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RA DEFENCE MINISTRY AND UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM DECLARE START OF MINE
CLEARING OF ARMENIA PROJECT
YEREVAN, September 25 (Noyan Tapan). On September 24, with the support
of the European Union the RA Defence Ministry and the UN Development
Program (UNDP) declared the start of the Mine Clearing of Armenia
Project. The RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian and the permanent
coordinator of the UN in Armenia and permanent representative of the
UNDP Lis Grande took part in the official ceremony. According to the
specialists' estimate, in Armenia there are 6,000-8,000 land-mines on
about 840 square km, mainly in border areas. The impact of this mining
is extremely serious: every year part of the civilian population,
including children, suffer from the mines, and the agricultural work
in many border villages is made impossible because of the mines.
According to Yerevan Office of the UNDP, the budget of this 3-year
project is more than 1.5 mln euros. One of the main purposes of the
project is strengthening the coordination and implementation
capacities of the mine clearing programs conducted by the government.
In addition, the republican study on the assessment of the impact of
the mines will be conducted and a new data base will be created. The
other components of the project are the mine clearing of Syunik marz,
the campaign to increase public awareness, a targeted help to the
victins and those injured by the mines, as well as the professional
training of the medical staff and mine clearing personnel. " This
project is valuable from several aspects: thanks to the mine clearing
of arable lands it will enable to reduce poverty in a number of
regions of the country, it will strengthen the government's capacities
in this sphere, and finally it will increase public awareness in the
settlements adjacent to the mined areas. It is also of importance to
the UNDP that the RA Defence Ministry directly allocated finance to
this project. In this way the RA Government shows its obvious
willingness to carry out humanitarian mine clearing," Lis Grande
said. The Aemenian Humanitarian Centre on Mine Clearing, which will
officially represent Armenia in the process of the project
implementaation, was established in March 2002 with the support of the
US State Department and the US Defence Ministry. According to the
survey conducted among those suffered from mines in 2002, at present
343 poeople who have suffered from mines live in Armenia, and mine
explosions have been registered in all 11 marzes o Armenia. Due to the
security problems existing presently in Transcaucasia, Armenia has not
yet signed the 2 main international conventions on land mines.
CLEARING OF ARMENIA PROJECT
YEREVAN, September 25 (Noyan Tapan). On September 24, with the support
of the European Union the RA Defence Ministry and the UN Development
Program (UNDP) declared the start of the Mine Clearing of Armenia
Project. The RA Defence Minister Serge Sargsian and the permanent
coordinator of the UN in Armenia and permanent representative of the
UNDP Lis Grande took part in the official ceremony. According to the
specialists' estimate, in Armenia there are 6,000-8,000 land-mines on
about 840 square km, mainly in border areas. The impact of this mining
is extremely serious: every year part of the civilian population,
including children, suffer from the mines, and the agricultural work
in many border villages is made impossible because of the mines.
According to Yerevan Office of the UNDP, the budget of this 3-year
project is more than 1.5 mln euros. One of the main purposes of the
project is strengthening the coordination and implementation
capacities of the mine clearing programs conducted by the government.
In addition, the republican study on the assessment of the impact of
the mines will be conducted and a new data base will be created. The
other components of the project are the mine clearing of Syunik marz,
the campaign to increase public awareness, a targeted help to the
victins and those injured by the mines, as well as the professional
training of the medical staff and mine clearing personnel. " This
project is valuable from several aspects: thanks to the mine clearing
of arable lands it will enable to reduce poverty in a number of
regions of the country, it will strengthen the government's capacities
in this sphere, and finally it will increase public awareness in the
settlements adjacent to the mined areas. It is also of importance to
the UNDP that the RA Defence Ministry directly allocated finance to
this project. In this way the RA Government shows its obvious
willingness to carry out humanitarian mine clearing," Lis Grande
said. The Aemenian Humanitarian Centre on Mine Clearing, which will
officially represent Armenia in the process of the project
implementaation, was established in March 2002 with the support of the
US State Department and the US Defence Ministry. According to the
survey conducted among those suffered from mines in 2002, at present
343 poeople who have suffered from mines live in Armenia, and mine
explosions have been registered in all 11 marzes o Armenia. Due to the
security problems existing presently in Transcaucasia, Armenia has not
yet signed the 2 main international conventions on land mines.