returnees in Afghanistan and alternative communities for IDPs. Furthermore, an emphasis on capacity building for the MAPA regarding EORE should be applied to the implementation of this project with a view to enhance the national capacity of the mine action sector.

The selected grantee(s) will be expected to have exclusive control over the completion of the below objectives although aspects of the quality of the work shall be subject to review by the DMAC and UNOPS on behalf of UNMAS staff.