The European Union has allocated another 2.02 million Euros through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA 2008) for demining operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The grant was announced at a ceremony in Sarajevo on 4 April – International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

A short film “Minefree by 2019“, was shown at the event. The 2019 target is shared by the EU and the BiH Mine Action Centre (BH MAC). This is a positive goal but a challenging one – given the fact that about 1,440 km2 are believed to be mined.

“International Mine Awareness Day is a reminder that about three million people in nearly 80 countries are endangered by mines,“ said Natalia Dianiskova, Head of the EU Delegation’s Section for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross-Border Cooperation in BiH.

She also reminded that the European Union has provided 27 million Euros since 1996 to support demining operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to strengthen demining capacity and make it sustainable and to raise mine awareness among children and the general population.

The European Union, she said, is committed to helping Bosnia and Herzegovina achieve the objectives of the Ottawa Convention, which set a “zero-victims” target. BH MAC Director Dušan Gavran said that in 2010 there were ten mine-related incidents, seven of which involved civilians and three of which occurred during demining operations.

“There were 14 victims, six of them fatal – including two deminers,“ Gavran said. However, he pointed out that the number of incidents had been reduced by 50% compared to 2009. Gavran expressed the hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina could have a year entirely without victims, and he renewed the call for civilians to exercise caution and to avoid areas where there is a risk of mines, especially areas on or near the former front lines.

Gavran presented a letter of thanks to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s oldest deminer, Mufid Smajović and to the Amfibia company, which has been performing demining operations since 2006. He noted that despite strong European competition, companies from BiH achieved a great success in getting contracts in demining business that have been announced via EU tenders.

Representatives of NGOs implementing IPA 2008 Mine Action projects: ”The Demining Association”, “Posavina Without Mines” and “Pro Vita” announced new demining operations in Maglaj, and emphasized success of some organisations that cleared six million m2 so far without any incident or accident.

At the conclusion of the ceremony equipment purchased for BH MAC was presented, followed by a demonstration of demining work in Hadžići near Sarajevo.