World Humanitarian Day 2025

Today, on World Humanitarian Day, as the world recognises those who serve in humanitarian crises, MAG highlights the work of our colleagues on the frontlines of conflict recovery.

From clearing landmines and unexploded bombs to delivering life-saving education and reducing armed violence, MAG teams are helping communities return home and rebuild in safety.

Their dedication is why MAG last week received the 2025 Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest annual award recognising nonprofits.

Their work also underscores the importance of the Mine Ban Convention, a global agreement to ban the use of anti-personnel landmines, clear them from homes, rivers and farms and protect future generations from ever having to endure their devastating impact.

The stories from staff below are part of the Female Lens project, launched in 2024 and captured by five renowned women photographers, offering a powerful window into the people behind MAG’s mission.

Meet our colleagues from across the globe who save and protect lives every day:

At just 22, Melisa is one of MAG’s youngest deminers in the Mudzi area of Zimbabwe. Each morning, as the sun rises over the baobab trees, she pulls on layers of protective equipment – vest, helmet, visor, gloves, and boots – before beginning the day’s careful work.

Entering the minefield at 6am, Melisa methodically scans the ground with her detector. When she finds a signal, she marks the spot with a red triangle and begins the slow, precise process of uncovering what may lie just inches below the surface. With droughts and extreme heat making the land harder to work, the task is more difficult than ever. “Sometimes the work is so hot,” she says, “but I’m just happy to save lives.”

The rhythm of her day is marked by breaks for tea and the sharp crack of controlled explosions as items found are safely destroyed. For Melisa, each step forward is part of making her community safe again.

Selvi begins her day at 2am to prepare for the long hours ahead. By 5:30am she is in the minefield, working to make her community safe. Her income allows her to support her daughter and live with independence, despite the challenges.

Born in 1985 during Sri Lanka’s civil war, Selvi grew up surrounded by hardship and displacement. In 2009, while sheltering with her young daughter, her husband was killed by a missile strike. After months in displacement camps, she returned home determined to rebuild her life.

Today, Selvi owns her land, supplements her income through farming, and takes pride in using her wages to educate her daughter. Though the work is not easy, her story reflects the courage of women who step forward to protect their communities. Selvi is not only rebuilding her own future, but also helping to create safer ground for generations to come.

Morm Sokny, 52, has been serving as a team medic with MAG in Battambang province, Cambodia, since 1995.

Early in her career, she witnessed someone step on a landmine and suffer life-threatening injuries. Drawing on her rescue training, Sokny was able to save the man’s life and get him to hospital. That moment, she says, has been her driving force ever since.

Now, Sokny continues to use her skills to protect the lives of her colleagues working in the minefield, ensuring they can carry out their life-saving work safely.

Before the war, Oleksandra spent summers at the Kinburn Spit in southern Ukraine, but today, that idyllic landscape has become a frontline, its beaches and fields contaminated by mines and explosives.

Once a nurse, Oleksandra is now a deminer, part of the effort to clear the large swathes of Ukrainian land made dangerous by war. “We often hear explosions, as our site is situated close to where the battle is taking place,” she says. 

In the countryside, the gentle soundtrack of a summer in bloom now collides with the harsh booms and sirens of a war that has grinded on for three and a half years.

When ISIS took control of Mosul in 2014, Siham was just 15. She remembers fighters coming to her school, demanding to know why the girls weren’t wearing hijabs, and the fear of seeing classmates disappear – many never to return. To protect her, Siham’s parents arranged for her to marry.

But one day, as her husband left for the mosque, fighters appeared at their door and shot him. “They killed him. My life was destroyed. I couldn’t imagine that I would stand on my feet again,” she recalls. For three years, she remained in Mosul under ISIS’s rule.

A decade later, after the city’s liberation, Siham has rebuilt her life. Now 24, she works as a deminer, clearing the explosives ISIS left behind. “We are proud to tell girls that there is nothing to say that you can’t go to work,” she says, determined to help create a safer future.

Learn more about the Female Lens project and read more stories here.