Peace and Conflict Studies Commons^™

Biden Administration U.S. Space Force Policy Literature, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides details on U.S. Space Force policy literature produced by the Biden Administration during its first eight months. Includes announcements that the Biden Administration will continue this new armed services branch begun during the Trump Administration. Features congressional testimony of Biden Administration officials such as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Wilson and Air Force Space Command leader General James Dickinson, the text of Space Force's 2021 Digital Force Vision document, congressionally approved FY 2022 space force budget figures, congressional committee comments and report requirements contained in emerging defense spending legislation, the emergence of collaboration between Space Force and universities such as …

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 …

Saving Lives In Eastern Ukraine: Alternative Eore Approaches, Anonymous N/A

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Armed conflict has been ongoing in the east of Ukraine since 2014 and continues to have a fundamentally devastating impact on children, women, and men. With continuing hostilities and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in the region, 3.4 million people are projected to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021. The elderly, persons with disabilities, female-headed households, and children are among the most vulnerable. Additionally, the large-scale population displacement from government and nongovernment controlled areas (GCA and NGCA respectively) of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, separated by the 427-km-long contact line, remains one of the highest concerns.

Digital Rehabilitation Technologies Deliver Hope For Survivors, Abder Banoune

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Humanity & Inclusion (HI) has been making prostheses and orthoses since its launch in refugee camps along the Thailand/Cambodia border in 1982, when it was known as Handicap International. The organization has since developed a global approach to disability, aiming to reduce poverty and situations of vulnerability, while working to ensure development and emergency responses are accessible to all. After nearly forty years of action, teams in fifty-five countries perform this critical work today.

Letter From The Editor: The Journal Of Conventional Weapons Destruction Celebrates 25 Years!, Steven Costner

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction is the leading publication in the fields of humanitarian mine action (HMA) and munitions destruction and security. Since 1997, experts in these fields have shared their critical thinking and innovative ideas on how to make their practical work safer and more efficient at the same time. For this 25th edition of The Journal, I invite you to join me in celebrating all the present and past authors who have shared their ideas, inventions, and perspectives to improve the lives of countless communities around the world.

A Note From The Interim Director, Suzanne Fiederlein Ph.D.

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

No abstract provided.

Past, Present, Future: Mine Action In Motion, Ambassador Stefano Toscano Ph.D.

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The story of mine action is one of an adaptive and solution-oriented sector. Time and again, mine action has developed new approaches, tools, and standards to meet evolving challenges and circumstances at the field level. A strong partnership among all key actors has characterized the sector since its early years and has been instrumental to its agility and evolution.

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.

The Exploitation Of Landmines In The Falkland Islands, Colin King

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Throughout the eleven-year mine clearance program in the Falkland Islands, the exploitation (disassembly, detailed analysis, and testing) of live mines was a regular feature. In addition to assessing the condition of the mines in order to optimize the safety and efficiency of the clearance process, there was intense interest in the subject of long-term residual risk.

The rigorous demining program was highly successful, and the Falkland Islands have now been declared clear. However, a mine recently washed up on the shore near the Capital, Stanley, and it’s possible that others will do so over the next few years. It is …

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 …

Developing National Landmine Clearance Capacity In Ukraine, Tobias Hewitt, Ronan Shenhav

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The mine action sector in Ukraine has seen significant growth and progression since the outbreak of hostilities along the eastern border in 2014. Continued development of government capacity is required to respond to the scale of landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination. The HALO Trust (HALO) has supported the Ukrainian authorities to address mine contamination since 2015, through survey and large-scale mine clearance, as well as by assisting state entities such as the State Emergency Services (SES) to strengthen humanitarian mine clearance practices and procedures. HALO’s ongoing capacity-development efforts aim to enhance existing resources in order to establish …

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

Landmine Clearance And Socioeconomic Development: A Study In Colombia, Oliver Ford, Amazia Zargarian, Eric Keefer

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The HALO Trust (HALO) arrived in Colombia in 2009 and, once accredited, began operations in 2013. HALO is currently the largest civilian humanitarian demining organization in the country, operating in twenty-five municipalities across eight departments.¹ The United States has supported HALO from the outset in Colombia and remains the single biggest donor for demining in the country. In 2019, through U.S. Department of State support, HALO began an innovative study to investigate the causal link between landmine clearance and socioeconomic development in Colombia. The study focused on two municipalities in the south of Antioquia Department—Nariño and La Unión—both of which …

Explosive Ordnance Risk Education In Ukraine During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Anonymous N/A

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

All modern conflicts bring dangers of explosive remnants of war (ERW), including unexploded ordnance (UXO), abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO), improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and/or landmines, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine is no exception. While the conflict is still ongoing, it is currently in a state of relative stalemate, limited to shelling, sniper fire, and small skirmishes along the 280-mile line of contact.¹ However, civilians are still directly at risk as a result of military actions but also indirectly as a result of ERW and landmines, which are scattered across the region due to the frequent shifting of the line …

Moving The Story Forward Utilizing Deminer Narratives To Increase Women’S Empowerment In Mine Action And Beyond, Brenna Matlock

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The humanitarian mine action (HMA) sector, as a part of the wider security and peacebuilding field, has made significant gains related to gender equity in field operations. In recent years, women deminers have received increased donor and media attention. As a result, there now exists a wide breadth of texts, literature, documentaries, etc., about women who work to remove landmines and other explosives from the ground. The availability of this new information and recent increased public and media attention generates the following questions: Are the narratives accurate, and do women deminers agree with them? How do women deminers view the …

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.