The United States Commitment to Humanitarian Demining
Prepared by the Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs,
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State,
Washington, DC, July 2000
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To Walk the Earth in Safety: The United States Commitment to Humanitarian Demining Prepared by the Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, July 2000 |
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Overview of U.S. Humanitarian Demining Programs
To Walk the Earth in Safety: The United States Commitment to Humanitarian Demining informs the reader about the U.S. commitment to rid the world by the year 2010 of anti-personnel landmines (APL) currently threatening civilian lives. Hidden Killers 1998: The Global Landmine Crisis, the most recent U.S. Government survey, identified 93 countries affected with either an APL or an unexploded ordnance (UXO) problem, or both. Although the estimates regarding the number of mines implanted in each country vary widely among sources, the U.S. estimate of APL infestation is approximately 60-70 million worldwide.1 The objectives of the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program are to reduce the number of civilian landmine casualties, return refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) threatened by landmines to their homes, and enhance the political and economic stability of those nations affected by landmines. A U.S. Government Interagency Working Group (IWG), chaired by the Department of State (DOS) and vice-chaired by the Department of Defense (DoD), is in charge of approving, developing, and coordinating U.S. humanitarian demining programs. A typical U.S. program involves assisting in the establishment of a mine action center (MAC), a mine awareness program, and a demining training program. As a country develops its mine clearance abilities, the IWG will periodically evaluate the development of the program. When the program reaches the point of self-sustainment, the United States passes off its active role to the host nation, although some U.S. funding may continue to sustain demining efforts. Generally, the DoD funds a humanitarian demining program's start-up costs, and the DOS provides subsequent funds to procure the necessary equipment for mine-affected nations to conduct mine clearance operations. The components of the DoD humanitarian demining program are: (1) mine awareness education; (2) assistance in developing MACs; (3) civil-military cooperation; (4) victim assistance; and (5) demining training--or "train the trainer"--which is the core of the program. More than 4,000 indigenous trainers have benefited from this core program. The DoD funds humanitarian demining activities from its Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid (OHDACA) account. From 1996 through 1999, the DoD spent $89.3 million on training programs in more than 20 countries, and $25.6 million have been appropriated for DoD-sponsored demining operations in Fiscal Year (FY) 00. The DoD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has program management responsibility for humanitarian and civic assistance and humanitarian demining programs, and the theater (regional) commanders-in-chief (CINCs) are responsible for managing and carrying out these programs. The DOS, through its Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs (PM/HDP) is the lead agency for coordinating U.S. humanitarian demining programs worldwide. Since FY97, basic funding for DOS's humanitarian demining programs has been provided by the Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining and Related (NADR) programs appropriation. PM/HDP is charged with the day-to-day management of bilateral demining assistance programs. In addition, the DOS Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration contributes to the multilateral commitment to refugee needs through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.2 Finally, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) promotes sustainable development by providing humanitarian services in post-conflict situations. USAID's Bureau of Humanitarian Response, Office of Transition Initiatives, bridges the gap between emergency humanitarian assistance and long-term development assistance by supporting organizations and people in emergency transition in conflict-prone countries. USAID's Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund (WVF) contributes to improving the mobility, health, and social integration of the disabled, including landmine survivors. Typically, although not exclusively, USAID works through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to develop a country's indigenous capacity of sustainable services for amputees. From FY93 to FY00, the combined expenditures of the DoD, DOS, and USAID on demining programs and projects totaled more than $400 million, including more than $100 million appropriated by the U.S. Congress to support demining-related programs this fiscal year.3 Demining support also comes from other U.S. Government agencies. In October 1998, the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research awarded a five-year, $4.25 million grant to the Physicians Against Landmines to establish a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center. The Center will research and develop innovative prosthetic devices that can be affordably manufactured and serviced in countries with large numbers of landmine survivors. In cooperation with several university and private sector organizations, the Center will also develop educational materials and conduct surveys on rehabilitation services. The U.S. Government has now approved programs to assist 36 landmine-affected countries both through its Humanitarian Demining Program and its Emergency Demining Initiative, and the list is expected to expand as the United States approves more applicant countries each year. To Walk the Earth in Safety relates the extensive history of the U.S. commitment to, and program priorities for, humanitarian demining in these 36 countries. (The chart below lists additional countries receiving landmine survivor assistance from USAID's Leahy War Victims Fund.) As a complementary effort to the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program, the Secretary of State's Office of Global Humanitarian Demining (S/GHD) promotes the President's Demining 2010 Initiative and coordinates with the international community to ensure effective and complementary activities and initiatives worldwide. This office also fosters public-private partnerships to marshal resources from the public and private sectors. U.S.-funded support since FY93 to relieve human suffering through demining, and to promote our interests in peace, prosperity, and regional stability, is depicted in the following table.
NOTES: 1. Does not include FY99/00 PM/HDP administrative funds.2. Does not include USAID figures for FY00 (not received at this time). 3. MARMINCA figures are included in DoD Operations and Maintenance (O&M) for OAS (FY99). 4. DoD O&M for FY00 includes $3.8M; $650K; and $42.25K for Kosovo/$452.6K for Mozambique in reimbursements from DSCA. 5. USAID Kosovo for FY99 and FY00 includes $650K (FY99); $986.4K (FY00); $4M (FY00) transfers from USAID. 6. USAID Bosnia for FY00 includes $200K transfer from USAID. 7. USAID War Victims Fund $11M estimate includes: $1.5M for Vietnam; $75K for Cambodia; $1M for Laos; $1M for R&D in Africa and $1M for Mozambique; $1M for Sierra Leone; $750K for Liberia. Humanitarian Demining Technology Research & Development Providing the "Tools" for the Deminers' "Toolbox" Despite the best efforts of all those engaged in humanitarian demining, getting landmines out of the ground remains a slow, dangerous, and labor-intensive process. Since World War II, advances in technology have strongly favored the laying of mines over the clearing of them. Today, APL can be produced cheaply, in large numbers, but small in size, and with so little metal in them that mine detectors are unable to find them. The difference in time, cost, and resources between emplacing a mine and removing it is drastically against the deminer. Technology has the potential to eliminate this difference, and to create an advantage for the deminer. Governments, NGOs, and commercial firms are pursuing several new humanitarian demining technologies. While it remains unlikely that anyone will find the "silver bullet" demining tool, evidence indicates that present research and development (R&D) of demining tech-nologies will result in enhancements that will improve landmine detection, clearance, and neutralization. With such "tools" in their "toolbox," the world's deminers will be able to conduct humanitarian demining operations more quickly, more safely, and more easily. At present, the goal is to exploit existing technology, through rapid prototyping, and put the new equipment in the deminers' hands as soon as possible. The ultimate goal is to apply the new technologies, now in various stages of R&D, to "tools" that will provide a quantum leap in humanitarian demining effectiveness. Research and development in humanitarian demining technology is focusing on three areas: detection, clearance, and destruction/neutralization. Detection Finding landmines is the most difficult aspect of humanitarian demining. The means of detecting landmines has not changed greatly since World War II. The majority of mine detection operations today are done manually--with a 25-centimeter-long, non-metallic probe--to positively identify a buried object. The major problem in clearing mines is the difficulty in discriminating between a mine in the ground and other objects buried in the same soil. Modern APL are small and made of various substances, which makes it nearly impossible for the standard metal detector to distinguish them from metallic debris, or even the metallic content of the soil surrounding them. Many modern APL are also made of plastic, making them virtually undetectable by a metal detector. The goal of the R&D efforts is to automate the detection task, increase the detection rate, improve the ability to discriminate between a landmine and some other object, and protect the deminer. For the most part, technologies being pursued for detection have been developed in the private sector and are being adapted for humanitarian demining. Some examples of detection technologies now in R&D include: ground-penetrating radar, which emits electromagnetic waves into the ground, where they are reflected, measured, and, based on their variations, detect the presence of different types of buried objects; infrared detection devices, which are able to measure the heat that landmines retain or release, and so detect their presence; nuclear radiation, such as Thermal Neutron Activation (TNA), Nuclear Quadrapole Resonance (NQR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and X-ray backscatter imaging, all of which are examples of technologies that detect explosive substances in the landmine, rather than try to identify the mine by its shape or casing; and chemical detection, which focuses on the one element common to all landmines--the explosive material. Clearance Clearance is the process of eliminating landmines to make land and structures suitable for re-use. Most mechanical mine-clearing devices in use today are more suited for military minefield breaching rather than for slow, methodical, humanitarian demining operations. A mechanical means for mine clearance is needed that will accelerate the process and make it safer for deminers. The following types of mechanical mine-clearing technologies are being pursued today: ploughs and rakes, rollers, rotary drum rotary tillers, flails, mineproof vehicles, and robotics. Mechanical devices are difficult to maintain, especially in countries with limited maintenance capacity, and they often require prime movers. Moreover, mechanical mine-clearing alone is unable to meet the UN's standard goal of 99.6 percent. Nevertheless, machines are able to speed the clearance process when used in combination with manually-operated devices. They are also useful in verifying quickly that an area is clear of land-mines, so that deminers on foot are able to concentrate on those areas most likely to be infested with mines. Destruction/Neutralization Methods The two most common methods in use are to detonate the landmine by means of pressure or explosives, or to remove and destroy it later. Recent developments in explosive foam, mine marking and neutralization foam, shaped charges, and chemical neutralization are promising methods that bear consideration for on-site destruction of landmines. This is especially germane for the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program, which generally requires that all APL found be destroyed in place, not just neutralized, or removed for subsequent destruction. Both types of foam have been used in the field with some success, while shaped-charge and chemical methods are still in the late development stage. Summary Many technologies associated with humanitarian demining are on the verge of breakthroughs that will solve the identification problem, and there have been significant efforts made--although with less success to date--in the areas of clearance and neutralization. Complementary technological efforts are progressing in the development of protective garments for deminers, information fusion and mapping systems, multi-sensor-arrayed vehicles, and mine awareness programs. Scientists around the world are pursuing technological solutions to humanitarian demining problems in the research facilities of academia, govern-ment, and commercial enterprises. Technology, however, is not a panacea. We should see any single breakthrough as yet another tool available for use in the demining process, but a tool that may not be useful in all circumstances. Not all high-tech solutions are workable in all situations. For example, careful study of the limitations that terrain and weather impose on any tool is critical. Advanced metal detection devices may not be effective in soil with a high mineral content, while fragile, computer-supported devices are probably not compatible for use in a hot, dusty, or wet environment. In addition, the knowledge required to operate a machine may not match the skill level of the deminers, many of whom are drawn from the local populace. Finally, the cost of maintenance and the availability of logistics support are important to sustain operations relying on high-tech equipment. We must take into account all these considerations, and more, before we make a decision to purchase new demining devices. Current humanitarian demining technology is too limited to solve the landmine problem facing the world today. New R&D pro-grams underway in the United States and other countries show promise for new methods that will be safer and more effective. The international community must act now to foster these research programs in order to provide deminers in the field with "tools" for their "toolbox" beyond that of a sharpened stick. U.S. Humanitarian Demining Programs The 36 country cameos that follow are presented alphabetically by geographical region. Each cameo is divided into two parts: a synopsis of the present threat that landmines and UXO pose, and U.S. efforts to help eliminate or mitigate the threat. Official 1998 reports from the African continent indicate that 27 countries have a landmine or a UXO problem. The United States has a program in the following: Angola, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia (Northwest Somalia), Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. In Asia, a region that claims 16 mine-affected nations, the United States is providing demining-program support to four of these countries: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. The United States also funded, in FY98 and FY99, a special mine awareness training center in Vietnam and recently allocated $1.75 million to implement a program in Vietnam. The funds will provide equipment specifically requested by the government of Vietnam, as well as grants for mine action services. In Europe, 26 countries have reported landmine incidents or are aware that landmines are obstacles to post-conflict reconstruction. Seven countries--Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Macedonia, and Moldova--and the Province of Kosovo are part of the U.S. humanitarian demining program. Among the nations of Latin America, 13 are considered landmine- or UXO-affected. The United States is providing both humanitarian assistance and humanitarian demining assistance to six Latin American republics: Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru.
In the region generally identified as the Middle East, 11 countries have reported that landmines and/or UXO have corrupted their land. Of these 11, five nations--Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, and Yemen--are receiving humanitarian demining assistance.
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