Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Interview With Miriam Coronel Ferrer Of The Non-State Actors Working Group, Margaret S. Busé

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The challenges and success of the Non-State Actors Working Group are discussed with Miriam Coronel Ferrer.

Algeria, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Algeria

Iran, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Iran

Oman, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Oman

Syria, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Syria

Humanitarian Demining In Egypt: A Half-Century Struggle, Timothy Kennedy

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Over the years and with limited resources, Egypt has demonstrated a strong commitment to eradicating the landmine threat through its dedicated Army Corps of Engineers demining campaign. Since 1948, with limited financing and direction, they report clearing approximately 31 percent of the total mined areas and 51 percent of the mines or UXO. These clearance operations have been costly—Egypt expended over $91 million (U.S.) in national funds and lost over 200 deminers. Competing priorities and dwindling financial resources imposed a halt to active HD operations in 1998. Egypt requested U.S. government HD assistance, and the U.S. Central Command developed a …

Humanitarian Demining In The Sultanate Of Oman, Steve Soucek, Darrell Strother

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Oman has a low to moderate landmine/unexploded ordnance (UXO) problem. Anti-tank (AT) and anti-personnel (AP) landmines were laid in the Dhofar region between 1964 and 1975 during an internal struggle with the People’s Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (PFLOG, later shortened to PFLO, a communist separatist group). Both the Royal Army of Oman (RAO)—with its allies Jordan, Iran and the United Kingdom—and the PFLO used landmines during the conflict; the RAO to support defensive positions or to interdict the separatists’ movements, and the separatists to ambush the RAO and allied units.

Strategic Planning In Yemen, Tim Lardner, Matt Craig

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The first ever Landmine Impact Survey was completed in Yemen in July 2000 by the Mine Clearance Planning Agency. With the help of Cranfield Mine Action, Yemen has been developing a strategy to maximize the efficiency of its mine action program.

Iraq, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Iraq

A Soldier’S Diary Of Desert Storm, Darin Buse

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

To say the mood was celebratory would be an understatement. As the last few thin-skinned vehicles crossed back through the burm that only days earlier had been breached, a shower of tracer fire and flares pierced the evening sky. The once neat file of Bradley fighting vehicles, 113 track vehicles, M1 Abrams tanks, trucks and hummvees now mobbed together in the desert just inside the border of Saudi Arabia. As a Psychological Operations Team Sergeant, I had never before been in such company as the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment. I was not prepared to witness the efficiency and overwhelming power …

Let's Go About Our Work, Dennis Barlow

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The partnerships and spirit which develop within the context of mine action activities sometimes seem almost as important as the remediation of landmines itself.

Israel, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Israel

Red Cross/Red Crescent Mine Action Involvement In The Middle East, Laurence Desvignes

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Middle East is an area significantly impacted by landmines, and there is a great need for the spread of mine awareness in mine-affected countries. The Red Cross and Red Crescent are hard at work in the region, attempting to raise mine awareness among the citizens of these nations.

The Landmines Resource Center For Lebanon, Habbouba Aoun

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

After 15 years of war and 22 years of occupation, Lebanon is littered with landmines. The Landmines Resource Center (LMRC) seeks to improve the situation by collecting, analyzing and disseminating related data.

Aiding The Innocent: Victim Assistance In The Middle East, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Hussein Khair Allah, a landmine survivor, recently spoke of his experience: "I was returning from a fishing trip on November 15, 1997, when I was injured by a landmine on the bank of the river Jordan, severing my right foot up to the ankle. I am a fisherman and the major source of my income was from fishing, which I am no longer able to do because of my injury. I need to work again to be able to support my wife and six children." Allah’s story mirrors those of many other landmine victims throughout the Middle East. However, Allah …

Israeli Landmine Policy And Related Regional Activity, Ahron Etengoff, Gerald Steinberg

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Although the dangers posed by landmines are particularly acute in the Middle East, responses to the Ottawa Convention are limited. Jordan, Sudan, Tunisia and Qatar are State Parties, and Algeria has signed but not ratified the Ottawa Convention. The lack of signatories in the region reflects the continuing conflict and instability as well as the role that mines play in territorial defense.

In Israel, there is significant support for both the concept and effort to abolish landmines, but security considerations and continued warfare outweigh arguments in favor of accession to the Convention. Israel is active in international cooperative programs to …

The Effects Of Landmines On Women In The Middle East, Mary Ruberry

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The countries of the Middle East are beset with troubles caused by nature as well as man-made strife. The region is prey to earthquakes, droughts and flooding, and years of conflict have left the region riddled with landmines and UXO. As a result, national economies have suffered, leaving social and medical infrastructure battered and scarred. Regional turmoil has caused the flight of millions of refugees and displaced persons who survive in sparse camps, many for decades.

Yemen Humanitarian Demining Program, Jack Holly

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Republic of Yemen is the southern-most nation on the Arabian Peninsula and has unique geographic features for this region. Like most Middle East countries, it contains desert land, rich oil reserves, and major ports for shipping. Unlike its neighbors, Yemen’s landscape rises quickly from the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden into mountain ranges well over 2,000 meters above sea level. Much of this landscape is fertile farmland on which the Yemeni people grow their food and raise livestock.

Current Mine Action Situation In Afghanistan, Susanna Sprinkel

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Millions of landmines littering Afghani soil pose a horrifying threat to civilians fleeing their homelands and soldiers entering the area in response to the rising war on terrorism. Meanwhile, those attempting to clear these lands face their own malicious enemies.

Interview With Martin Barber, Chief Of United Nations Mine Action Service, Margaret S. Busé

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The United Nations Mine Action Service has a successful program operating in Afghanistan that employs 4,000 local Afghans in mine action. Currently, they are mobilizing their efforts to respond to the current refugee situation and the new mine action situation.

Travelogue: Afghanistan, Oren J. Schlein

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In early July 2001, I traveled to the Afghan cities of Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, and Kandahar. The purpose of my trip was to assess the status of our Adopt-A-Minefield® program in the country. I was hosted by the Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA), which is a part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan (UNOCHA). This report was written after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC on September 11, 2001. Adopt-A-Minefield® is a program of the United Nations Association of the USA.

Returning Mine-Free Land To The Afghani People: Afghanistan Mine Detection And Dog Center, Susanna Sprinkel

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

As a result of conflicts faced over the past 23 years, Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily landmine-afflicted countries. The Mine Detection and Dog Center has built one of the world’s largest mine detecting dog programs with the goal of saving lives and returning mine-free land to the Afghani people.

Landmine Survivor’S Network Provides Victim Assistance In Jordan, Kathleen Powers

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

According to military figures, most mine incidents occurred during the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s, when the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict spilled into Jordan. Incidents rose again during the early part of the 1990s due to heavy rains and floods that shifted landmines from their originally marked and mapped fields into unrecorded areas.

The Quantification Of Safety And Risk: A Critical Review, Peter Schoeck

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

It is shown that the concept "safety factor," as presently used as a criterion for declaring a demined area safe for use, is impractical and should be replaced by its complement, called "risk factor," which stands for the ratio of the size of the mine-polluted portion of a demined field to its total area. An equation expressing the risk as a function of the efficiencies of the demining processes applied is developed. The limitations of applying this equation in the quantification of the risk are then shown by means of a case study. The necessity of an error analysis for …

Background On The Mine/Uxo Problem, Mohamed Ahmen

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Twenty-two years of conflict have left a significant number of unfenced and unmarked mine fields in southern Lebanon, requiring strong coordination between various organizations in order to meet emergency demands.

Npa: Improving Lives In The Middle East And Throughout The World, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

An organization based on human equality, NPA "…endeavors to improve the conditions under which individuals live, and to contribute to a more humane society for all." Accordingly, landmine issues are a fundamental element of their mission. Since 1992, when they entered Cambodia, NPA has been heavily involved in mine clearance throughout the world, becoming one of the world’s largest humanitarian mine clearance organizations and concentrating most of their labors on educating local populations about the dangers of landmines. More recently, they began to focus their efforts in the Middle East and Northern Africa, where they began an extensive program in …

Comments On The "Detonation" Approach, Robert Keeley

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Daniel Wolf and Steven Barmazel discussed the Public Health approach to demining in an article entitled "The Necessity of Implementing a Public-Health Approach to Humanitarian Demining," making some very valid points. However, Robert Keeley points out some problems with this approach that he feels need to be addressed before this method can be successful.

Geneva Diary: Report From The Gichd, Paddy Blagden

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The GICHD has been assisting the ICRC with technical information on both AT mines and submunitions. GICHD also addresses other areas of special concern to mine action.

A Pioneer In The Field Of Humanitarian Mine Action: Mine Clearance Planning Agency (Mcpa), Qadeem K. Tariq

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Mine Clearance Planning Agency (MCPA) aims to effectively contribute to humanitarian mine action and advocacy activities in Afghanistan and other landmine-infested countries in order to make the hometowns of refugees and displaced people land-mine free and to implement essential rehabilitation and development activities in mine-affected communities.

Afghanistan, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

This article has been removed.