UNMAS
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) was established in 1997,
by the General Assembly, and as per the UN Policy on Mine Action and Effective
Coordination (A/53/496, 1998) is the established coordinator of mine action
within the United Nations system. UNMAS supports the UN's vision of "a
world free of the threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance, where
individuals and communities live in a safe environment conducive to
development, and where mine survivors are fully integrated into their societies."
UNMAS is a unit within the Office of Rule of Law and Security
Institutions (OROLSI) within the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).
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
(EH) mitigation to 18 countries/territories/missions, has a standby rapid
response capacity and global technical advisors in the field of Improvised
Explosive Devices and (IED) Weapons and Ammunition Management (WAM).
UNMAS Iraq
The presence of explosive hazards and explosive contamination in areas
‘retaken’ from the Da’esh occupation in Iraq continues to impede security and
stability efforts. Retaken areas such as Fallujah, Ramadi, and Mosul are
heavily contaminated with large volumes of explosive hazards through protracted
ground fighting and aerial bombing. As a result, the contamination poses a
significant blockage for humanitarian response efforts, and in most cases, a
mine action response is required before humanitarian interventions can proceed.
The UNMAS Iraq programme (“UNMAS Iraq”) was formally established
in June 2015 and has since expanded to offices in both Baghdad and Erbil and
supports multiple layers of operations. The MA AOR / MA Sub-Cluster was
activated in 2016 and at the same time, the post of MA Sub-Cluster Coordinator was
established. 12 months later, the post has evolved and UNMAS now seeks to
increase its focus on capacity enhancement of local mine action authorities,
and as such, develop the role of MA Sub-Cluster Coordinator to support this
evolution.
In Iraq, the Iraq Directorate of Mine Action (DMA) under the Ministry of
Environment and Health is responsible for all traditional MA activities. The
DMA more recently has become involved in the humanitarian response in retaken
areas and coordinating with the increasing number of Mine Action NGOs. DMA
oversees Regional Mine Action Centres (RMACs) in four locations.
In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action
Agency (IKMAA), under the Regional Government Prime Minister’s Office, is
responsible for all traditional MA activities in both the Kurdistan Region of
Iraq (KRI) and the so-called ‘grey areas’ under an agreement with DMA. The
IKMAA maintain its HQ in Erbil with sub offices in Dohuk and Sulimaniyah.
The Joint Coordination and Monitoring Center (JCMC) of the Federal
Government of Iraq (Gol) and the Joint Crisis Centre (JCC) of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) also have a role in humanitarian response. Their
mandates relate to coordination of responses to humanitarian crisis, either man-made
or natural.
Given the security-related nature of explosive hazard management and
coordination in Iraq, coordination mechanisms exist on a multitude of levels,
and frequently involve the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense in
addition to the Government bodies outlined above. Technical Working Groups and
coordination meetings are attended by the Government, the donor community,
commercial organisations, the Global Coalition and NATO. Through these
coordination mechanisms, military and civilian entities involved in response to
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other explosive hazards have the
opportunity to deconflict initiatives and enhance harmonization of activities.
In Iraq,
humanitarian organisations - both UN and non-UN have functioned under the
cluster approach since the Level 3 (L3) emergency was declared in 2014. The
cluster approach ensures clear leadership, predictability and accountability in
international responses to humanitarian emergencies by clarifying the division
of labour among organizations and better defining their roles and
responsibilities within the different sectors of the response. It aims to make
the international humanitarian community better organised and more accountable
and professional, so that it can be a better partner for the affected people,
host governments, local authorities, local civil society and resourcing
partners. The steady roll out of the Cluster mechanism was done to specifically
address the needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resulting from
escalating armed violence in Anbar Province between December 2013 to early 2014
and later expanded in 2015 to cover all IDPs in Iraq regardless of their place
of origin and place of displacement and encompass the scope of humanitarian
efforts across Iraq for the benefit of all those affected by the humanitarian
crisis, including host communities, IDPs, refugees and other vulnerable groups.