As a result of the Israeli occupation in the early 1980s, and previous periods of conflict in southern Lebanon, vast amounts of war debris remain scattered across former conflict zones. Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) still pose a huge threat to local communities and military personnel in Lebanon.
The 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah further littered South Lebanon with explosive remnants of war (ERW). Whilst no new minefields were recorded, a new danger emerged in the form of cluster munitions. Unexploded cluster munitions not only threaten the safety of locals, UN troops and humanitarian workers, but also represented a major hindrance to post-conflict development and reconstruction efforts.
By September 2006, 608 individual cluster bomb strike locations had been confirmed and by December 2008 that figure had increased to 1061, an estimated 48.1 million square meters of contaminated land.
Programme Details
Recognizing the serious humanitarian nature of this problem, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations asked the United Nations Mine Action Service for a dedicated team to support the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
In July 2000 the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre was established to operate within the UN mandated area. In 2001, with funding from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this team was expanded to include experts from the UAE and the Lebanese Government and was renamed the Mine Action Coordination Centre South Lebanon. This has a mandate to coordinate mine action within the UNIFIL mission area, defined as the area south of the Litani River (an estimated 700 square kilometres).
Immediately after cessation of hostilities in August 2006, five mine action organizations began operations in the area thanks to funding from the UN Volunteer Trust Fund and an additional donation from the UAE. Combined they numbered 25 Battle Area Clearance teams and eight Explosive Ordnance Disposal Teams.
Results
To date, almost three thousand minefields have been cleared enabling access to approximately 19 million square meters of useable land. Around 125,000 landmines have been destroyed, over 23 million square meters of land have been declared clear of cluster bomb contamination, almost 200,000 cluster munitions have been destroyed and 44,000 items of UXO have been destroyed.
As a direct result of the clearance efforts, the number of casualties from ERW per year has dramatically decreased.
However the South of Lebanon still has contaminated areas from remaining cluster munitions, as well as buried munitions being brought to the surface by weather, and from newly identified contaminated areas.
The Future
The main ongoing project for UNIFIL is the establishment of a visible border between Israel and Lebanon along the internationally recognized Blue Line. Approximately 500 points along the border have been identified and require the erection of a Blue Barrel marker.
However access to these points is blocked by minefields and safe access lanes must be cleared. Due to security concerns civilian mine action organizations cannot operate in these areas at present. UNIFIL demining teams are currently clearing access through the minefields to the designated marker points.
The UN Mine Action Coordination Centre, working with the Lebanese Mine Action Centre, is actively involved in the preparation of plans to clear these minefields as well as providing quality assurance monitoring for all UNIFIL mine action activities.
The clearance of cluster bomb strike locations will also continue, under the leadership of the Lebanese Mine Action Centre, with the support of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre, other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations.