Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Iran, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Iran

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 …

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.

Algeria, Country Profile

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Algeria

Landmines In Lebanon: An Historic Overview And The Current Situation, Harald Wie

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

It is estimated that 150,000 landmines of all categories are currently in Lebanon. The exact location of most of these weapons remains unknown. In addition, a large number of UXO continues to pose a serious threat to local populations, particularly in the south.

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 …

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 …

Landmine Impact Survey In The Republic Of Yemen, Qadeem K. Tariq

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Republic of Yemen is located in the Middle East, bordering Saudi Arabia to the north, Oman to the northeast, the Gulf of Aden to the south and the Red Sea to the west with an area of 550,000 square kilometers and a population of approximately 15 million. The country is divided into 19 administrative units, called governorates.

Landmines in Yemen were laid as a result of several separate conflicts over a period of about 30 years, starting during the 1962—1975 conflicts between the Republicans and Royalists in the north. In addition, landmines were laid during the 1963—1967 war of …

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.

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 …

New International Standards Debut October 1, 2001, Suzanne Fiederlein

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

On October 1, 2001 the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) officially released twenty-two documents that comprise the initial set of new International Mine Action Standards (IMAS). The standards replace the International Standards for Humanitarian Mine Clearance Operations. The new standards represent the culmination of two years of work to revise and expand the old standards based on changes in practices, procedures and norms that emerged from the continuing operations of mine action programs around the globe.

Global Focus On Landmines In Afghanistan, Joe Lokey

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Even though it has one of the longest running mine clearance programs, Afghanistan is still believed to be one of the most severely mine-affected countries in the world. The Mine Action Program in Afghanistan (MAPA), a United Nations-supported entity, is one of the largest and most successful national programs in the world and one almost exclusively run by the Afghans themselves with fewer than a dozen or so of the 5,000-person workforce being non-nationals.

Efficient Level 2 Surveys Using Mechanical Detonators: Returning More Land, Creating More Wealth, Saving More Lives, Daniel Wolf, Steven Barmazel

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The biggest problem facing demining enterprises is this: productivity of individual deminers is so low that total labor costs per unit of land cleared remain exorbitant—despite minuscule wages in mine-affected countries. Clearing agricultural land in developing countries typically costs many times the land’s expected mine-free annual revenues. Most remediation is uneconomic for public and private parties alike, and funding is never enough.

Combating Subterranean Terror, Her Majesty Queen Noor

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Over the past 25 years, driving past Jordan Valley mine fields fenced off by barbed wire, visiting with landmine victims, or tallying the grim statistics, I have grieved for the children and adults in the Middle East routinely maimed or killed by these weapons of mass destruction in slow motion. Our region has been called the landmine heartland of the world, with an estimated 50 million mines scarring the earth from Morocco to Afghanistan. Beyond the physical and psychological torture of those who have been injured, or lost loved ones, is the further punishment of land made desolate, lost to …

The Journal Of Mine Action Issue 5.3 (2001), Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Issue 5.3: Landmines in The Middle East Focus

The United States Central Command’S Role In The Middle East, Margaret S. Busé

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The U.S. CENTCOM humanitarian mine action program provides a successful interaction between US military trainers, the host country, the indigenous community and the non-governmental organizations while ridding the host country of landmines. Their train-the-trainer approach insures that there is an indigenous demining operation in place before U.S. forces exit the country.

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.

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.

Response To Bob Keeley’S Letter To The Journal Of Mine Action, Daniel Wolf, Steven Barmazel

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

We appreciate Bob being "picky" in examining our article on applying a public-health approach to demining. The lives at stake in demining are worth the extra care. As it happens, we generally agree with his views.

First, let’s do get our terminology straight. Thanks, Bob, for the lesson in British diction. We had hoped that placing the modifier mechanical before detonator would make our intentions clear. That it did not, we apologize to our readers. More substantive issues await us.

As Bob rightly points out, our ideas are not new. The public-health/cost-benefit approach predates the birth of everyone reading these …

The Socio-Economic Impact Of Mine Action In Afghanistan: A Cost-Benefit Analysis, William A. Byrd, Bjorn Gildestad

Global CWD Repository

This study was conducted as part of the World Bank-funded "Afghanistan Watching Brief Program", jointly implemented by UNDP and the World Bank. It is an outgrowth of a report entitled Study of the Socio-Economic Impact of Mine Action in Afghanistan (SIMAA), which was subsequently revised and rewritten. The program has supported three main types of activities: (1) economic and sector studies on topics of importance for the Afghan economy and for international assistance to Afghanistan; (2) conferences, workshops, and inter-agency teamwork on topics of interest to the assistance community (i.e. education, health, and food security); and (3) short-term training for …

Ddasaccident420, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

It had been raining a lot one day before, then the ground became less hard and slippery. The truck drove on the usual track that both vehicles used to pass without any problem but due to the slippery ground conditions, the land cruiser escaped from the usual track and it activated a MAI-75 AP mine with its right rear wheel which caused an immediate explosion. This happened inside the cleared area, approximately 287 metres from the beginning of the road (at that time, 4700 metres had already been cleared).

Ddasaccident366, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On the morning of the accident at approximately 10:15hrs the [Victim] was walking down the track and stepped on a large rock. This rock that was laid over the PMA3 blast mine moved and in so doing detonated the mine.

Ddasaccident794, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The 55-year-old Briton, surprisingly, smiles when asked to describe his immediate reactionThe 55-year-old Briton, surprisingly, smiles when asked to describe his immediate reaction when the Type 84 Chinese anti-tank mine he was trying to neutralise in Misurata, Libya last.

To Walk The Earth In Safety 3rd Edition (Fy2001), Us Dos Pm/Wra

Global CWD Repository

The United States first became involved in humanitarian demining in 1988 when it sent a team to assess the landmine situation in Afghanistan. Five years later, U.S. demining-related programs were underway in Afghanistan and seven other countries. By the end of 2001, we will have provided more than $500 million to 38 countries, as well as the Province of Kosovo and northwest Somalia, for various humanitarian demining efforts such as deminer training, mine awareness and mine clearance, as well as orthopedic assistance to, and socioeconomic reintegration programs for, landmine accident survivors and their families. Almost $100 million of this amount …

The Five Year National Mine Action Plan (2002-2006) - Mozambique, National Demining Institute Mozambique

Global CWD Repository

Highlights the integration of mine action in development in Mozambique

Strategic Mine Action Plan (2001-2005) - Yemen, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

The Government of Yemen is developing a national mine action capacity capable of planning, co-ordinating and managing all aspects of mine action activities in the country. The National Demining Committee (NDC) Chaired by the Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, is the central body responsible for policy formulation, resource allocation and National Mine Action Strategy.

Ddasaccident364, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

The soil was rocky, highly metallic and with dense vegetation, but still he carried on working only with the detector. After he finished that lane he returned to the second lane, which he had cleared that same morning. He was walked to the East in order to cut the vegetation of the third lane from another angle when his left foot stepped on a mine and detonated it. This was a PMN mine.

Veterans International Technical And Medical Rehabilitation Support Services In Cambodia, Usaid-Leahy

Global CWD Repository

Evaluates project to establish rehabilitation centers for people disabled by war in Cambodia. Interim evaluation covers the period 1996-10/01. Veterans International/Cambodia (VI/C) is the implementing agency. VI/C's USAID-funded rehabilitation efforts are providing highly successful and valuable interventions for people with disabilities. The grant support has enabled people with amputations, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, polio, and a number of other pathologies to receive high-quality rehabilitation and prosthetic and orthotic services. Numerous patients have had significantly positive functional and social outcomes, with particularly good outcomes for patients with amputations and clubfeet, and good outcomes for those with polio and spinal cord …

Handheld Metal Detectors: Nicaraguan Field Test Report October 2001, U.S. Humanitarian Demining Research And Development

Global CWD Repository

This final technical report details the results of a joint project between the United States Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (OASD-SO/LIC), the US Army Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM) Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), the Organization of American States (OAS) (Organizacion de los Estados Americanos [OEA]), the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (la MisiÛn de Asistencia para la RemociÛn de Minas en CentroamÈrica, [MARMINCA]), the Program for Demining in Central America (el Programa de Apoyo al Desminado de CentroamÈrica, [PADCA]), and the Inter-American-Defense Board (IADB) (Junta Interamericana …