Provision of Regional Mine Action Quick Response Capacity and Mobile Risk Education in Afghanistan

More than three decades of armed conflict in Afghanistan have left widespread anti-personnel (AP) anti-vehicle (AV) mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination across the country. The Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (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 July 2021, there are 1,528 communities located in 263 districts that are affected by the threat of landmines and ERW. The ongoing conflict further contaminates communities in Afghanistan with ERW and anti-personnel mines of an improvised nature (APM/IN). Currently, the civilian casualty rate from mines, ERW and APM/IN is critically high.

UNMAS Afghanistan supports the efforts of the DMAC/EMACC to mitigate the threat that these devices pose to the lives and livelihoods of Afghan civilians. UNMAS seeks to bring civilians together across political and conflict ideologies to make progress on humanitarian and positive communal pursuits, the potential for peace and other collaborative measures is realised.

Under this project, the Grantee is expected to use the following approaches to support DMAC/EMACC in achieving their objectives to manage a responsive mine action programme in Afghanistan;

1. Non-Technical Survey, Technical Survey, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal

2. Explosive Ordnance Risk Education

3. Victims Data Collection

4. Community Liaison