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7966th Security Council Meeting: Maintenance of International Peace and Security
Mine action must extend beyond only removing those remnants of war to become a part of an effective toolkit for helping communities and countries recover and pursue sustainable peace, speakers told the Security Council today during a briefing on a comprehensive approach to mine action and explosive hazard threat mitigation.
Showcasing ways demining efforts had advanced peace, Nathalie Ochoa Nina of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Colombia, said tackling the reality of the remnants of war centred on rebuilding communities. In Colombia, humanitarian demining efforts had already produced results, serving as an essential component in initiating the socioeconomic reconstruction of communities and overcoming an impasse during negotiations for a peace accord between the Government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia‑Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP). For more than one year, that demining initiative was the only concrete action that had been jointly implemented by negotiating parties, she stressed.
The peace agreement had defined specific roles for mine action, she said. Humanitarian demining was recognized as essential for the implementation of other policies, including the collective return of internally displaced persons and a prerequisite for the execution of national rural plans. The inclusion of ex‑combatants was significant and mine action was a source of employment. “Colombia has a monumental challenge ahead of it — to consolidate peace after the signing of the peace accords,” she said, adding that: “The Security Council plays a vital role in ensuring that mine action improves the lives of many more people in conflict-affected areas, as it has so clearly done in my country.”
Alexander Zuev, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, provided a snapshot of United Nations efforts, including UNMAS activities in Somalia and South Sudan. UNMAS had played its coordinating role in many places, including in Iraq, by drafting guidelines, providing instructions for consistent response for missions and setting standards for mine action. It was also using its expertise to draft standards for mine removal and disposal, and was working on threat-mitigation methods.
When the floor opened to delegates, speakers shared their countries’ contributions, with many encouraging Member States that had not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known as the Ottawa Convention. Bolivia’s representative, whose delegation holds the Council presidency for the month, said negotiations were under way on a draft Council resolution that would, if adopted, set a precedent while emphasizing the importance of mine action for peacekeeping, peace and security.
Council members from mine-affected countries offered their perspectives. Ethiopia’s representative said the proposed draft resolution would send a strong signal about the need to mitigate the threat posed by landmines and other explosive devices while enhancing cooperation between Member States, including through the sharing of experiences and lessons learned. Echoing a concern raised by other speakers, he said that as a major troop-contributing country, Ethiopia was greatly concerned about the use of improvised explosive devices in recent years against peacekeepers by armed groups in asymmetrical conflict.
Some speakers highlighted other emerging threats, including the growing use of new types of explosive devices. Nowhere was the threat so great in that regard than in the fight to combat Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), said the delegate from the United States, pointing out that her country was the highest mine-action contributor to the United Nations. However, Italy’s delegate said that, while the number of victims was growing, mine-action funding, in general, was dropping. The representative of France said the current situation must be addressed with tailored, complementary measures and stakeholders on the ground must have the tools to do their job, with new technologies to foresee and mitigate threats.
Many countries remained affected, speakers said. The United Kingdom’s representative said that a total of 60 countries were still contaminated and called on all States to bolster action to address that challenge. “If we don’t tackle the global scourge, we are putting those who have emerged from conflict further behind,” he warned, highlighting past efforts to address persistent challenges. “Now is time to finish the job.”
At the start of the meeting, the Council observed a moment of silence for Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, President of the sixty-third session of the General Assembly, who died on 8 June.
Also delivering statements were representative of Uruguay, Senegal, Japan, China, Russian Federation, Sweden, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Egypt.
The meeting began at 10:05 a.m. and ended at 11:58 a.m.
