International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

The International Day of Mine Awareness and Support for Mine Action on April 4^th each year is an opportunity for the United Nations Mine Action Agency (UNMAS) and other organizations to respond and raise awareness about mines, remnants of war (ERW), improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and take further action to eliminate them.

History

On December 8^th 2005, the General Assembly informed that April 4^th every year shall be considered as the International Day of Mine Awareness and Support for Mine Action.

It calls on States to continue their efforts, with the support of the United Nations and related organizations, to promote the establishment and development of national capacity for mine action in countries where unexploded ordnance and explosive remnants of war pose a serious threat to the safety, health and life of civilians or an obstacle to economic and social development at the national and local level..

For more than 20 years, the United Nations Mine Action Agency (UNMAS) has been developed a lot because of the needs of affected people and meet to the threat posed by explosive hazards faced by civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarians.

UNMAS works to save lives, facilitate the implementation of UN missions and provide humanitarian assistance, protect civilians, support the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons, authorizes humanitarian and rehabilitation activities and advocates for humanitarian and international human rights law.

The United Nations supports the universalization of existing legal frameworks and encourages Member States to expand them and develop new international tools to protect civilians from unexploded ordnance left over after the war. It does this work in partnership with interested countries, civil society, mine action and international organizations.

Since the sign of Convention for the Prohibition of Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and Their Disposal, commonly known as the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention in 1997, there was 164 countries joined in it.

In addition to landmines, challenges remain for all explosives left over from the war. On November 12^th 2006, The Secretary-General has adopted Protocol V on Remnants of War coming into force from the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention and has not forgotten to call for the universalization and implementation of this protocol. In December 2008, the Secretary-General welcomed the opening of the Cluster Munitions Convention, signed by 108 States.

Guided by its interagency policy, the United Nations Inter-Agency Coordinating Group on Mine Action (IACG-MA), consisting of 12 committees, agencies, funds and programs, and with other organizations Observers, such as the United Nations Institute for Disarmament and the World Bank, continue to ensure system-wide consistency across all mine action pillars and activities.

In 2018, UNMAS held a meeting and chaired the drafting of the United Nations Mine Action Strategy for the period of 2019-2023. Two of the most important aspects of the Strategy are that it presents an accountability framework for the United Nations system and provides a Theory of Change for UN involvement in countermeasures mine recovery.

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action activities

The United Nations has committed to highlight how “Perseverance, Partnership and Progress” has carried the mining sector through a challenging year that saw the onset of the pandemic. The UN will promote its efforts to reduce improvised explosive devices. Unexploded ordnance will be cleared, and national partners' exit and capacity growth plans will persist. The mine action community will continuously change to adapt and make sure for preventing a society free from the threat of mines and unexploded ordnance.