News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

The distances are long, the sun is inclement and strong in the department of Caquetá, and the terrain that must be covered to evaluate the training or to monitor the areas of humanitarian demining operations carried out by former FARC-EP combatants, is rugged. But this does not dissuade Elena Gómez…

The UNMAS programme in the Central African Republic (CAR) focuses on training security forces and encourages the professional development of its national personnel. Since the establishment of the UNMAS programme in 2014, UNMAS took a proactive stance in supporting capacity development. This approach…

The resurgence of armed conflict since 1996 has displaced thousands across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and resulted in proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons (SALW), which remains a serious concern. The trafficking, accumulation, and misuse of SALW and related…

Explosive hazard (EH) clearance comes at a cost and, logically, with accountability expected as a quid pro quo both for those conducting and those funding clearance activities. Today’s accountability problem arguably begins with the recognition that EH clearance, particularly in complex environments…

In support of a UN whole-of-system approach to information-sharing and identification of effective IED threat responses, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) developed the SMART IED Threat Mitigation Technology Roadmap (SMiTMiTR) as one of the tools for IED threat mitigation. It is a dynamic…

Currently, different versions of EOD/IEDD training courses exist throughout global EOD/IEDD entities – UN Missions, separate national and international Centers of Excellence, individual nations with EOD/ IEDD capacity, etc. This causes confusion in understanding and utilization of the training…

More than any other post-conflict environment in Iraq, the complexity of west Mosul and its improvised explosive device (IED) threat challenges our fundamental perceptions and definitions of mine action. From here, 400 km north of Baghdad in the al-Maedan District on the west side of the Tigris…

When in control of the area of Iraq north of Baghdad, including the city of Fallujah, ISIS prepared to defend its position from inevitable government counterattack through the widespread use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) laid as defensive obstacles in patterns similar to conventional…

Iraq is changing what we think, say, and do about mine action. The terms, standards, and measurements used by the humanitarian mine action (HMA) community need to be revised as Daesh remains a destabilizing influence. While the Al Maedam district of Mosul fell to Iraqi Security Forces in a ‘last…

When insurgent groups in Mali initiated a rebellion for independence in late 2011, the National Guard and the Malian Defense and Security Forces (MDSF) in Gao were at the forefront of hostilities, which included the pillaging of weapons from government stores. Concurrently, the demise of the Gaddafi…

According to the Small Arms Survey, around 526,000 persons are killed every year as a result of armed violence, and many more sustain injuries requiring medical and rehabilitative care that severely impacts their lives. In West Africa, the propagation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) escalates…

This research paper spotlights certain successes in the management of obsolete surface-to-air missile stockpiles in Mali. In Mali, UNMAS operates under the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA) to help the government ensure the safe and effective…