From Demining to Mine Action: The Development of Mine Action and the Role of the United Nations

The aftermath of the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 marks the start of the United Nations’ involvement in mine action. In the early 1990s, programmes were started in Mozambique, Cambodia and Angola, and in 1996 Bosnia. Today, the United Nations supports mine action in 35 countries. During the past 15 years, the United Nations has learned many lessons in mine action – some the hard way.

Publication: The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction. Issue 9.1

Publication date: August 2005

About the author: 

Martin Barber, OBE, is the former Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service at the UN Headquarters in New York from 2000 until 2005. He was made an OBE in 2006 for services to demining.