Background - UNMAS
United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is a division of t...
Background - UNMAS
United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is a division of the Office of
Rule of Law and Security Institutions (OROLSI) in the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). UNMAS operates under UN legislative mandates of both the
General Assembly and the Security Council, or at the request of the UN
Secretary-General or his designated official. Legislative mandates also recognize
UNMAS technical expertise in responding to threats posed by unsecured and
unsafe conventional weapons and ammunition stockpiles. When instructed by the
Security Council or called upon by Member States, UNMAS deploys under
humanitarian, peace and security mandates. UNMAS main headquarters is in the UN
Secretariat, New York with a sub-office in Geneva. UNMAS provides direct
support and assistance in the areas of explosive hazard threat mitigation to 18
countries/territories/missions, has a standby rapid response capacity and
global technical advisors in the field of IEDs and Weapons and Ammunition
Management.
Background – UNMAS
Iraq
The UNMAS
Iraq programme was formally established in June 2015, at the request of the UN
Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Special
Representative of the Secretary General for Iraq, to lead the UN efforts to
mitigate explosive threats in the country, as well as to support the
enhancement of national and regional mine action capacities. UNMAS is
supporting multiple layers of operations under the UNMAS Iraq Strategic Plan
which focusses on three main components: 1. Explosive Hazard Management; 2.
Capacity Enhancement of Government; and 3. Risk Education.
In 2017,
UNMAS resource mobilized over $70,000,000 in funding and is now seeking
additional staff for a to support effective implementation.
A comprehensive civilian explosive
hazard management response is indeed required as a first step before any
full-fledged assistance efforts can proceed, but for the Government of Iraq, a
more comprehensive development plan, that includes also, but not only,
Explosive Hazards Management (EHM), is the most impactful way forward.
It is therefore critical to incorporate
gender considerations, gender equality and women empowerment initiatives into
the UNMAS Iraq project implementation, ensuring that women, girls, boys and men
will have equal access to and participate in mine action programs as
beneficiaries, employees and decision-makers. This will encourage gender
equality in a more comprehensive approach.
Whereas in relation to Explosive Hazards
(EH) it is recorded that men are much more likely to be caught in a landmine
accident (85-90% of landmine victims are boys and men) than women, it is also
to be said that women do face other types of vulnerabilities: gender
inequalities in victim assistance; bearing the burden of many accidents
associated with explosive hazards as they take up supporting the family and
caring for disabled children and/or husbands; absence of their voice in the
public sphere; absence of their voice in prioritization of where explosive
hazard response is needed; extreme difficulty accessing basic services such as
clean water, electricity and adequate shelter. In addition, women’s skills and
capacities as workers, is still an untapped potential within the mine action
workforce.
According to an informal survey conducted by
UNMAS Iraq in July 2017 only 18% of the 1,639 humanitarian mine action sector
workers in Iraq are women. The female workforce in the government sector, with
the areas of responsibilities pertinent to mine action, mirrors the results of
this survey. In both the Directorate of Mine Action (DMA) and Iraqi Kurdish
Mine Action Authority (IKMAA), the female workforce is quite low. Although both
DMA and IKMAA have women in relatively senior positions, these women do not
have mine action operational management roles within their organizations.
Specific objectives of UNMAS Iraq programme, directly linked to this assignment are described as follows:
- Enhance capacity and commitment of the Government of Iraq (GoI) to effectively incorporate initiatives to promote gender equality within relevant policies, planning and programming to coordinate and manage a response to explosive hazards, ensuring that the voices of women and girls are considered in planning and prioritization, with the aim to contribute towards gender equality
- Improve GoI prioritization and planning processes that take into consideration the specific needs of women in order to overcome social barriers, perceptions, and challenges impeding women’s participation and influence in forums to prioritize areas for response
- In a more extensive approach, working with governments to ensure that commitments to gender equality are reflected in reform efforts and taking advantage of the opportunities following conflicts to establish governmental structures that will advance women’s rights and gender equality.