The Swiss government formally announced it was to host an international “Ukraine Mine Action Conference (UMAC2024)” in cooperation with Ukraine at the EHL Hospitality Business School in Lausanne, on Oct 17 and 18.
The conference aims to address the wide scale contamination from explosive remnants of war (ERW) focusing on the critical role that humanitarian demining will play in the country’s social and economic recovery. The event, is expected to bring together representatives from national governments, international organizations, humanitarian demining agencies, and civil society.
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As a result of the war in Ukraine that began with Russian invasions in 2014 and 2022 Ukraine has become one of the most heavily landmine and ERW contaminated nations globally, with nearly a quarter of its territory, equivalent to three times the size of Switzerland, affected.
Switzerland has a centuries-old tradition of neutrality and supporting humanitarian activities with a commitment to saving lives, relieving suffering, and mediating in conflicts. It is no accident that Geneva is the home of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and more than a dozen humanitarian organizations.
Switzerland has been a leading light in the global fight against the scourge of landmines providing political and financial support to humanitarian demining for more than three decades and has supported demining programs in over 20 countries. Its Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has been supporting demining activity in Ukraine in line with the Lugano Principles which it, along with 41 states and 18 international organizations, adopted following the July 2022 Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC).
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These principles are the basis for responding to the humanitarian needs and supporting post-war recovery in Ukraine as key elements of ensuring a just and lasting peace in the country once the war is over. Since February 2022, Switzerland has allocated approximately 3.7 billion Swiss francs ($4.4 billion) in humanitarian aid including humanitarian to support those affected by the war in Ukraine. This includes 100 million francs ($118 million) approved for a four-year period specifically for demining.
UMAC2024 will concentrate on three main areas of mine action within Ukraine: people, partners, progress. The opening session on Oct. 17 will be a high-level discussion seminar led by Switzerland’s President, Viola Amherd, and the head of FDFA, Ignazio Cassis.
The following day will focus on technical discussions on ways to make mine clearance safer and more effective. It will involve international experts with input from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and the Fondation suisse de déminage (FSD) that are actively involved in demining in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Switzerland also supports, projects supporting mine victim assistance and aid for smallholder farmers who are currently prevented from working their fields by the presence of ERW.
The conference in Lausanne will build on the dialogue between Ukraine and its partners in the field of mine action, that took place at International Donors’ Conference on humanitarian demining in Zagreb in October 2023, the Donor Coordination Workshop on Mine Action that was held in Kyiv in April and the June 2024 Ukraine Recovery Conference held in Berlin.