Mine action

Humanitarian and disaster response

See our initiatives

Global mine action

• Australia’s mine action activities 2011–2012
• Mine Action Strategy for the Australian Aid Program 2010–2014: Mid-Term Review

Australia’s mine action support is primarily provided through its bilateral program. See AusAID’s programs in Africa, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka to review results of mine action in these countries. Australia’s mine action funding has contributed to the following achievements of global mine action.

Long term results

• A reduction in the annual number of deaths from over 20,000 annually in 1997 at the commencement of the Mine Ban Convention to 4,197 in 2010.
• 18 states have cleared all known minefields from their territory.
• 86 states have completed the destruction of their stockpiles, collectively destroying over 45 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines.
• Since 1999, at least 1,300km² of mined areas and a further 2,460 km² of battle areas have been cleared in more than 90 states and other areas.

Results 2011–2012

• Helped Guinea Bissau complete the clearance of all known landmines and declare itself mine free on 1 February 2012.
• Provided a contribution to enable Uganda become mine free by August 2012.
• Provided emergency mine clearance and mine risk education reaching over 20 000 people in Libya following the 2011 civil uprising.
• Produced a victim assistance guidebook titled 'Assisting Landmine and other ERW Survivors in the Context of Disarmament, Disability and Development'.
• Enabled clearance of unexploded ordnance in the immediate vicinity of Kinsasha airport, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Supported the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Special Fund for the Disabled, which contributed to:  
  • strengthening of 59 physical rehabilitation centres in 27 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Central Asia
  • provision of 272 prostheses, 369 pairs of crutches, 243 orthoses and 6 wheelchairs
  • rehabilitation of 321 people worldwide in the second quarter of 2011
  • training for technicians, and 26 technical support/monitoring visits to 24 centres.

Commitments 2012–2013

• Rehabilitation and prosthesis services for victim through the ICRC.
• Universalisation and advocacy of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Convention on Cluster Munitions through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the Cluster Munition Coalition.
• Coordination of mine action through the United Nations Mine Action Service.
• Victim assistance and universalisation through the Implementation Support Unit of the Anti- Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
• Research including on land release and gender and mine action through the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
• Evaluation of mine action through the Mines Advisory Group.
• Promotion of the humanitarian norms of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention amongst non state actors through Geneva Call.

Aid program funding to mine action

Estimated mine action funding 2011–12 by sector

The graph above shows estimated mine action funding by sector
2011–12.

The exact figures are:

Clearance and mine risk education—$16,518,982
Victim assistance—$6,050,992
Universalisation, research, advocacy and integrated mine action—$2,121,235
Total—24,691,210

Total aid program funding to mine action

The graph above shows total aid program funding to mine action
2005–6 to 2011–12.

Research overview

Good research can lead to positive change for the world’s poorest by enhancing the design and implementation of development policies and programs. That’s why AusAID is committed to an innovative research portfolio and funds research, including through:

• competitive funding mechanisms (such as the Australian Development Research Awards)
• research partnerships with different Australian, international and developing country research institutions
• commissioning research to address a specific question or clearly defined research gap, and
• one-off research grants, when an existing program of research is relevant to the Australian aid program.

More information on how AusAID funds research

Research into trends and developments in mine action is vital for assessing progress and guiding future approaches and priorities. Australia supports the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) to undertake applied research in mine action. Australia also supports the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) to provide research and monitoring on landmines and cluster munitions.

Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining

Assisting Landmine and other ERW Survivors in the Context of Disarmament, Disability and Development was produced with Australian support. The cover shows gait training for amputees at the ICRC Orthopaedic Centre in Kabul, Afghanistan. Cover photo: Sheree Bailey, Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention

The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) is an international expert organisation that works for the elimination of mines, explosive remnants of war and other explosive hazards. The GICHD provides advice and capacity building support, undertakes applied research, disseminates knowledge and best practices and develops standards. It supports countries to plan, coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluation mine action programs and to implement relevant instruments of humanitarian law. Australia is supporting the GICHD to undertake Mine Action Research and Evaluation. Australia’s support is enabling the GICHD to undertake priority mine action research including in land release, international mine action standards, mine action contracting, liability and insurance workshops, victim assistance in the context of disarmament, disability and development and metal detector technology.

More information about the GICHD (external website)

Landmine and Cluster Munition monitors

Australia supports the Cluster Munition Coalition and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to provide research and monitoring on landmines and cluster munitions. The research is disseminated through annual publications of the Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor. The publications cover developments in mine ban policy, use production, trade, stockpiling and also includes information and trends in contamination, clearance, victim assistance and support for mine action.

More information on the Landmine and Cluster Munitions monitors

Below left: 2011 edition of the Landmine Monitor showing how a woman’s journey to gather forest products in the Democratic Republic of the Congo takes her along a safe path recently cleared of mines while clearance continues in the surrounding areas. Cover photo: Gwenn Dubourthoumieu, UNMACC

Below right: 2011 Edition of the Cluster Munition Monitor showing two cluster submunitions which hit the home of a Libyan businessman in April 2011. Cover photo: Andre’ Liohn, Human Rights Watch