summary
Event: HDP Nexus in Mine Action – for stronger national ownership
Date: October 5-6, 2023 (2 days)
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Co-organized by United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and Cambodia Mine Action Center (CMAC)
Main Participants
About 25 participants from mine action agencies and UNMAS offices in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan, CMAC, UNMAS Sudan Office, UNMAS Headquarters, JICA Headquarters, JICA Kenya Office, and Embassy of Japan in Kenya.
Background and Objectives
In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the need for comprehensive assistance in the field of mine action from humanitarian, development, and peace perspectives, and the importance of achieving a smooth transition from emergency response mine action, which is initiated before the conflict is completely over, to demining activities that contribute to reconstruction and development, and to effective mine action activities.
In Cambodia, for example, landmines were buried throughout the country during the civil war in the 1970s and 1980s, causing much damage. After the end of the civil war and the start of UN peacekeeping operations (PKO) in 1992, countermeasures were initiated, and a mine action program has been developed over the past 30 years. Among others, the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), the government’s implementing agency that plays a central role in the program, has been building its capacity.
JICA has been cooperating with CMAC since 1998, and since 2010 has been focusing on efforts to share CMAC’s knowledge and technology with other mine- and UXO-affected countries. Cooperation with Colombia, Laos, Angola, Iraq, and other countries is the result of this “South-South cooperation. Recently, CMAC has also been promoting training for mine countermeasures personnel in Ukraine, etc. The sharing of Cambodian mine countermeasures systems, organizations, and technologies through CMAC has contributed to strengthening the mine countermeasures capacity of each country and to solving the global mine problem.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), an international organization, conducts mine action activities in countries in conflict or immediate post-conflict situations. By deepening cooperation between UNMAS, which works primarily in the emergency phase, and CMAC, which has experienced the developmental stages of mine action programs from the emergency to reconstruction and development phases, it will be possible to identify the initiatives needed in each country and region, from the emergency to the mid- to long-term perspective, and to develop a more effective mine action program that is consistent with the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus (coordination) This will help to develop and expand more effective mine action programs in countries around the world that are also consistent with the concept of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.
Workshop Outline
Government agencies from four African countries (Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan) participated in this workshop,
1 . To identify the situation and challenges in mine-affected countries in the African region, and to discuss and evaluate the institutional, organizational, and technical aspects of mine action programs in each country, leading to support for mine action activities based on the humanitarian, development, and peace nexus
To identify the situation and challenges in mine-affected countries in the African region, and to discuss and evaluate the institutional, organizational, and technical aspects of mine action programs in each country, leading to support for mine action activities based on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus 2 . To discuss the possibility of specific linkages between UNMAS-CMAC-JICA
With these objectives in mind, discussions were held over the course of two days.
At the beginning of the workshop, JICA gave an overview of cooperation in the field of mine and UXO countermeasures and the purpose of the workshop, followed by presentations from UNMAS and CMAC on their respective organizations and activities. Presentations were then given by government organizations in African countries on the state of landmine and UXO contamination, organizational and institutional outlines, strategies, activities, and capacity-building needs, with feedback provided by CMAC, UNMAS, and JICA.
This was followed by discussions on future cooperation and collaboration possibilities. The African participants showed great interest in the knowledge backed by CMAC’s 30-year track record and expressed a strong desire to learn more about CMAC’s knowledge. Many participants reiterated that mine and UXO countermeasures should not end with emergency response, but rather require mid- to long-term activities with a view to national development, and that “ownership by national governments” and “specialized government implementing agencies” are necessary to ensure sustainability. In addition, while there was a shared recognition of the importance of baseline surveys and NTS (non-technical surveys: interviews, etc.) for effective and efficient mine and UXO countermeasures, it was also confirmed that high-quality surveys have not been conducted in all four countries.
Workshops
As a result of this workshop,
1 . Government organizations from the four African countries participating in the workshop to travel to Cambodia to observe CMAC activities (2024)
Government organizations from the four African countries participating in the workshop to travel to Cambodia to observe CMAC activities (2024) 2 . To promote the formation of UNMAS-JICA-CMAC partnership projects in the African region
The workshop was held in Tokyo, Japan. It was also agreed that the results of the workshop would be shared widely among mine action agencies in each country. The need for information and opinion exchange within the region was reaffirmed, and it was suggested that the network established through the workshop be utilized in the future.
The participants from each of the countries represented at the workshop emphasized the usefulness of the discussions at the workshop, expressed their expectations for CMAC’s observation of their activities, and thanked UNMAS for the opportunity provided to have professional discussions with relevant organizations in the region and in Cambodia, which is ahead of other countries in this field, JICA and CMAC concluded the two-day workshop by reaffirming the increased awareness of ownership in each country through this discussion and the importance of maintaining and strengthening this ownership.
© Source JICA
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