UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Iraq Chief Pehr Lodhammar told Kurdistan Chronicle on July 8 that UNMAS Iraq provides technical support to the government of Iraq’s National Mine Action Authority, which oversees mine action in the country, as well as the Kurdistan Regional Government Mine Action Agency (IKMAA) and Iraq’s Directorate for Mine Action (DMA). 

UNMAS Iraq was reestablished in 2015 at the request of Iraq’s federal government and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq with the task of starting the comprehensive and complex process of clearing explosive ordnance left after the conflict with ISIS.

Lodhammar said that UNMAS Iraq has also operated in the Basra Governorate in southern Iraq to clear “legacy contamination” left following previous conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq War.

Additionally, he noted that UNMAS Iraq has received financial support from international donors, including Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden.

Read More: Sweden and Belgium Continue to Support Demining in Iraq

On the week of July 2, UNMAS in Iraq received approximately $813,000 from Belgium and $953,000 from Sweden in support of humanitarian initiatives to reduce the threat from landmines and other explosives in the country.

However, Lodhammar said that UNMAS Iraq is not implementing any survey and clearance activities in the Kurdistan Region.

“UNMAS Iraq focuses on the provision of technical and advisory support and some limited support with mine action equipment in support of the IKMAA clearance teams.”

“UNMAS Iraq also provides explosive ordinance risk education for returnees and IDPs to reduce the risks from explosive ordinance. Iraq is one of the most contaminated countries in the world, and casualties from explosive ordinance accidents are still recorded across the country, including in the Kurdistan Region,” he concluded.

According to data from Iraq’s National Mine Action Authority, more than 2,700 square kilometers in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region, are contaminated with landmines, explosives, and other types of explosive remnants of war.

Iraq has been littered with mines and improvised explosive devices since the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, with the number of such explosives growing during the Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. liberation of Iraq in 2003, and the rise of ISIS, which left explosives in many civilian homes.