More progress required to eliminate threat of landmines to Iraqis
“Landmines and unexploded ordinance continue to terribly affect Iraqis, restricting their access to essential services and, in the worst case, maiming and killing them”, said Mr. Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq. “Efforts must be scaled-up to heal the wounds of past wars and remove this menace, once and for all, from the lives of Iraqis.”
It is estimated that more than 1,730 square kilometers of land in Iraq is contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordinance, affecting 1.6 million Iraqis in around 4,000 communities across the country.
Of these, nearly one million children are affected by the presence of landmines with hundreds having been maimed or killed by exploded cluster bomblets since 1991. The most recent Iraqi child victimized is a twelve year old boy who lost one eye and both his hands from a munition that exploded when he was herding sheep near Basra in March, 2013.
“It is tragic and unacceptable that children continue to have their lives forever damaged by the presence of landmines,” stated Dr. Marzio Babille, UNICEF’s Representative to Iraq. “With determined effort, all landmines and unexploded ordinance in Iraq can be eradicated; we call on all actors – the Government of Iraq, international community and private sector – to coordinate to permanently eliminate this threat from the lives of Iraqi children and their families.”
Due to a shortage of funding, the UN’s Mine Action Program will come to an end by mid-2013. As a result, the UN appeals the Government of Iraq to urgently fund humanitarian mine action activities, such as demining and mine risk education, to improve the living conditions of Iraqis affected by landmines.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has been leading the UN’s Mine Action Program in Iraq, with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) supporting mine risk education activities and the World Health Organization (WHO) providing emergency health assistance to victims of exploded ordinance.
UNAMI
