UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UNMAS Press conference

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Continuing on play, the 20th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and United Nation Advisor will take place in Geneva from 9:00 to 11:00 of April.

This in person meeting brings together Mine Action leaders and experts to network and exchange views on pressing issues facing the sector.

This meeting is Co organised by the UN Mine Action Services and the GICHD on behalf of the UN Interagency Coordination Group on Mine Action and it provides an opportunity for leaders and expert to meet for three days to exchange a network on pressing issues faced by the mine action sector under this year.

The overarching theme Safe Futures start here.

You have received a media advisory on Friday.

Let us know if you if you have not received it and I'll resend it.

We've got other experts in town, including several UNDP experts and we've got a different liaison colleague in the room as well.

Now let me turn to the speaker who will present the the meeting.

So we have here James Staples with the UN Mine Action Services, Chief of Policy Advocacy, Donor Relation and Outreach.

And then we have Tobias privately who is the Director of GICHD.

With our further ado, I'm going to leave them the floor.

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Oh, sweetie, Sarah, thank you very much for the introduction.

As you may know, mines, explosive remnants of war and IEDs, or improvised explosive devices continues to cause death and injury around the world.

In numerous countries, on average, we estimate that one person is injured by one of these explosive ordinances approximately every 30 minutes.

It's also true that nearly 60 countries or territories are affected by explosive ordinance and the millions of people suffer from their impact on a daily basis.

You've mentioned already the National Mine Action Directors meeting, which will be occurring next week or this week rather, and you may have been aware that on Friday last week it was the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine action.

I will leave my good colleague Tobias to speak about the ****** and some statistics, but it's fair to say that mine action and the requirement to undertake mine action effects every person in many affected countries.

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And this is both a global ****** that requires a global response.

At the meeting this week, we'll be having over 800 participants.

They'll be ranging from UN colleagues, NGO colleagues, staff from NGOs in country and international NGOs, civil society activists, victims and survivors of mine actions.

And what is absolutely key and unusual about this meeting and conference is that it brings those people together in one forum for them to share ideas and to build upon each other's experience.

It really is a peer-to-peer learning experience, not just a meeting where we have a relatively stayed engagement.

What I'd like to do briefly is to bring the meeting to life a little bit and talk about what we'll be doing for the three days.

We'll be starting by sharing our experiences and our key lessons.

This will be done primarily at the national level.

Indeed, one of the days particularly is committed to national mine action directors sharing their skills, experiences and sharing their problems to work on solutions together.

We believe that national ownership and national leadership is key in the foundation of ensuring sustainable responses to mine action.

So that is a key part of the meeting and we'll also be looking at how technology and innovation can improve the work that we do.

And I know Tobias will speak on that briefly.

There'll be a number of plenary topics ranging from climate to an environment and what I want to just pour attention to is one that is led by a combination of member States.

There is a donor from Japan working very closely with a successful mine action centre from Cambodia and they'll be sharing their experiences with four African countries and how they're working together to build upon the lessons they have learned to make sure that we are the most effective organisation we can be.

And for me, the centrepiece of the of the meeting are what we call side events and there are over 40 side events this time around.

It's our largest number ever.

And what's key about these is that they are volunteers from the attendees who run small events where they can share problems, share challenges, share how they've come overcome issues, and pull together a group of practitioners really to understand and to make these things better.

And what I wanted to do is just to illustrate some of the topics that are being covered.

I would very much encourage you if you have the chance to log onto the website itsndm28@un.org and that will give you a full list and a full rundown of the activities.

But as an illustration, some of the key side events will be 3 different countries talking about how they coordinate mine action across borders in the Sahel.

Looking at how mine action is supporting the Women, Peace and Security agenda on the 25th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Police and security.

Looking at how partnerships and innovation can improve mine action.

Looking at how local communities are key stakeholders and vital to successful mine action.

Using Colombia as an example, working with civil society organisations, they'll be presenting about how risk education is key to saving lives in northeast Nigeria.

And we'll be working with NGOs from Yemen about how their activities are key to ensuring economic development and sustainable livelihoods.

Mine action, if you don't know, has five key pillars.

It talks about clearance, risk, education, victim assistance, stockpile destruction management and advocacy.

And as a team of over 800 people committed to mine action, we'll be discussing each of those topics.

If I might close by raising two points.

The first one is to highlight that tomorrow the UN Secretary Dren will will be hosting the first ever cabinet level meeting upon mine action.

At this meeting, he will put together senior UN leaders from across the holy UN system to talk about how we can work closely together both as an UN organisation but also with member States and key partners to maximise the impact of mine action.

I think this is really important, the first time that the Secretary General has LED a meeting on mine action.

And secondly, to highlight, I hope it's come across already, but mine action really is a joint endeavour, whether it's with the UN, think tanks and NGOs, but most importantly, staff, officials and citizens of those countries.

And working together, we can enable a safer future and make a difference to all those who suffer from ****** from an action.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

There was a question from Emma Farge about your name and title, so I'm going to say it again.

So you're James Staples from UN Mass, Chief policy advocacy, donor relation and outreach.

Let's move to and I'm going to take your name correctly, Tobias, privately with the director of GICHD.

Tobias, thank you.

[Other language spoken]

Colleagues, dear members of the press, it's a pleasure to be here.

We live in a time of increasing landmine contamination and increasing number of victims, and at the same time we see shrinking resources.

We saw a 22% increase in people injured and killed by mines and other explosive ordnance last year.

The estimation is that 100 million people in over 60 countries and territories live with the ****** of explosive ordnance, many of them in an ongoing conflict, but some of them for decades after the end of the conflict.

About 85% of the victims of explosive ordnance are civilians, more than half of them are children.

Against this background, together with UNMAS, we would like to host several highlight **** level events this week on mine action here in Geneva.

The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining has been hosting these kinds of global meetings on mine action since many years together with UNMAS, and we are an organisation dealing with capacity building in mine action in many, many countries.

This morning, I participated in the opening of the Ukraine Partner Coordination Workshop with more than 100 representatives from Ukraine, Ukraine government, donors, mine action operators, and other international stakeholders.

The purpose of this workshop is to discuss and coordinate responses to mine contamination in Ukraine.

As you know, Ukraine is the most heavily contaminated country in the world when it comes to land mines and explosive ordinance.

As James said, in two days we will open the 28th meeting of Mine Action National directors and UN advisors.

We call it the NDM.

This is a global conference which brings together national directors from the national management centres worldwide and many of them come from mine and conflict affected countries.

I think since the contamination's on the rise, we need the NDM more than ever.

As James said, it's not just a technical gathering, it is a forum with more than 800 experts, decision makers, humanitarian actors which want to find solution in a challenging geopolitical framework.

We will discuss one of the world's most persistent threats for civilians.

We would like to discuss also urban environments, urban contamination, this time the link between mine action and climate change, and particularly important innovation, technological innovation.

We are planning to create a strategic steering board of the Global Innovation Hub in mine action during the conference and this will be followed up by a conference in Luxembourg on innovation, which is planned for October.

There will be many discussions on this situations on the ground.

We will look into the extensive contamination challenges in Sudan, We'll speak about the Middle East, Syria, Gaza.

We will speak about the safe return and reconstruction in these places.

And we will try to shape strategies and speak about investments and practises.

So you understand that mine action is a precondition for recovery.

It restores lands, helps communities to rebuild and save lives.

The challenge is not where the solutions exist, it is how we prioritise them.

So I encourage you to report about these conferences and meetings and to highlight the voice of people from affected countries.

You see from the media advisory that many experts are available for interviews.

I brought a few colleagues from the team to this press conference.

They are open to your questions as well.

And let me underline finally that the main action conferences that we're holding together with UN partners here is about enabling people to return home, to improve their lives, to farm and to allow them to send their children to school without fear.

Thanks for your attention.

Thanks very much.

We're going to open the floor for question starting with my bathroom.

Kyoto, can you introduce for everyone?

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And for speakers.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for taking my questions.

So I am my Vishabri for Kyoto News, the Japanese news agency here at the Palais.

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The first one will be about the title of this conference.

So I heard it say future starts here.

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Why is it starting here?

I guess it's or I mean the challenge started in the past.

So what is new now?

Then you mentioned James Donner from Japan.

Can you tell us a bit more about the role of Japan in this, in this fight and his challenge?

And my other question would be to know like who is taking the leads now that the US are a bit, you know, on the back seat of the UN at that time and and most of the organisations.

Do you see one country that is truly engaging and proposing new source of financement to to help with this course?

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Well, I want to make sure you get the the title right.

It's quite a long title, but we do have a shortened version as you mentioned.

So the official title is the 28th International meeting of mine Action National Directors and UN Advisors.

That's shortened to NDM.

So national directors meeting 28 and this is the 28th year.

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And every year there's a theme and a theme this year as you mentioned is safe futures start here and you're right and it has been mentioned that that the ****** of explosive ordinance has been around for many decades.

What the theme is trying to achieve this year is to say that mine action is both an activity in its own right for vital life saving, but it's also a key enabler for activity.

You can't have full access to agriculture and food security if there are mines in the ground.

Children can't go to school if there are mines in the ground.

You can't create jobs if there are mines in the ground.

People can't return to their homes, whether they're ID, PS or refugee refugees.

And So what it's saying is that mine action is both a vehicle in itself, but it is also a way for us to kick start longer term activities that enable peace and security, humanitarian response and long term development.

Don't know if you want to jump in on that one or should I go through in the handover?

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The Japanese, I think it's really worthwhile saying that the Japanese have been a fantastic supporter and advocacy advocate for mine action for for many, many years.

We work very closely with them.

They've been a large scale donor to the UN and to a number of NGOs.

They have an extensive background in mine action and indeed they've funded many different activities both globally and in the Asia Pacific.

And the project that I was Speaking of was referring to a particular initiative that the Japanese are leading, which builds upon their very close support and engagement to the Cambodian Mine Action Centre.

And they've made significant inroads in the last decade or so.

So really clear a significant problem that they had.

And I think it's really fantastic that both the donor in Japan and the kind of the lead implementer from Cambodia are now taking their innovation, their lessons and they're sharing them around the world.

So I think it's really worth while saying that this is a fantastic programme.

And indeed, one of the plenary sessions at the NDM meeting will be hosted by the Japanese ambassador and they'll be speaking about about this programme.

And then if I may take your third question.

Yes, the mine action sector has been affected by the change in US funding.

I do think it's worthwhile saying a few things there though.

Number one, that the US has been and continues to be a steadfast supporter of mine action programming.

In fact, they've been the largest single donor to the sector for for a number of years.

And the, the funding that they have provided and indeed in some cases continue to provide, has undoubtedly saved lives and made a difference to hundreds of thousands, if not more people.

We continue to work very closely with them and we're very grateful for the support that they have provided.

We look forward to working with them in the future.

And then secondly, it's worthwhile saying that the donor base for mine action is very broad.

We are not relying upon one donor.

We have donors from all regions of the world and indeed we work collectively through our support group, the Mine Action Support Group, which brings together the biggest donors to identify needs, to share information and to to really work together.

Of course, as you would expect, we're always looking for new funding options and so we'll continue to do that in conjunction with our partners and also individually.

[Other language spoken]

I will focus on the second question you asked about which countries could take the lead and indeed Japan is one of the countries which come to my mind as well.

The Japan is presiding, is chairing the convention on the anti personal mine ban, the Ottawa Convention this year.

And Japan also plays a very strong and constructive role in the mining in Ukraine.

So at the ongoing Ukraine Ban Action Conference, we have a **** level delegation from Japan.

They are also very strong innovation and as James said, a very important donor.

Definitely.

[Other language spoken]

So we've got a question in the room from Jiffy Radio France.

Hi, you, you mentioned that the the donor base is, is quite broad, yet the US has been the world's largest contributor to the mining efforts.

I'd like to know if you add that to the withdrawals we've seen from the mine ban treaties, does it mean technically that we will see more mines in the ground and less mine and less demining in the in the years to come and especially in Ukraine?

Well, maybe if I take your question in three points, if that's OK.

The first one is I think it's really important to emphasise the the importance of the test ban treaties, whether that be the CCM, so the conventional class munitions, the CCW convention on weapons or they test the auto treaty.

The anti personal minds.

As you mentioned, there have been withdrawals from CCM and we've had a number of nations that have notified of their intention or the fact that they are looking to withdraw.

And indeed, that's one of the topics that the Secretary General will be discussing with his senior leaders when they meet on this tomorrow.

It's worth all saying that EU NS view is that these treaties are absolutely vital.

They form the bedrock of the humanitarian disarmament architecture.

And we strongly encourage all member states to continue to be members, and indeed those that are not members, the state parties that are potential members to join in the future.

We don't at the moment see that having a direct linkage to more mines being placed in the ground, although I think it's worthwhile saying that there is.

A base of evidence that says the mines do not have military utility.

I refer you to I believe a report from ICRC which looked at this at the origins of the Ottawa Treaty and indeed the cost both in terms of financial input to clearer mine, but also in long term impacts on development and security is really inconsistent with the use as a military weapon.

So I don't think it's worthwhile kind of linking the funding shortage to increase in mines.

What I think we are seeing is the fact that we, as the young community, will continue to advocate extremely strongly for Member States to continue to abide by their obligations and indeed we will call upon them to to do that to us.

[Other language spoken]

I think you described the challenging environment in which the conference is taking place very well.

When it comes to the reasons why we have more land mine contamination, contamination, but explosive allness, it's of course mainly due to the ongoing armed conflict.

So it's the massive violence we see in places like Ukraine and many other places.

[Other language spoken]

It's probably too early to say.

We know that Ukraine has a broad donor spaces.

Ukraine is a country which is very open to new forms of funding, you know, to finance.

And they have national efforts in that direction, but also are very much involved in international efforts on funding.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

I'm not sure about the protocol, but go ahead, Maeva and apologies for the question online.

I'm getting back to you as soon as possible.

[Other language spoken]

Just just a quick question just to to be sure that the end is properly, you're organising a second conference in Luxembourg in October.

So could you please defined what are the clear outcome that we're expecting after these four days?

Will we have like a press release?

Could you mention if you are agreeing over a text or just a line or if it's just for experts to meet and to exchange IDs?

But we are not expecting anything.

I would say concrete like paper based at the end.

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Let me start with that niche on technical innovation that you mentioned.

So we try to establish a new board, a strategic staying board together with you and colleagues and the private sector and many other partners to have some sort of a global over your global database also on technological innovation.

And that's the first step.

Then in October we will have a conference hosted by Luxembourg, specifically on innovation in the mine action sector, with the private sector again academia, many operators, international organisations.

Would you take the outcome part?

On the outcome of the conference itself, so this three day conference, as you said, it's not going to be a communique.

There won't be a joint statement.

What there will be is 800 mine action experts going back to their own countries with a network which they can draw upon with ideas for solutions, with the sharing of problems and really a group of people who are energised, infused and motivated and that have a network that they can help and draw upon to improve the mind action within their own countries.

Thank you very much.

I understand that a colleague of yours focusing on innovation is in the room as well.

If you have any follow up, let me turn to online journalists.

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So Nina Larson from IFP floor is yours.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for taking my question, for doing this briefing.

[Other language spoken]

First, I was hoping you could just remind us of the the numbers who were killed by mines last year.

And I mean you mentioned that the trajectory is not going in the right direction right now.

I was hoping you could say a little bit about since when the numbers have been rising because my understanding is that since the since these treaties have been enacted to the numbers have have gone down quite dramatically.

But if you could talk a little bit about the trajectory and I was also hoping you could say a bit more.

You talked about the, the challenging environment for this, this meeting at a time when they're the first withdrawal or announced withdrawals from the Ottawa Treaty since it was it came into force and you know how how important that is.

And finally, I was hoping you could say a little bit more about specific situations.

You mentioned very briefly Ukraine, Middle East, Sudan, I guess Myanmar probably, if you could say what situation you're most concerned about.

And yeah, I guess that's it.

[Other language spoken]

I'll start again and then and then hand over to Vice to some So, So in terms of numbers, I'd really probably refer you to to the publications.

There's the the landmine monitor, which has that kind of the the authoritative numbers in the last year.

And obviously numbers are slightly out of date because it runs out.

So in 2023, there were nearly 8000 casualties from land mines and explosive remnants of war.

Now that does not include the numbers from IEDs.

And if you include the numbers from IEDs, that goes up to about 15,000.

And I think it is worthwhile saying and reiterating what Tobias said about the fact that 84% of casualties are assessed to be civilians and up to 70% of casualties are assessed to be children.

And as has been said, this has been an extent ****** for a number of years.

And this year the numbers went up by an estimated 22%.

So that's over 1000 extra victims for the first category.

In terms of the challenging environment, it's absolutely right.

Like we've mentioned briefly, the importance of adherence to the different treaties, of course, different Member States, different states parties and members of different treaties and both the Secretary General and different advocacy groups universally call upon member states to join and to comply with the provisors of these treaties.

So that's one challenge.

I think the the second challenge, as we've mentioned is funding.

Yes, there has been a pause in US funding, but we see that on the back of a broader shift in funding from many traditional donors and the funding situation is getting more difficult and it's something which we will need to continue to work at.

And of course it's, it's not, it's not a particularly peaceful time.

We are seeing a number of conflicts growing both in terms of number in scope and in scale.

So I think there are three last challenges.

What I'm quite enthused by is the fact that this is the largest ever representation we've had coming to an NDM over 800 people.

And I think that really speaks to the importance of the topic and the fact that irrespective of these challenges, people really do believe in in its importance.

In terms of countries, I am here representing Unmasked the UN Mine Action Service.

We have 21 different programmes in 21 different countries that ranges from Syria to Sudan, Colombia, Mali, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and of course across the broader UN community.

And the UN has something called the Interagency Coordination Group for Mine Action that represents 12 different bodies on masses one, but also UNDPUNICEFUNODAUN women, 12 different UN parties.

And they work across a broader range of areas.

So they work in Cambodia, in Lao, in Vietnam and in Lebanon.

So there really is a significant amount of UN activity across a very broad range of countries.

[Other language spoken]

Let me start with this question on the doctor of a convention.

I mean in my view the convention is a quite a strong element of international Internet law with a very specific and clear impact.

So according to the numbers that we have, fifth plus 50 million of landmines, anti personal landmines have been destroyed since the creation of the convention.

More than 30 states are now mine free.

It is a very concrete and quite robust element of IG and of course we regret if it becomes a part of, if it gets under pressure, sorry to say, it shows that war has limitations.

Not everything is allowed.

So of course we claim calling everybody to stick to this convention on the numbers, as James did.

I would also refer to the Landmine Monitor, which is published once per year and has a very good old view on injuries and death due to land mines.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

I also just was hoping for a bit more clarification on on the US funding impact you, you mentioned a pause James, but I believe some programmes have stopped, some haven't.

Has anyone quantified that in any way just to know the total impact on the sector and whether that has meant that kind of demining in, in some places have actually stopped from from one day to another?

And and if so, where?

And on the countries that have said they're withdrawing from the landline convention, is there a count please of how many have said in total that they're withdrawing and how many are considering it?

Thanks for your help.

Yeah, it's, it's really difficult to quantify the the global impact on my action.

And that's because my action funding from the US comes through so many different sources.

It comes from two or three different parts of the US government.

It's given to the UN, it's given to NGOs, it's given to local local partners.

Some of it's given on the international basis, some of it's given on a on a country by country basis.

So we haven't quantified that at the moment.

What I think it is worth saying is that there there definitely is an impact.

Some of the larger NGOs, it's something called the John Larry Group, they have definitely had impact on their programmes.

But also some of the other programmes have continued and there has been clarification from parts of the US government that those programmes count within a life saving parameter.

And so they can continue.

I think we're working very closely with the US government counterparts to make sure that we understand fully their intent in the long term.

And as I've said, they've been a stalwart and a continuous donor, so we look forward to working with them in the future.

In terms of the car, I might have a look at my notes then come back to you to my side if you're anything on the US funding.

On the US funding, to my knowledge, it has not yet been quantified.

It is very difficult to quantify the loss for the time being because it's an ongoing process.

We know that the US cancelled certain contracts.

Some projects are suspended, but others are continuing and there's a decision to continue certain projects.

So since everything is still ongoing, we at least have no final number on the on the gap, on the funding gap.

On the the numbers of countries that either have withdrawn or are assessing and I would say that I do not have the authoritative numbers.

The latest numbers that we're working with are Lithuania withdrawn from the CCM.

So this is the conventional cluster munitions and four countries, which is the Baltic States and Poland have informed that they are assessing ongoing membership of the Anti personnel mine Ban Convention.

They have not withdrawn yet, but they are looking at their commitments.

[Other language spoken]

I think Finland also announced intentions to withdraw.

Thank you very much.

And next question comes from Laurent Ciero from the Swiss News Agency.

[Other language spoken]

Question about the Ukraine Donors Workshop as it is the first meeting under that format since the Lausanne conference.

And I saw a few days ago that the Swiss de Mining Foundation just announced that they they're going to test a new drone in the next weeks in Ukraine.

So yeah, it might be too early for that.

But since this morning, any, any significant announcement or or commitment by some of the donors to report on and the US governmental representatives who are taking part to the to the meeting.

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It is a relatively technical conference, so it is less political than Lausanne.

It is a gathering of operators, international organisations and donors, but it's not a pledging conference, so people will not announce pledges.

In the framework of this Ukraine Partners workshop.

What is the result that we expect?

It's a table, It's a big sheet where we would agree on who is doing what by when.

It's a coordinating effort.

That's the main.

[Other language spoken]

So the last question that I see online comes from Yuri Aprelev from RIA Novasti.

Yuri, yes, thank you for taking my question and thank you for the briefing.

I have a question regarding to the transfer of mines by the US to Ukraine since November 2024.

These mines are are coming from through countries like Germany and Poland that are seal for now members of the convention and especially about Germany.

Is it a violation of the convention and are you not scared?

But are you surprised that some countries that are officially banning mines are authorising the transfer of mines to another country at work through their territory?

[Other language spoken]

Well, thank you very much for the question.

I think it's just worth of us saying that I'm not the right person to answer that question and I don't have that information to hand.

We're very happy to take a recent question and put it to the particular part of the UN system that may be able to answer, but I'm not able to answer as to whether that constitutes A violation.

What I will say is to reiterate what I mentioned earlier, the fact that the UN at the most senior level really reiterates and supports people applying the full provisos of the different treaties and we'd encourage and compel them to do so.

Laurent, you've got is it old hand or do you have a follow up question?

[Other language spoken]

I just would like to to try to push Tobias a little bit further on the on the US participation to the workshop because I saw on the find me the picture that Peter Wagner from EU was there and Julia Anthony for Switzerland is there.

So no one, I mean not necessarily from the 1st circle around the US administration, but did you see around the table some US participants at all or not?

No where there's no US delegation this time at the Ukraine workshop.

[Other language spoken]

I think we can conclude now.

We're slightly late, but thank you very much, James and Tobias, thank you for the reporter communities and if you need any follow up, just reach out to us.

[Other language spoken]

UNMAS Press conference - 07 April 2025