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Minnesota Minefield Campaign 2005
The United Nations Association of Minnesota (UNAMN) has contributed over $62,000 to clear landmines in Afghanistan. Our contribution have helped clear 63 acres of land.
Our last contribution of $22,000 has hired Afghan Technical Consultants Team (ATC) # 7. Our contribution is supplemented by other contributions, for a total of $33,920. This money will used by Team 7 in October and November of 2004. The team will clear 60,000 square meters, which is approximately 15 acres of land in the two months.
Since September 11th, ATC Team #7
has been focusing most of their efforts on emergency mine clearance following
coalition strikes in the Central Region, which left cluster munitions and UXO
behind in some instances. In addition to clearing emergency areas, ATC Team 7 is
also working on the preexisting mine threat in agricultural areas and
communities throughout the Central provinces.
In the past several months, ATC’s teams have undergone training for recognizing
and removing the cluster bomblets that were deployed during the strikes.
Handling these new threats as well as removing pre-existing landmines is the
reality throughout the region for the teams. The importance and urgency of their
work now is underscored by the rapid change in the areas surrounding Kabul and
Jalalabad. Thousands of refugees have already returned to the country, with more
expected this summer. Ensuring that areas are safe for these returning residents
and that fields can once again be cultivated is critical.
Click here for further information on Afghan Technical Consultants
Our other contributions have funded Mine Detection Dog Center (MDC) Team's 5 & and 19. Team 5 cleared 15.5 acres around Herat in Western Afghanistan. Team 19 cleared approximately 33 acres around Baghlan, Takhar in the Northern Region. As a frame of reference an acre is a little smaller than a football field without the end zones.
The Mine Detection and Dog Center (MDC) was founded in
1989 to address the problem of mines and UXO and return mine-free land to the people of
Afghanistan. MDC was established with financial support from the U.S. government; since
1995, the program has been receiving financial support from the German government and the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan
(UNOCHA).
The men of MDC Team 5 have been together since 1994. The de-miners come from diverse
backgrounds: former members of the mujaheddin, students, clerks, teachers, and shopkeepers
now count themselves as de-miners with MDC. While de-mining is slow and often tedious, the
de-miners also face the personal stress of long periods of separation from their families.
The team uses dogs as part of their operations, which play an integral role in the
de-mining process. De-miners from MDC work and train closely with their dogs, ultimately
forming a strong bond between de-miner and dog—a reality that prompts many MDC
de-miners to joke that they prefer to work with dogs rather than people.
MDC Team 5 has changed their work plans to respond to emergency mine clearance needs such as unexploded ordnance remaining from coalition strikes in the country. The main priorities include areas that are critical to the return of refugees and internally displaced persons.
The 30 members of MDC Team 19 are
led by Ahmad Zia, a deminer since 1994. Team members come from all over
Afghanistan and have diverse backgrounds: former members of the mujaheddin,
students, clerks, teachers, and shopkeepers now count themselves as deminers
with MDC. In addition to the difficulties of demining, the deminers also face
the personal stress of long periods of separation from their families. Most
deminers with MDC have families based in Pakistan, a journey that often takes
several days to make from northern Afghanistan. The team uses dogs as part of
their operations, which play an integral role in the demining process. Deminers
from MDC work and train closely with their dogs, ultimately forming a strong
bond between deminer and dog—a reality that prompts many MDC deminers to joke
that they prefer to work with dogs rather than people. MDC Team 19 has four dogs
as part of their team- Argo, Arod, Basco and Arass.
How does this program work?
The UNA-USA and the UN entered into a partnership whereby money raised for mine clearing would go directly to de-mining efforts. The money given goes to the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) receives the money and coordinates de-ming through the mine-action program, which disperses the funds and acts as overall technical coordinator. There are 15 Afghan NGO's which are part of the mine action program. Actual de-mining is done by teams of local workers.
The United Nations Association of the UNA has received a grant from the Better World Campaign to pay its overhead and fundraising costs. This means 100% of the money which is sent to the campaign goes for clearing landmines. The Minnesota campaign does subtract overhead and actual fundraising costs from the money that it sends to the United Nations Association. The Better World Campaign has also helped financially by paying some printing, mailing and program costs. We thank of the Better World Campaign's partnership in this effort.
What is mine-action? Long after combat ends, landmines continue to maim and kill, preventing people from returning home, tilling their fields and earning a livelihood. Mines also prevent reconstruction of roads, power grids, and other infrastructure needed for development. Mine-action is a comprehensive approach to resolving mine related problems and creating an environment which people can return to normal, productive lives. While "de-mining" is limited to locating and removing mines, mine- action includes the following:
 | Assessing the socio-economic impact of minefields on communities and individuals to determine where actions are needed most. |
| Mapping, marking and clearing minefields. |
| Raising public awareness about mines, and how to avoid them. |
| Providing medical, rehabilitation and vocational services to mine victims. |
| Advocating for a global ban on landmines. |
The UN's first de-mining program started in Afghanistan is 1988. The decentralized nature of the Afghani government meant that they did not have to navigate multiple layers of bureaucracy to enact their programs. The Taliban did allow the de-mining activity. The de-mining industry in Afghanistan employs over 5000 local people, making it the number one employer in the country. A standard salary for a de-miner is $150 a month plus health insurance, making it one of the best salaried positions in the country. Most de-miners support families of 12-25 people with this salary. It is estimated that Afghanistan could be fully de-mined in 7-9 years.
Landmine facts:
| It is estimated that Afghanistan still has 5-7 million live mines ready to explode. |
| An estimated 100 Afghans are injured of killed by landmines each month. |
| Almost half of Afghanistan's districts are mine contaminated. |
| No new mines were planted during the war with the United States and Taliban. However in their air attacks the United States did use cluster bombs, large canisters containing 202 bright yellow bomblets the size of two soda cans. Approximately 7-10% of these bomblets did not detonate. |
| One anti-personnel landmine costs as little as $3.00 to produce and $300- $1000 each to remove. |
| Landmines maim or kill an estimated 26,00 civilians each year. Of these, 8-10 thousand are children. |
| There are 60 to 70 million landmines in more than 70 countries. |
Landmine Monitor Report for Afghanistan 2007