4th April marks United Nations International Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which this year is commemorated under the theme “Safe Futures Start Here”.
Recent news includes the intention of countries to withdraw from Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, threatening over 20 years’ progress by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) who work tirelessly to reduce the threat posed to civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarians by landmines and explosive remnants of war.
On average, one person is killed or injured by such explosive devices every hour. Many children are among the victims.
Our demining teams have personal experience of the threat to their homes and lives. In 2022, Administrative Manager and Interpreter Iryna Stupnitska was forced to flee her home in Irpin. She remembers the fear when she returned, the feeling of being too scared to step on the ground in case she set off mines or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Like Iryna, who can be proud of the contribution she and her colleagues are making to reducing unprecedented Explosive Ordnance contamination in Ukraine, GCS Ukraine’s Mechanical Demining Team Leader Oleksandr Vorontsov knows how important their work is. “Each explosive object found is a life saved”, he says.
Watch our full-length video featuring Iryna and Oleksandr’s stories to find out more about how GCS is demining Ukraine and visit International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action | United Nations to find out more about Mine Action and the work of the United Nations Mine Action Community.
