Demining 101

What is a Landmine? Landmines or mines are munitions designed to be placed under, on, or near the ground or other surface area and to be exploded by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person or a vehicle. These munitions have severe consequences for people and the societies in which they live. Landmines render land unusable and inaccessible, restricting agricultural use as well as preventing a means of escape or return for refugees or internally displaced people. For local populations, landmines pose significant physical risks, as detonations often lead to injury or death.

What is Mine Action? Mine action is a term that refers to the reduction of the effects that landmines and UXO have on people in both conflict and post-conflict societies, including socioeconomic and environmental issues. The mine action sector consists of five essential components: humanitarian demining, survivor assistance, mine risk education, stockpile destruction, and advocacy.

What is Humanitarian Demining? Humanitarian demining encompasses activities leading to the removal of mine and UXO hazards, including technical survey, mapping, marking, clearance, post-clearance documentation, community mine action liaison, and the handover of cleared land. Demining consists of several stages, usually beginning with surveys. The two most prevalent types of surveys are non-technical and technical surveys.

• Non-technical survey 1 refers to the collection and analysis of data, without the use of technical assets (such as metal detectors, mechanical devices, and mine detection dogs), about the presence, type, distribution, and surrounding environment of mine and UXO contamination, in order to better define where mine and UXO contamination is present and where it is not, and to support land release prioritization and decision-making processes through the provision of evidence.

• Technical survey 2 refers to the collection and analysis of data, using appropriate technical assets, about the presence, type, distribution, and surrounding environment of mine and UXO contamination, in order to define better where mine and UXO contamination is present and where it is not, and to support land release prioritization and decision-making processes through the provision of evidence.

Once suspected hazardous areas have been surveyed and deminers have identified confirmed hazardous areas, the next phase can begin: detection and clearance. Some of the same tools used in technical survey will be used for full detection and clearance operations. A deminer will begin to progress slowly through a confirmed hazardous area to pinpoint the location of mines and UXO for their removal and/or destruction.

While techniques can vary based on terrain and equipment, manual humanitarian demining generally proceeds as follows: wearing personal protective equipment, the deminer approaches the edge of the hazardous area with vegetation cutting tools, probe, excavation tools, a tripwire feeler, a metal detector, mine tape, and mine markers, and begins to clear a lane. The deminer visually scans an area approximately one meter wide by half a meter deep, looking for evidence of landmines. Satisfied that no mines are present on the surface or in the vegetation, the deminer sweeps the area with a tripwire feeler. The deminer carefully removes all vegetation to ground level, using a variety of cutters to ensure no piece of brush falls onto the ground and gently places any brush fragments behind him or herself. The deminer uses a metal detector and, if a signal is heard, sweeps the area with the detector to identify the center and edge of the target. A marker is placed at the target location. The deminer then backs off from the marker approximately 20 centimeters and begins probing for the suspected mine at a 30 degree angle. If a mine is found, the deminer excavates sufficient space to place a demolition charge. It is often safer for deminers to destroy the mine in place, using an explosive charge at the end of daily operations. Neutralizing or defusing mines is avoided when possible, as these procedures carry a greater risk of physical harm. This process is repeated meter by meter until the ground is determined to be free from known hazards.

When an area has been cleared, humanitarian mine action organizations will conduct quality management, which includes quality control and quality assurance, to determine whether the land has been properly cleared and is safe to turn over to the local population. As these demining teams conduct quality control inspections, they take corrective action if required, placing permanent survey markers for future reference. The national mine action authority will then accept or certify that the land is cleared and ready to return to civilian use.

Documentation, data, and information management support all stages of mine action. The task is not complete until the paperwork is done. Careful recording of the mine action process is necessary to document the effort, record the survey results, the standard clearance, the exact boundaries of the cleared area, and to note any residual hazards to the community. This data is entered into national mine action information management systems to maintain a record of what work has been done and what work is yet to be done.

1. International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) 08.10 http://bit.ly/2wyNCvZ. 2. International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) 08.20 http://bit.ly/2z0N8jJ.