"UNITED NATIONS MINE ACTION SERVICE - UNMAS"

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) cleared 25 anti-personnel mines from Pigi County in South Sudan, making the area safe to inhabit. UNMISS

While great progress has been made to remove all known landmines and other explosive remnants of war in South Sudan, some of the country’s communities are still endangered by their presence. Ilene Cohn, Acting Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service, UNMAS, recently visited one of them, Gondokoro near the capital Juba, as part of her assessment of mine action activities in the youngest nation of the world. UNMISS

In South Sudan’s Upper Nile and the extreme north of Jonglei states, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) carried out a mine risk awareness session to educate vulnerable communities who are living under the threat of anti-personnel mines. UNMISS

Briefing by UNMAS Acting Director Ilene Cohn, Special Envoy for universalization of the anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention and Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Hashemite Court Prince Mired of Jordan, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations Guillermo Fernández de Soto, Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations David Hauri, Director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines Hector Guerra, and IED survivor/photographer Giles Duley.

"We need to end the war in every form, and with these under the ground, there is still the possibility that people can be attacked, which means the war is still not over” said a UN spokesperson about landmines in South Sudan. UNMISS

UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) held a training for National Mine Action Authority counterparts in South Sudan on destroying highly dangerous remnants of war in a safe and secure manner. UNMISS

The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) recently held an event marking the clearing and destruction of some 41 explosive ordnances in Ngulere, South Sudan, by holding a football match for community members on the newly decontaminated land. UNMISS

Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council that as conflict has become more urbanized, “armed groups are proliferating and the use of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, is increasing.” Access and mobility hurdles due to COVID-19, he added, are “complicating efforts to mitigate and respond to the threat.” UNIFEED

Press Conference by Ilene Cohn, Deputy Director and Officer in Charge, UNMAS; Abigail Hartley, Chief of Policy, Advocacy, Communications and Resource Mobilization, UNMAS; and Stephen Pritchard, Chief of Programmes, Planning and Management, UNMAS, on the upcoming International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.