MAG works with conflict-affected populations to identify and address their most pressing needs.
We clear land of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) for use by poor communities and help people in contaminated environments to live more safely until their land can be cleared.
Humanitarian Mine Action is not just about landmines. In many current and former conflict zones, UXO – explosive weapons, such as bombs, rockets, missiles, mortars and grenades, that did not explode when they were used and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were employed or discarded – can pose an even greater threat to safety.
Beneficiaries: |
The problems
Imagine if, somewhere outside your front door, there is a powerful explosive weapon waiting patiently for you, or a member of your family, to disturb it. Because it’s hidden from view, avoiding it is a constant game of chance.
There could be one of them. There could be 100. You don’t know how many there are and neither does anyone else.
Every day millions of people live with this fear. And every day people die or suffer horrific injuries from abandoned weapons left behind after conflict.
Landmines, grenades, missiles and cluster bombs do not discriminate between soldiers and civilians, between adults and children.
They:
• cause death and injury to people carrying out their everyday activities;
• deny communities access to their economic resources. Pastures and arable land, water sources, woodland, roads are bridges can be rendered unusable;
• cause food insecurity and poverty;
• deny movement, leaving communities socially and economically isolated;
• prevent refugees and internally displaced people returning home;
• hamper rehabilitation and post-conflict reconstruction;
• leave populations living in fear.
How MAG is helping
MAG believes that everyone has the right to live in safety and without fear. MAG expertly clears abandoned landmines and other weapons, but that isn’t what makes us unique.
What sets us apart is our focus on the impact our work has on people’s lives. Our approach is long-term, enabling countries to rebuild and develop their social and economic potential.
Landmine clearance
Community Liaison
Risk Education
Photo [Sean Sutton/MAG]: Schoolchildren in Sinnapandivirichchan village, north-east Sri Lanka, where construction of a new school was able to begin in 2011 after MAG cleared the site, finding and destroying six unexploded projectiles.
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