UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UNMAS - Press Conference: Update on Mine Action

All right.

[Other language spoken]

Hi everybody.

Welcome to the.

Press conference of the United Nations.

Mine Action Service and the Geneva.

International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, which is taking place in the context of the National Directors meeting of more than or 30 at least 30 national directors.

Who have come here to.

Geneva for the 27th International National Directors Meeting and UN Advisors, which has been taking place since Monday morning over at the Say E Say J or the International Conference Centre here in Geneva.

We briefed on Friday the 20.

6th to give a heads up about what?

This NDM as we.

Call it for short, the National Directors meeting was going to be about and we had a.

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And we were asked if we could please.

Come back this week in order to try to have more time.

To be able to explain more about what's going.

On around the.

World with whether unexploded ordinance or explosive remnants of war and landmines.

So we've done that today.

So this press conference was here as the.

The best we could do to bring over some people.

Then have some more time since we were fairly pressed on Friday about the time.

So I thank all of you who have shown up.

And I hope that more.

People will come because.

Again, there seem to have been a lot of questions on Friday.

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To hear from a number.

Of people we have up here on.

Podium with me we have.

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Who's the chief of the Mine Action Programme in Ethiopia?

She works for Unmask.

I mean, she'll.

Be your first speaker and she will tell you what's going on in.

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It was a question on Friday.

And we wanted to clarify.

That more?

Just next to her is Fatima Zuri, who's the chief of our En masse programme in Libya.

She's part of the the special political mission UNS mill and she's going to talk about Libya and.

Then just next to her.

Is Charles Mungo Birch, who's the head of our.

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In the occupied Palestinian territories.

Who also was.

In has been in Gaza up until the end of last year, when he came out and was.

Replaced in order to be of the follow up his.

Duties and get ready for We'll see the what what needs to be done next.

In the room with us, just so you're aware.

Because I brought them here even though they can't sit on this podium with us.

We have Fran O'Grady.

Who's sitting over on this side?

And he's available to answer questions.

I'll be happily relinquishing my seat that he could come here and tell you.

Things he's been in South.

Sudan for over five years in the last bit of time.

And he's now running the standing capacity, the United Nations Mine Action.

Services standing capacity, which is.

Based in Brindisi and has basically a mandate to be able to move anywhere in the world.

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Hours but he might hit me, but the purpose behind it is that they.

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They go quickly.

It's like the rapid reaction.

Forces that we used to.

Have so again, we've been called the places by either the Secretary General or by a Member State and we want to go quickly so he can talk a little about that.

We also have over on this side we have Mr Paul Heslop, which I think.

Many of you know if you've covered these press conferences.

He was with us last.

Year at this press conference he's.

Presently the head of mine action for UNDP in Ukraine and he's.

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Countries and he's here.

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And finally, we have Rory.

Logan, who is from the Geneva Centre.

Who has also.

Worked in over 10 countries.

He has some knowledge.

Because we were asked about it on Friday.

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So follow up questions about Sri Lanka, you're welcome to bring.

And also is very much on top of the.

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We have two very well informed speakers for Ukraine at this moment.

And we also have the the other people I've mentioned.

So with that said, let me be quiet.

[Other language spoken]

Pass over the floor to Francesca Giordani.

Who's going to talk about?

Ethiopia, over to you.

Thank you, Lee and good morning everybody.

As introduced by Lee, my name is Francesca and I'm the Chief of the on Mass programme in Ethiopia.

On Mass has been in Ethiopia in a permanent capacity since a a couple of years.

However, it's only since last year that we have a more more presence in in the northern region of the country.

I'm glad that Ethiopia was brought up as a country of interest as it's often one of those mine action contacts get they get a bit forgotten and after other.

However, just to point out a few facts about the country, the current situation from a mine action point of view is quite complex as we have legacy contamination of minefield along the main international border.

However, the conflict in the Tigre region and now has filled over to other bordering region as left behind a new layer of contamination that's that's an affecting communities.

On the other hand, the mine action sector in the country is extremely limited and with very few resources.

As I speak now, there is no international mine action organisation or operator that is fully accredited to conduct surveying clearance activity.

The Ethiopian National Defence Forces have some mine action capacity and the mining expertise.

However, this is significantly limited given both the size of the country and also what the contamination looks like.

Accreditation for six international NGO's is currently in progress and we are very hopeful that at least four of them will be fully accredited for mine action activities in the next month.

Also just to give you a bit of a, an, an idea of what contamination looks like and what we are, what we're dealing with in terms of needs.

Only in 2023, we were able to record 1500 victims of explosive ordinance, mostly in the Tigre and Afar regions.

Around 87% of these victims are male.

So it's mostly mostly male and younger, younger boys in particular.

Just to also to give you a bit of of a few more examples, only in between March and April, we had four cases of explosive incident affecting children below eighteens.

And this is mostly cases of either scrap metal collection or playing with items and advertly.

So those are, those are the, the type of needs that we see on a daily basis in, in Ethiopia.

All together, the mine action sector in the country needs $10 million to, to scale up activities and then try to reach communities in needs.

Up until now, only 2% of, of the 10,000,000 have been, have been covered.

So large, large needs and also large part of the, of the activities from the mine action sector remains unmet and not being able to be carried out by the operators.

I'll I'll stop here just with my overview and happy to answer questions.

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And thank you SO.

Much and we'll come back with.

Questions and I will go over to Fatma.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning everybody.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, I would mention that last.

Last year I took up this position and when I walked into.

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Working in my capacity as Chief of Unmasked Mine Action Programme, I went to the TO.

The country with the with the saying which?

Were two saying which were captured by my in my mind, but that my my mind captured.

The first one was when I grow up in.

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And I grow up in and I have I kept.

Really good memories from my childhood.

And then the second time when I went to Benghazi.

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In another capacity with the government.

To meet the.

The the partners there and maybe the the counterpart.

And I was shocked when I saw that heavy ammunition and weapons.

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Left with that also bad memory.

Memories, then I.

Took up of course, other.

Positions and then then I.

Got the job with the.

In this capacity, when I I had the.

Team in front of me I wanted.

To to see how they assess the situation and I looked at.

The existence of this.

Amination I understood that this area amination storage areas.

Which are open 17 of them.

I might say also with 880801588 hundred 1550 bankers.

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It has thousand tonnes of ammunition from different types.

I mean anything you can.

Find it there and it's it's open so everybody can have access.

And from time to time.

We hear explosions and I witnessed myself one of the explosions.

And that was really bad.

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All.

All of us.

Concerned about this kind of.

Explosions in a populated areas.

And then we we decided to take.

To reactivate and re.

Emphasise on the fact that this is very dangerous.

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Concerning and alarming situation in there also any kind of devices, you can find them also in across Libya in a.

Populated areas recently we have also witnessed in this month and of this month an explosion.

Of Hand Grenade, 9 children were playing in the neighbourhood.

Sometimes they play with their.

Ball and then.

They go back and they.

Threw the hand grenade again and again until with the stones whatever until an explosion occurred and then.

They were all injured, including a girl who was playing also in front of the door.

So for me this is quite alarming and it should be really focused and we should have really more focus on this kind of.

Situations we are doing a.

Lot the.

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Are really deployed everywhere and they want.

Really to keen to do they are really.

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Whatever they can do we.

Face the challenges like like all the other.

Humanitarians, so actors, but still we feel like.

There is a lot.

To be done in Libya.

Thank you over.

Thank you very much.

Fatma and we'll come back to you with.

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And now we'll go over to Charles Mungo.

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He goes by Mungo, just so you know.

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Take the floor.

Thank you very much, Lee.

[Other language spoken]

Everyone, my name is Mungo Birch and I'm.

The Chief Mine Action Programme Palestine on Gaza Amas has been working.

In Gaza for over a decade prior to October 7th, our primary role.

Was to clear deep buried aircraft bombs and conduct risk education.

After October 7th.

The programme has undergone a rapid evolution.

We managed to get our first EOD officers into Gaza within a month of the conflict starting, and subsequently we've become an enabler of the.

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Support humanitarian convoys going north and do explosive hazard assessments of humanitarian sites which allow humanitarian work to continue.

To illustrate this, in December last year, WHO?

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Southern Gaza to Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital.

This convoy was led and accompanied by Amass EOD officers who enabled the convoy to travel this dangerous route.

That convoy evacuated over 30 premature babies which we returned to southern Gaza and only one of whom died.

That's what amasses role in the whole sector of mine action is enabling in Gaza.

Currently, the situation in Gaza is unprecedented for the Gaza context.

Gaza has more rubble.

Than Ukraine and to put that in perspective, the Ukrainian frontline is 600 miles long and.

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There's 37 million tonnes of rubble at the latest estimate in Gaza.

This rubble is likely heavily contaminated with the UXO, but clearance of this will be further complemented complicated by other hazards.

In the rubble there's estimated.

To be over 800.

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Tonnes of asbestos, for instance, alone in the the Gaza rubble.

We also focus on explosive.

Ordnance risk education, which will become increasingly.

Important as Palestinians relocate from southern Gaza to the north.

When the war started, we immediately initiated our mass media emergency.

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Education campaign through social.

Media and radio this reached over 1,000,000 people then as connectivity issues and issues with access to power sources for charging phones.

Etcetera became more problematic we're.

Shifting our emphasis to face to face risk education and the distribution of.

Hard copy risk education materials.

All in all, En Masse plans to scale up its operations but has successfully responded in this emergency.

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Ultimately, to be able to be the ACT, the coordination body for mine action in Gaza and to.

Stand up our own.

Explosive ordnance disposal teams, In terms of funding, we've secured $5 million of funding.

We need to continue our work for the next 12 months, a further 40 million U.S.

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The sector as a whole will need hundreds of millions of of U.S.

dollars over over multiple years in order to make Gaza safe again for the population.

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So at this point I have a few questions that have already come in through through Zoom.

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Ahead and start there and this is the first questions.

In the room.

So I'll start.

Are we sorry?

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What does France?

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I had a question for Mr Burch of.

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Terms of unexploded ordnance in Gaza what do you have to what are you facing and.

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Already Friday about the 30.

7 million tonnes of rubble mixed now with asbestos.

I I know that you had a meeting in Jordan 2 weeks ago to discuss what you're going to do.

With all that work, how?

What's the plan to?

If the war stops, what's the plan to?

Evacuate the raw rubble.

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Can you give us some practical details on how this is going to to happen?

Where does it go?

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By UNDP, who's the lead?

UN agency on rubble removal in Gaza.

That meeting brought together all the major.

Actors who would be involved in rubble removal in Gaza the issue is because the level of rubble is so unprecedented, it's going to take new thinking on how we.

Proceed with the clearance.

So currently we're still in the planning.

Stage Amass is looking potentially at training banks, people, ETC.

We're looking at specialised risk education materials and then ultimately the clearance operations are going to need significant amounts of heavy plants and trucks etcetera to conduct.

The methodology of how we're going to do that is still something that's being discussed because of the sheer scale.

So the rubble problem dwarfs that faced by mine action actors in Mosul.

So it's a significant challenge until we've been able to get access to the north and can conduct an assessment.

We're not certain about the level of contamination.

However, anecdotal, anecdotal stories suggest that it's exceptionally heavy.

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Our teams have encountered UXO unexploded ordnance.

On their.

Missions to the north and we believe it will be a huge issue going forward.

[Other language spoken]

Could you give us a sense of how many?

People, you have there you.

You said you were working with convoys of humanitarian convoys and.

How hard is?

It to get access to the.

Israelis let you in easily.

Or is it difficult?

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, we currently have 6 international staff in Gaza.

Five of whom are EOD officers.

We also have 6 national staff.

The scale scaling up process, so before the war.

We had three.

International staff based in Gaza during the first month of the war, I was the only person there, so we've scaled up significantly we're.

Also in the.

Process of seconding in kind EOD officers from NGOs, notably Mines Advisory Group and Handy.

Humanity and inclusion.

In addition, Norwegian.

People's Aid has shown interest in this process as well, so we hope to scale up further but this.

Number is enough to cover.

The amount of convoys currently, but we need to scale up to do more explosives hazard assessments of humanitarian sites, which will be key in enabling the humanitarian response once there's a ceasefire in terms of the difficulty to travel, we.

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On interagency convoys providing EOD support to them and really that really depends on a day-to-day situation if convoys are allowed to go or not.

It's dependent on what's the conditions are in Gaza.

[Other language spoken]

All right.

Other questions here.

[Other language spoken]

I'm going to go ahead and ask that we have two.

Hands up, so I will.

Move over there.

So Jori Aprelev and you're on.

Thank you, Lee and thank you for this briefing.

[Other language spoken]

Ukraine, do you have any information on the?

Level of contamination on the territories controlled by the Russian army and the risk of this for the populations there we know, for example.

That Ukraine is massively using.

Cluster munition delayed by the US as well as anti personnel minds against populated.

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Do you have access to these territories, and if not, have you requested it?

To whom?

And what has been?

Answered to you in case that you have asked it.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very.

Much we've just had Paul Heslop join us up here.

And Rory, would you like?

To come sit here and we'll have Rory come up.

So we'll do a little Ukraine session right now, and I will hereby ask Paul.

To take over as MC.

While I'm away, Thanks, Lee.

Sorry.

Now in terms, in terms of contamination in Ukraine, there's obviously.

Extensive contamination on both.

Sides of the frontline you're specifically asking about.

Contamination in the areas.

That are currently under the control of the Russian Federation.

At this stage there has been no assessment undertaken by any sort of independent authorities, either the UN, civil society or international NGOs.

Across Cross Line access is is very very limited and I think most of it is related.

To prisoner transfers and and the exchange of human.

Remains so at this stage we've not had anybody work on that side of the conflict zone.

I would agree with your assessment.

There has been.

Extensive use of of all types of munitions.

By both sides.

On in this conflict.

And we're seeing a level of contamination that we've not seen in in in Europe since the Second World War.

We know that munitions used have between a 10 and 30% fail.

Rate so when you start.

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Excess of 10,000.

Munitions a day being.

Fired.

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And exploded bombs as a result.

So yes, there is extremely **** levels of contamination on both sides of the frontline.

In terms of the areas that we can.

Access in Ukraine itself.

Extensive non-technical surveys now have been undertaken.

And and.

Areas are being assessed as quickly as possible to whether they actually contain contamination or whether and they can be released to be be farmed and used productively.

But Rory, do you want to add anything to that?

No, I mean I concur with, concur with your assessment.

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Ukraine is in the areas.

That it has got.

Control over it's actually making.

Pretty steady and very rapid progress in conducting this survey and trying to understand the.

True extent of the contamination.

Which which is an.

Exercise which we'll have obviously need to be undertaken as soon as the other areas are accessible as well.

But but it's it's that, it's that detailed information that we need to.

To develop.

A proper plan, the proper capacity to to solve the issue.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks and and.

Lee, if I could just add to that.

I mean the reason I'm.

At the briefing today is.

You know, Ukraine actually has has.

2 mine problems at the moment in terms of contaminated or suspected contaminated land.

There's the land that is suspected that is contaminated and that land is very, very heavily contaminated, but there's also a lot of land that is is suspected that does actually not contaminated.

And, and, and when you look at the global impact of the conflict in Ukraine and the global impact of the.

Perceived presence of unexploded ordnance.

And and mines.

Or legacy mines.

You know, it affects global food prices, it affects global food security, it affects global energy prices.

So if we're in a position that in Ukraine we could help bring the price of fuel by down by 1 cent a litre, or the price of bread by $0.10 a loaf.

And you think of how many millions or billions of litres of, of, of fuel are used every day and how many billions of loaves of bread are sold.

You know, we will be talking about a really significant impact to the world.

Economy and World Food.

Security, if we can get the land that is suspected of being contaminated but is not actually contaminated back into use as quickly as possible.

And then another aspect of this conflict I think we need to think about, which will again will be on both sides, is the number of of young men, you know, who are in their 20s and 30s, who are now single, double or even many quadruple amputations.

And, and how vast numbers of of very serious injured veterans coming back into into society as this as this war comes to a close or hopefully comes to a close.

And and how they're going to be.

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How we can reskill?

Them how we can ensure.

They've got the right prosthetics to be able to come back and I think we're.

Going to see.

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Of this conflict.

With regard to the impact on the social cohesion of of both sides, because of a lack of investment in, in reintegration of people who've been very seriously wounded in this conflict.

So we need to look at that as well.

Sorry, just one last follow up.

I agree with everything Paul said.

[Other language spoken]

We've heard this week.

From the Ukrainians themself.

That actually significant.

Progress has been made on.

That survey and and last year alone.

They managed to discount.

An area of 18,000 square kilometres.

So that's about half the size of Switzerland has been assessed and has been, you know, put back into productive use in a very short time frame.

And I think we should congratulate them for that.

[Other language spoken]

We did have a couple of hands.

Up we have Lisa's hand.

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Oh, so sorry, one second.

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Yeah, I just take advantage for the fact that I'm in the briefing room.

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Ukraine is very often.

Considered as a test bed for new ammunition types and new ways of warfare and more modern ways, more technology.

I was just wondering if this is something that you experience in terms of new types of mines, new types of explosives?

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How does it make your work more difficult or?

More easy, I know that there are some types of mines that are supposed to auto destruct after a while.

If you could give.

[Other language spoken]

That and.

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Technology help you to assess.

And to and to clear.

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I'll take the second question.

[Other language spoken]

So in terms of new technology, yes, there is a lot of.

New technology being being used in Ukraine, particularly use of drones, robotics.

Underwater sensors, different sensor technology, so things like infrared, ultraviolet.

Magnetometers.

Ground penetrating radar.

All all sorts of different sensors have been mounted onto different robotics platforms.

The project that Rory just mentioned that involved a lot of land being assessed has not been contaminated, even though it's suspected involved satellite and aerial photography.

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And and lots of things trying to analyse crater patterns.

So, so there's a lot of that type of use which is is very, very good in terms of.

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What land is not being contaminated in terms of the land that is, again, we're able to look at, you know, there's another project being done by this key School of Economics where they're looking at artillery strike data and the cratering from that.

And then trying to project how many of those bombs will have not exploded by looking at the the patterns that are formed from from these barrages.

So yes, new technology is going to.

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Technology is going to make operations more effective, but the scale of the problem needs to be confronted.

Is is very, very, you know, so you win with some sides and we lose on others.

In terms of new weapon systems, yes, I mean there are weapon systems being used by both sides that have not been seen in in other conflicts.

It is very difficult for for internationals to go to the front line so.

I have not personally witnessed some of the new.

Mine types actually deployed in the field, but I have seen pictures and I have seen you know the results of of VOD operations conducted by the Ukrainians that bring back weapon systems that have been.

Used against Ukrainian forces.

Because we don't have access to the other side, we can only speculate on, on what is what has been there.

But you know, you know, a lot of the NATO munitions that that we used, I personally, even though I've been in this business for the years, I've never seen an end law or or Storm Shadow or or some of those devices, for example.

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Will be now when we get to a point where we can address those weapons.

Systems we obviously will need to develop render safe procedures, RSPS that will allow them to be safely disposed and and dealt with.

That is just an ongoing process.

And of course, you know, we will be in contact with the different governments have supplied these weapons systems and be looking for for their assistance in in trying to make sure that the operators who are trying to deal with those devices on the ground, you know, can do so as effectively as possible.

But that's no different.

To what we've seen in.

Conflicts like Kosovo, even going back to the Lao in Vietnam War, you know, the use of, you know, a lot of aerial weapons.

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With a lot of deep buried bombs that had.

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We were getting advice on how to deal with the fusing systems.

So there are processes in place to do this and a lot of it is just the basic skills are applicable to any type of munition that you find.

Rory, would you like to add to that?

Yeah, please come up here.

Rory is coming back.

[Other language spoken]

Playing a bit second.

Fiddle here because Paul's answering the questions are quite very comprehensively.

I mean the only thing I would add on the the new technology.

Side is that there is.

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Ukraine there is a huge potential.

To look at sort of big data to, to, to, for them to perhaps.

Leverage artificial intelligence to to really think more.

Carefully about data-driven decision making as they're sort.

Of prioritising and tasking.

Where the operations will eventually be deployed and that won't just be the the data sets collected by mine action operators, but a whole range of other sectors as well.

The sort of sort of data on agriculture, critical infrastructure, education that there's a huge.

Amount of.

Of of **** quality information that's available in Ukraine and that there is potential, I think to, to draw it all together to help the government as it as it.

Embarks on the next 10.

Years, which is which is the strategic framework it's given itself.

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Just just quickly, if I could just ask a follow up on that is do you think that?

All this data are collected the new technology.

Used is this.

Something that could be used?

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Ethiopia or Libya, or if if you can exploit this data to see.

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Do you think it could be helpful?

Or is it just Ukraine specific?

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Is Ukraine specific the the model?

Is it's a prototype, it's a potential, it's a possibility, but if it works, I don't see any reason why it couldn't be applied to other contexts.

It will, really.

Depend on the information that's that's available in those contexts.

So to to see how.

How well it'll be able to work in other?

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I don't know if the colleagues have other views but.

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I mean, for me, one of the exciting things about being in Ukraine is the the seeing the pace of.

Innovation and the new.

Ideas that?

Are coming out and the.

Layers of data that are there and and then being able to.

Potentially apply that.

Those lessons into other countries, you know, my previous job before.

Ukraine was Afghanistan, and again.

There's a lot of agricultural land in Afghanistan that's not being used because of very low.

[Other language spoken]

Or suspected mine contamination and again if we can find sensors that can operate in very low.

Density areas or.

You know, rapidly assess land using drones or satellite imagery, but even.

You know, one of the things that we've been looking at in Ukraine was.

It's very difficult in some of the areas because there's they're, they're basically depopulated for the survey teams to go and gather accurate, accurate data.

And one thing we can.

Do and this is totally.

[Other language spoken]

For example, through the data, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, how are cell phones active in those areas?

So we don't know whose cell phones they are, we don't know the numbers, but just knowing there are cell phones active.

Can tell us how many?

People are in that.

That area is the land being you know is.

Other people living in that villages or for example, a road, you know, you can say how many cell phones have gone up.

And down that road in the last.

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If there's none, there's probably a reason for.

If there's 1000 then the road is probably open and safe.

And so you know so.

We're tapping into different forms of data, you know, as Rory said, to enable data decision making and and prioritisation and also looking at things like.

You know there's 10,000 energy substations.

And and tasks within Ukraine.

And, you know, it's obviously in the news.

That the energy.

Infrastructure has been targeted by looking at by using AI and and other data-driven decisions.

We can see where the key nodes are that.

You know, if that's gone down, getting it back up quicker is important so we can prioritise the limited resources we've got.

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Clearing this bridge so it can be rebuilt will allow 20,000 vehicles a day to save two hours of driving, and repairing this port will allow you know 50,000.

Tonnes of of.

Food to be shipped a month, I think so.

So there's a lot more data behind the decision making which is sort of factored into them and this and I think that will be really useful models or precedents to roll.

Out to the mine affected.

Countries, particularly some of the ones that have sort of.

Run out of steam because the conflict was a long.

Time ago, they're not in the media.

And people.

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We're still putting money into these areas and.

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Ukraine will be a really significant pivot point in this sector over the next two or three years because of that.

Any other follow up on from?

Here in the room.

[Other language spoken]

So Geordie, you're on for a follow up on Ukraine.

[Other language spoken]

This is a question about the access because you say that you don't have access.

To the other.

Side of the conflict, but in fact, yes, you can't cross the front line, but you could for example come from the.

Russian Federation to access Donetsk.

[Other language spoken]

There are about 5.

Million of civilians living there, so as far.

As I understand, nothing is done in order to.

Monitoring what is happening there.

From the UN, but you have.

The possibility to go through the Russian territory.

[Other language spoken]

I'm afraid I'll put my hand up.

And say that's way above my pay grade.

I'm working within the.

Areas that we do have access to within the the the.

Guidelines that are provided to.

Me and and and my.

[Other language spoken]

Decisions behind what is happening.

In Donetsk and the other.

Areas and and and who is gaining access to what.

And what are the?

Conditions the criteria.

And the constraints that are put in place.

I'm not in a position to comment on, you know, I view my team and my operations as completely neutral, humanitarian and working for, for all the people who are affected by this conflict.

And we will.

Happily deploy anywhere.

That we are able to.

[Other language spoken]

Have the resources to do so.

Thank you Paul, and sorry for our musical.

[Other language spoken]

To bring as many experts.

To you, as we possibly could.

So we exaggerated the number of people.

We brought to the press conference.

And with that said, I'm going to now go over to Lisa.

[Other language spoken]

Oh, thank you and good morning.

I'd like to begin with a very quick practical suggestion.

If I may, would you kindly send us the fact sheets and the names of all of the wonderful experts that you have brought with you, the names and the titles by e-mail, please, because e-mail doesn't disappear as quickly as the chat box does.

[Other language spoken]

And now for my questions, I'd like to shift continents and go to Africa.

And it's my understanding and anyway I'd like you to elaborate upon this, that the Sahel is one of the most heavily mined areas in on the continent.

And and also specifically what kind of operations you have in the Sudan.

I'm thinking that right now Sudan is one of the greatest humanitarian crises in the world, largely neglected unfortunately.

And I'm wondering whether you have been in you you Sudan in the past, whether you are there now and able to actually implement any kind of mine clearance actions both there and in other countries while there is a live conflict going on or whether that is too serious?

And then a quick question to Francesca about Ethiopia.

You mentioned that you were trying to get visa clearances for five people and that one has been approved and four have not.

Is there some kind of a bureaucratic **** up there, if you could elaborate upon that?

And also whether you think, yeah, I, I, I think you said that mine clearance is actually going on.

Is it in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia?

Thank you very much.

Just to introduce.

Now we have Fran O'Grady, who's come up He'll.

Take the question about Sudan and more about the Sahel.

And then we'll come to the Ethiopia.

With Francesca Fran, over to you.

Very good morning and thanks for.

The question as Lee said, my name is Ryan O'Grady.

I'm with the.

Unmasked standing capacity, which is designed to respond and support with strategic advice and.

[Other language spoken]

My background has been very.

Much in South.

Sudan over the last number of years.

[Other language spoken]

Recent months and will be going back immediately.

After this as well.

One of the areas that we've been.

[Other language spoken]

With the standing capacity.

Of late is Sudan, and that is obviously with the conflict.

A very.

Difficult place to get access to on mass.

Has a presence for many years.

[Other language spoken]

The recent conflict has put a whole new layer of contamination across the country, and we're all seeing that play out on our screens every day and and very.

Often actually it it's.

Falling off the radar with the other conflicts.

As you'll know, the United.

Nations mission in Sudan has now sort of hold back and we're looking at establishing a stand alone mine action programme there in Sudan.

To work with our.

Humanitarian and development partners to be able to support.

The interventions that are there as mine action very much as an enabler at the.

Moment are there dozen must have mine action.

Activities ongoing in Sudan.

Not at the moment.

[Other language spoken]

Working with the National.

Mine action.

Authority to try and expand.

That now there is limited risk education going on.

Access is an issue, as I've said, but efforts are actively going on to try and expand there and we're watching.

It very closely that's on Sudan.

Thank you very much anybody will have anything else more to add for Sudan?

No, OK, Francesca, thank.

Thank you, Lisa for the questions.

Just to clarify what I what I said before.

[Other language spoken]

Organisation accredited says not not really about visa or access of of international to the country, but it's at the moment not.

There are a number of NGOs that are active in Ethiopia on risk education and victim assistance, but it they're not accredited.

This is a bit of a technical process.

So they don't have, let's say they're not authorisation by the government to conduct survey and clearance activity.

And this is what we are working on from the On my side.

So we have 6 NGOs that have officially requested to the government of Ethiopia to be allowed to do a survey and clearance activities.

We are very close to have 4 of this organisation officially recognised and allowed to do so by the government.

Ethiopia has a mine action office that currently sits under the Ministry of Defence.

Their their capacity in terms of human resource mostly and financial resources and also understanding of the whole international mine action work cycle is quite limited.

And the reason for that is also the part of the workforce of the Ethiopian Mine Action Office was from Tigre.

And with the conflict, this has changed also the dynamics internal to in the ministry.

But to us answer your second part of the question.

So for at the moment some limited though clearance activity have been conducted by by the Ethiopian National Defence Forces.

So there are no humanitarian clearance that happened in the country because of not not having authorisation for for organisation to do so.

However, we really hope that maybe one of the next press briefing we can say that we did get this authorisation and I think, yeah, we will share the fact sheet and also happy to to answer question via e-mail as a follow up.

Thank you so much, Francesca.

And just to say.

[Other language spoken]

The mail I sent yesterday and I did get the full.

Title and name of Rory.

So it's out there for everyone.

[Other language spoken]

Sheet out yesterday a donor.

Fact sheet on Gaza.

If you which I just resent to you, Lisa.

And then we have a little follow up on the Sahel answer from Mr Paul Heslop.

So I'm going to allow him this.

Come sit down here for a second.

[Other language spoken]

Definitely a different way to do a press conference.

Where am I?

Different house we've been involved in projects in the.

Sahel since we we started nearly 10 years.

[Other language spoken]

The environment there is obviously.

[Other language spoken]

And although there are traditional minefields from some of the.

Colonialist eras most of the.

Problem in in the.

Sahel is actually.

IEDs, improvised exposure devices that are.

Used as or are homemade.

Similar to what we've seen.

[Other language spoken]

You know, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, so extremely.

[Other language spoken]

Lots of different designs and variations and used very much in in the sort of asymmetric environment where they're disrupting.

Government envoys, government patrols and in the case of where there are UN peacekeepers, deployed peacekeeping operations.

It requires quite a lot of technical skill and knowledge to be able to deal with these devices and obviously they are very low cost and fairly easy to make.

So yeah, I think that is the scourge of the Sahel is the the use of IEDs.

[Other language spoken]

Fairly or pressure play IDs in a fairly indiscriminate way.

I can exercise this way.

We're staying yeah, we stay exercised up here.

So is he have any follow up Lisa or was that good?

[Other language spoken]

I, I asked whether and, and this, this is kind of across the board in a sense in that whether mine action activities are going on now in the midst of an ongoing conflict.

I mean this specifically in in the Sahel where there are are a number of countries that are involved with, you know, armed attacks.

And also whether it's possible to do this in other conflicts around the world or whether you essentially have to wait until peace or almost peace has been enacted in these countries.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for that follow up.

So I can just tell you that the United Nations Mine Action Service has presently at this moment.

[Other language spoken]

Although we're not there now, we're in Nigeria.

And we're still, although the peacekeeping operation has moved on, we're still, there's a group of unmasked still in Mali.

And that's what Fran had said before, and I'm going to pass over to him.

Right now to explain more.

About that, so I can just say another context whether it's in the.

Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan or Somalia Mine.

Action does continue during conflict and obviously it's a lot more difficult and and it's kind of every day you get up and do your job and then there's new job to do the next day.

[Other language spoken]

Is complicated, but we do.

Work in many conflict settings.

And with that said, let me pass over to Fran.

Fran, over to you.

[Other language spoken]

And and.

[Other language spoken]

Question Lisa I I think one of the main challenges is even.

Though we're in some.

Of these countries in the Sahal going across it's it's the issue of.

Access right?

It's the.

Issue of getting the government to give that access in, so we're engaging.

Very, very hard on that.

Yes, we want to do more activities on the ground and we talk about this on mass engagement.

We're talking that we're engaging on behalf of the sector as a whole, the international, national.

NGOs and the other entities that link into mine action as well.

In the Mali context specifically, I'm just back from there after engaging with the government and.

We're hopeful that.

As the mission is drawn down now that in the near future we may get that request to establish a new programme where then we can.

[Other language spoken]

And also support the broader.

Humanitarian mine action sector response as a whole so events like.

This advocacy is very important.

[Other language spoken]

With our heads of.

[Other language spoken]

States as well.

That's something that we're pushing.

As well to get those.

Voices to those governments to to.

[Other language spoken]

This access for humanitarian response response.

And that we can also.

[Other language spoken]

A lot of work to do still.

Thank you, Fran.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, excellent.

[Other language spoken]

We're good and thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Going to go over to.

[Other language spoken]

Where you're, who you're working for.

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry, I'm just arriving.

Now to that press conference.

[Other language spoken]

My question concerning the the situation there, especially I heard a few days ago that is it takes 14 years to clear.

Gaza of unexposed bounds and mines.

I don't know if the number of years is true.

[Other language spoken]

Situation there please.

[Other language spoken]

So that particular statistic is being quoted out of context.

So that statistic of 14 years was to clear rubble in Gaza where there's 37 million tonnes using 100 trucks.

So that statistic is 14 years.

To clear rubble in Gaza with 100 trucks, not.

Clear of unexploded ordnance in terms of the contamination, we suspect, but we haven't been able to do an assessment.

So we are not sure at this point.

The contamination will be extremely extensive and certainly we will require as a sector hundreds of millions of dollars and multiple years to clear Gaza, Decades possibly, but at this.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very, very much.

[Other language spoken]

Well, presently there's no hands up in the Zoom world.

Anybody else want to jump?

In this is your shot.

We've brought the.

Best experts we can get on hand today.

So if you got anything you want to ask.

Please do so now and in the.

[Other language spoken]

And any other questions?

[Other language spoken]

Well, with that said, I want to thank everybody for coming today and taking.

The time to be with us.

And please do reach out and I will be sending everything out again.

And if you have any.

[Other language spoken]

We, we need obviously people to know what's going on and so we would love to be able to speak with you all.

[Other language spoken]

UNMAS - Press Conference: Update on Mine Action - 01 May 2024