“The Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency has cleared 7,414,199 million square meters of land liberated from Daesh (ISIS) of mines and explosives, and has disposed of 23,429 mines,” said IKMAA official Sirat Barzani, in a statement published by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Monday.
Since the agency was launched, some 506 square kilometers of Kurdistan Region territory mined during the Saddam era have been cleared – constituting 65.2 percent of all mined areas, it said. A further 270 square kilometers remain uncleared.
The figures were released the same day a joint delegation from the Kurdistan Region and Iraq headed to Geneva to take part in the 71st meeting of the Ottawa Treaty for prohibiting and destroying landmines, where they are expected to ask for additional international support.
The Ottawa Treaty, formally known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, aims to eliminate anti-personnel landmines (AP-mines) around the world. To date, there are 164 state parties to the treaty.
Vast areas of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region are contaminated with mines and other explosive remnants of war. Besides the IEDs and unexploded bombs left over from the war with ISIS, mines planted during the Anfal campaign and by both sides during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88 continue to takes lives and limbs.
IKMAA formed three operations rooms in coordination with Peshmerga forces in Duhok, Erbil, and Garmiyan during the fight against ISIS, Barzani said.
The agency and Peshmerga mapped out the location of mines, planned their safe disposal, and helped raise public awareness about the dangers posed by explosive remnants of war. Chemical weapons were removed from the Tal Keif area.
However, a shortage of ready data, a lack of public awareness, and a rush to clear these areas without respect for international standards hampered their efforts.
Western governments are contributing millions of dollars to UNMAS – the United Nations mine action agency. Mine clearance teams remain underfunded and underequipped, however, and clinics caring for amputees lack the resources to continue their work.
Since the creation of the autonomous Kurdistan Region in 1991 until October this year, some 13,233 people have fallen victim to mines and unexploded remnants – around 6,000 of them killed.
