"So you can’t get the water turned back on; you can’t get the electricity flowing again; you can’t get sewage systems functioning; you can’t rebuild roads; and you can’t have schools and hospitals open until you ensure that explosive hazards have been cleared," a senior US State Department official said on Monday, describing how mines prevent normal life from returning to areas that have been mined in conflict.
Iraq ranks among the world’s most heavily mine-affected countries, said the UN’s humanitarian coordinator Lise Grande at an event in Baghdad on Tuesday. Removing the explosive hazards will help protect human rights and save lives, she said.
Rigging explosives in civilian areas is a common tactic employed by ISIS. In many areas between Erbil and Mosul, the terrorist group left entire fields and pathways mined to discourage resettlement in the areas according to Kakai local residents.
The exact number of mines in the Kurdistan Region is unknown, but the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA) has estimated there are about 5-6 million.
The most recent survey conducted by IKMAA found that Sulaimani province, including Halabja, was the most heavily effected with an estimated 100 square kilometers defined as hazardous areas and surveying is still ongoing. In Erbil, there are 51 square kilometers declared hazardous and 22 in Duhok.
“Most of international mine action related agencies are dealing separately with IKMAA and some through Baghdad,” Jamal J. Hussein, director general of the Erbil Mine Action Center, told Rudaw English on Tuesday.
About 14,000 people have been victims of landmines in the Kurdistan Region resulting in about 6,000 deaths, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Many of the border areas in Kurdistan during the Iran-Iraq War and through Saddam Hussein’s Baathist reign were mined and have yet to be cleared.
Southern areas of Iraq have also been affected by the 1991 Gulf War and more than a decade of post-2003 conflict.
The renowned 2004 film 'Turtles Can Fly' tells the story of Kurdish children being paid by arms dealers to remove mines, often with deadly or de-habilitating consequences.
"Peace without mine action is incomplete peace. I urge all Member States to keep this issue at the top of the international agenda when negotiating peace, when seeking to prevent harm during conflicts, and when deploying emergency humanitarian responses in war zones," UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres stated on April 4.
The UN has observed the date as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action since 2005.
The US State Department announced last month at the international coalition to defeat ISIS meeting that the United States had allocated $33 million to remove mines and unexploded ordinance in the past year and encouraged other coalition members to increase their efforts.
Anti-ISIS coalition member Belgium is providing €500,000 ($533,000) to help clear mines in areas retaken from ISIS around Kirkuk, according to the Belgian foreign ministry. Japan provided $4,347,100 to the UN’s Mine Action Service in Iraq to fund education efforts around the risks of mines as well as surveying and clearing lands. The UK is providing an additional £4,000,000 ($5mn) for IED clearing efforts in Iraq.
Coalition partner nations, including those from the UK, have included improvised explosive device (IED) training in their training programs with Iraqi forces and NATO provided counter-IED kits to Iraq.
