Global demining work is hampered by escalating conflict and dwindling aid

“They told me, ‘Never in my career have I seen so much conflict,’” said Kazumi Ogawa, speaking at the close of the National Directors of Mine Action and UN advisors meeting in Geneva.

Although there is a clear need to continue demining work in conflict zones and peace zones, “for various reasons, the level of funding in terms of humanitarian assistance has declined”, said Ms Ogawa.

Time bomb in Gaza

In Gaza, for example, 90 percent of people injured by explosive hazards resulting from the Hamas-Israel war are civilians – “and most of them are children”, he stressed.

UNMAS has warned that between five and 10 percent of all munitions fired at Gaza have not exploded. The result is that potentially lethal, unexploded ordnance is now “ingrained” in the devastated region, the mine action chief said.

“We can collect explosive hazards and we close them in Gaza so that they are blocked, but we cannot destroy them… Therefore, the materials are piled up so that children are expected to be able to walk around.”

He added: “There are fathers who will go through the rubble trying to get home and find explosive devices and don’t know what to do with them; you’ll find children playing, right, and facing these dangers.”

Lack of support

Despite such grave threats, support for demining and risk education is never enough, especially now, amidst a crisis of support for international agencies and bodies including the UN, and an increasing number of conflicts.

“The problem is, when budgets – national budgets – are diverted to defense needs, for example, and away from humanitarian aid, what we see is the impact on the ground,” Ms Ogawa said. “So, in Afghanistan, for example,one child is killed every day.”

A problem that is no less surprising occurs in Syria.

“If usually there are around 300 people killed due to the danger of explosions in a year in certain countries filled with mines, then in Syria, there are 200 people killed in a week,” said the UNMAS Director.

“This is unimaginable. And donor funding would really help us with the following: education about the risks of using explosive weapons, assistance to victims, actual release, advocacy to the greater part of the humanitarian community… to ensure that these people remain safe.”

In addition to the loss of life from landmines and unexploded war remnants, the economic impact is also a significant obstacle to development.

Long term care

“If a child becomes disabled, you ask the family to care for the child until adulthood, society makes allowances for the child when he becomes a member of society. I mean, it’s not just one person who dies, right?” Ms. Ogawa explained.

The UNMAS Director highlighted the positive work supported by the UN around the world to combat landmines and other unexploded ordnance, thereby helping communities and countries to rebuild.

In Colombia, where there is a legacy of anti-personnel mines and other explosive ordnance contamination from a decades-long civil war, an initiative of the national transitional justice mechanism engages former combatants “to assist in the recovery and recovery of those communities, including through demining and mine action, victim assistance, risk education”, Ms Ogawa said.

“This is a way of integrating – instead of punishing ex-combatants by imprisoning them, it actually incorporates them to become part of the community.”

If you talk to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace in Colombia, it’s really interesting what they’re doing.”

Convention enhances ‘safety and security’

The 1997 international agreement to eradicate landmines – officially known as Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention – has proven effective in banning anti-personnel landmines but in 2025 and early 2026, several European countries began or completed the process of withdrawing from the ban.

The new UNMAS Director emphasized the value of this Agreement and its relevance for everyone, everywhere:

“Let’s remember that we’re not here just to comply with international conventions for compliance’s sake so we can say, ‘Oh, here’s one more country.’ So this then trickles down and creates conditions for people to live in safety and security.”