Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mechanical Equipment In Ied Clearance: Observations From Iraq, Pehr Lodhammar, Mark Wilkinson Ph.D.

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Mechanical equipment has been in the inventory of conventional military forces for the purposes of military engineering—including demining—since the Second World War. The integration of mechanical equipment into the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Iraq clearance activities may have therefore seemed a natural evolution from what might be considered ‘conventional’ mine clearance, yet it brought with it a number of issues. First, the absence of any clear doctrine for the use of mechanical equipment in improvised explosive device (IED) clearance generated resistance and criticism from specialist IED clearance companies operating at that time in Iraq. It was argued that …

Tailoring Explosive Ordnance Risk Education: How Mag Addresses Gender/Cultural Sensitivities And Local Risk-Taking Behavior, Sebastian Kasack

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The relevance of risk education is widely acknowledged as reflected in the Oslo Action Plan (OAP) with its distinct chapter on ‘Mine risk education and reduction’ and five explicit actions. Good risk education must be tailored. MAG’s experience delivering explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) in four-teen countries confirms the relevance of tailoring EORE to the local reality: to people’s risk taking behaviors, to the actual explosive ordnance (EO) threat, to seasonality, availability of people for risk education sessions, and approaches that re-spect gender and diversity and take conflict sensitivity into account.

Accident Response To Mitigate Risk: A Call To Action, Lillian Gates

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Effective accident response in humanitarian mine action (HMA) contributes to increased safety in future demining work. Mine action organizations play a variety of roles in the improvement of accident response, with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs being the most recent to adjust their accident response process by establishing the Accident Review Panel (ARP). This panel consolidates the office’s efforts and allows for standardized accident response protocol and the collection and analysis of accident data. Other organizations active in cultivating better accident responses include the United Nations Mine Action …

Hidden Crisis In Borno State, Sean Sutton

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

At the end of 2019, Nigeria reported a significant increase of landmine, explosive remnants of war (ERW), and improvised explosive device (IED) contamination in its states. In 2019 alone, a total of 239 known mine casualties were recorded in Nigeria. Although the exact amount of contamination in Nigeria today is unknown, the Landmine & Cluster Munition Monitor asserts that Borno is the most heavily affected state in the country. Due to mounting mine contamination and increasing pressure from non-state armed groups (NSAG), internally displaced persons (IDPs) and communities are unable to safely return to the region. Extensive landmine use by …

A Note From The Interim Director, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

No abstract provided.

Innovative Finance For Mine Action, Camille Wallen, Peter Nicholas, Anna Von Griesheim

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Achieving a world free of landmines will require at least US$1 billion in additional funding. Bridging this gap will require using all available funding sources and maximizing the efficiency of spending. Innovative finance can help achieve both aims by accessing funding not tradition­ally available for mine action. To explore these options further, the UK government commissioned work to examine the potential roles of innovative finance in mine action. After discussions with a range of stakeholders, a broad consensus emerged around three approaches. First, outcomes finance, whereby funding disburses against independently verified results, such as mine clearance and recov­ery of activity …

The Journal Of Conventional Weapons Destruction, Issue 25.2 (2021), Cisr Journal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Read Issue 25.2 on Issuu.com

Exploratory Study On The Current Limitations Of Personal Protective Equipment And The Potential For Innovation, Kyaw Lin Htut

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Personal protective equipment (PPE) in mine action typically consists of a polycarbonate visor that fully covers the face and front neck, and body armor consisting of an apron made of aramid fabric (i.e., Kevlar) that fully covers the front torso, groin, and neck. PPE used in mine action is generally considered as “the last line of defense” since the primary method through which accidental deaths and injuries are prevented is through the application of and adherence to appropriate standard operating procedures (SOPs). However, with any operations, there is always an element of “acceptable risk,” and universal adherence to all SOPs …

Climate Change And Extreme Weather: How Can Mine Action Programs Adapt To Our Changing Environment?, Linsey Cottrell, Carlie Stowe

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Extreme weather events around the world are already impacting land that is contaminated with explosive ordnance (EO). Chronicling these events is not yet standardized, but these events will become more frequent as our climate changes. The uncertainty around climate change, related risks, and how these will regionally impact mine action operations makes it difficult to prioritize and plan for mitigation and adaptation measures. With limited guidance currently in place for the mine action sector, the introduction of climate change adaptation principles must be supported, and operational and risk management plans must be scrutinized to ensure that any additional climate change–related …

A Pressing Need: Decades Of Agreement, Few Results On Arms Record-Keeping, Philip Alpers

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Recent developments in computerized record-keeping for state-owned arms, ammunition, and explosives now offer simple, affordable solutions in the lowest-capacity environments. A global partnership between Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the developers of ArmsTracker soft-ware promises to break a twenty-year logjam that, until now, has denied comprehensive, affordable weapon and ammunition record-keeping systems to states in greatest need.

Unexplored Opportunities: Multi-Sector Strategies For Collaboration In Underwater Unexploded Ordnance Remediation, Chris Price

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Few global challenges are as ripe for multi-sector collaboration as underwater (UW) unexploded ordnance (UXO) remediation. Millions of metric tons of UXO are lying on and under the seabed corroding, decaying, and seeping toxic chemicals into the ecosystem—ultimately ending up in our food. Because most underwater UXO are from WWI and WWII, and given the corrosion rates of most metals from which ordnance is made, the inevitable problems with ordnance dumped, sunk, and fired into bodies of water (mostly in coastal regions) are catching up with us. The urgency is exacer-bated by biochemical changes in oceans due to climate change …

Barrier Analysis And Explosive Ordnance Risk Education, Kim Fletcher, India Mcgrath

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In early 2020, The HALO Trust (HALO) in partnership with Al Ghad conducted a "barrier analysis" with youth in Mosul, Iraq to determine the constraints they faced in adopting safer behaviors related to explosive ordnance (EO). Through the barrier analysis, HALO and Al Ghad found that youth with lower perceived self-efficacy, beliefs that an EO accident would not likely result in severe consequences, and friends who encouraged unsafe behaviors were all more likely to engage in less safe behaviors than their counterparts were. The findings enabled HALO and Al Ghad to tailor their EORE messaging to these barriers in an …

Endnotes, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

No abstract provided.

Predictors Of Refugees’ Ability To Pass The United States Citizenship Exam, Molly Grover, Fern Hauck, Sarah Blackstone, Emily Cloyd

Virginia Journal of Public Health

Background: Passing the United States citizenship exam can be challenging for refugee populations for several reasons, including affordability of English classes, time restraints, medical stressors, and limited formal education. The purpose of this study was to examine factors that may influence a refugees’ ability to pass the citizenship exam, including English proficiency, education, employment, and completion of English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.

Methods: Refugee patients at the International Family Medicine Clinic (IFMC) in Central Virginia participated in a survey that assessed their levels of English proficiency and whether or not they had passed the citizenship exam. The survey …

The Journal Of Conventional Weapons Destruction, Issue 25.1, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Issue 25.1 of The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction. A special double issue celebrating our 25th anniversary

Mine Action: The Early Years, Ian Mansfield

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

At the global level, the year 1997 was undoubtably the pinnacle of interest in mine action. This was the year that saw the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (ICBL), the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the opening of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) for signature in Ottawa, the establishment of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) as the UN focal point for mine action, the formation of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), the genesis of the Mine Action Support Group (MASG), …

Applying "All Reasonable Effort" In The Falkland Islands Mine Clearance Programme: Encouraging Efficient, Confident, And Timely Evidence-Based Land Release Decision Making, David Hewitson, Guy Marot

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Falkland Islands Mine Clearance Programme (FI MCP) ran from 2009 to 2020, through five operational phases, some lasting only a few months, some extending across several years. A core objective was to release land as efficiently as possible, only applying technical assets to those specific areas of land that justified such attention. This article describes the approach that was adopted to determine whether all reasonable effort (ARE) had been applied to each task in such a way that current (and future) stakeholders would have confidence in that decision so as to manage the fear of mines being missed.

Linking Mine Action And Development: The Case Of Komyshuvakha, Nick Vovk

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The protracted crisis in Ukraine raises many developmental, humanitarian, and mine action challenges, and while these are interconnected, the response to them continues to be dichotomous. In part perpetuated by donor preferences and reinforced by technical specialty, humanitarian mine action (HMA) organizations often run parallel to the rest, leaving much of the potential for integration untapped. At the onset of the conflict in 2014, Danish Refugee Council-Danish Demining Group (DRC-DDG) returned to Ukraine and became the first international nongovernmental organization (INGO) to initiate a response to the acute need for HMA in its eastern regions. Throughout, DRC-DDG has been leveraging …

Impact Caused By The Covid-19 Pandemic On Humanitarian Demining In Colombia, Salomé Valencia Aguirre, Angela De Santis Ph.D., Sebastián Tovar Jaramillo

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

cisrExchange · 25.1-Valencia-Aguirre

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mine action sector globally. In this article, the authors look at how the pandemic has affected Colombia, specifically concentrating on how the pandemic has affected humanitarian demining (HD)-related activities. To do so, the Swiss Foundation for Demining (FSD) compared key HD indicators from 2019 to 2020 in order to evaluate the performance of HD operations in Colombia, and carried out an assessment among HD organizations (HDOs) operating in-country through the Quick Impact Survey on COVID-19 Impact on Humanitarian Operations. Moreover, the authors provide an example of community service activities and …

Mental Health: Taking A Proactive Approach To Support Staff In Mine Action, Laura Biscaglia, Abigail Jones, Robert White

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

As public awareness on mental health in the workplace has increased in recent years, the humanitarian sector—along with the CHS Alliance, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Antares Foundation, and others—has been stressing the need for aid organizations to ensure that their duty of care responsibilities encompass the health, safety, security, and well-being of staff.¹

This article aims to contribute to existing conversations on how actors in the mine action (MA) sector can work together to promote mental health in the workplace as well as prevent and mitigate adverse mental health outcomes. The article is also a call …

An Innovative Approach To The Mental Health Needs Of Humanitarian Mine Action Personnel, Ken Falke, Bret A. Moore Psy.D., Abpp, Richard Tedeschi, Ph.D.

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

In the fields of humanitarian demining and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), physical traumas related to blast and fragmentation injuries receive a great deal of research attention. In contrast, focus on the psychological health and wellness of humanitarian mine action personnel (HMAP) is lacking. Although research on the incidence of mental health disorders among HMAP is extremely limited, compared with the general population, this group likely suffers more from psychiatric conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. HMAP work in a high state of hypervigilance because at any given moment in a demining operation, there is risk of …

Data-Driven Decision-Making In Southeast Asia, Mikael Bold, David Avenell

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Automated management information systems to enhance decision-making abilities are becoming more important today. Funding and resources are scarce, but technological developments are making it possible to conduct sophisticated analyses that will enhance planning and prioritization: doing more with less. Centered around optimization and efficiency, the geographic information system (GIS) tools provided by Esri¹ have been crucial in providing MAG (Mines Advisory Group)with decision-making software.

A Virtual Reality Application For The Training Of Deminers, Lynn Al Khansa, Elias Bou Saada, Rachid Maalouf, Mohammed Al-Husseini Ph.D., Ali El-Hajj Ph.D., Mohammed Baydoun Ph.D., Hassan Ghaziri Ph.D.

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

As virtual reality (VR) tools continue to improve, more fields are finding ways of implementing the technology to take advantage of training opportunities that reduce costs, alleviate logistical challenges, and more. Where humanitarian deminers must prepare for dangerous work, VR facilitates training that minimizes the danger while giving trainers a level of control over the different conditions of the training and the ability to easily monitor and instruct the user. For this purpose, the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Beirut Research and Innovation Center (BRIC) developed a VR application for the basic training of deminers, which is called …

Recognizing And Reducing Risks From Ammunition And Explosives, Martina Salini, Samuel Paunila

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) first engaged in the stockpile management of conventional ammunition in 2013 and has since developed in-house technical, operational, and strategic capabilities for ammunition through-life management. The GICHD is an active supporter of the ammunition management community of practice, and has authored and contributed to articles on this topic, including raising awareness of ammunition safety and security concepts.¹ The GICHD also collaborates with the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery (CISR) at James Madison University by jointly managing the Collaborative Ordnance Database Repository (CORD). This article discusses ammunition and explosives management from …

Alternatives To Open Burning And Open Detonation: The Disparity Between Hma And Commercial Best Practices, Linsey Cottrell, Kendra Dupuy

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

cisrExchange · 25.1-Cottrell

Munition and explosive residues have the potential to cause long-term harm when released into the environment. Common explosives, such as TNT and RDX are toxic, with both classed as possible carcinogens.^1,2 The environmental fate of explosives is complex and varied. TNT absorbs onto soil, slowly leaches, and degrades to form degradation products such as DNT, which has a higher toxicity than TNT itself.³ RDX leaches from soil more readily, degrades slowly, and can persist in the environment. The residual soil and water contamination at military ranges caused by the firing, detonation, and disposal of munitions …

First Steps To Limiting Conflict Pollution In Central Vietnam, Allan R. Vosburgh

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Awareness and concern are growing worldwide regarding pollution resulting from conflicts. In Vietnam, decades of wars have left a legacy of contaminated land and increasingly polluted water. Golden West Humanitarian Foundation (Golden West) believes future success in eliminating explosive remnants of war (ERW) will depend on highly-skilled, dedicated Vietnamese technicians who can apply training, tools, and techniques that mitigate ERW without unnecessarily adding new contaminants to the environment. Open detonations always contribute steel fragments and particles of explosive residue in the ground along with smoke and detonation products in the air. Golden West is helping to develop facilities, technology, and …

Managing Risk Through Transparency And Cooperation: Improving Lebanon’S Pssm Capacity, Jamie Mcghee

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Weapons and ammunition management (WAM) is a global issue in which nations are responsible for the physical security and stockpile management (PSSM) of weapons and ammunition to help mitigate weapons diversion and proliferation, and to prevent against an unplanned explosions at munitions sites (UEMS). Although in most instances preventable, UEMS incidents have increased, leading to significant loss of life, life-changing injuries to innocent civilians, and damage to property.¹

Measuring Explosive Munitions Use With Open-Source Data: A New Tool For Enhancing Humanitarian Mine Action, Jonathan Robinson, Christoph Baade

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Since 2011, there has been widespread use of explosive weapons—including conventional weapons, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and landmines—by all sides in the Syrian conflict.¹ As is known from other contexts, a proportion of these either fail to detonate, becoming unexploded ordnance (UXO), or are abandoned by combatants to become abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO).² Long after conflicts have ended, these explosive remnants of war (ERW) endure as multi-generational threats to a community’s population and future development.³

Assisting Landmine Survivors In Yemen, Elise Becker, Tamara Klingsheim

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Over the past ten years, the Marshall Legacy Institute’s (MLI) Mine Victim’s Assistance Program (MVA) in Yemen has helped over 800 male, female, and child landmine survivors in Yemen. MLI and our in-country program partner have worked to identify survivors and provide them with the assistance they require, including prosthetic services, vocational training, and self-employment opportunities, to improve their lives and increase their prospects for a brighter future.

Remote Sensing And Artificial Intelligence In The Mine Action Sector, Martin Jebens, Rob White

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Remote sensing and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are included in discussions of how technology and innovation can improve humanitarian action and international peacekeeping. These technologies have the potential to improve the capacity to assess needs and to monitor changes on the ground and can be useful for both the mine action (MA) and broader humanitarian sectors. Even though remote sensing and AI are not the silver bullet in MA and come with several challenges (e.g., operational and data protection), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) believe that the integration …