Tehran, March 2019: A three-day International roundtable on “Humanitarian Mine Action, challenges and best practices” was organized in Tehran.

In this three-day International roundtable which was held during 12 to 14 March 2019 in Tehran, different experts from national and international mine action community gathered together to share their knowledge and experience on mine action, challenges and best practices.

The event was intended to be a platform to create an opportunity to achieve the following objectives for the participants:

– Better understanding of weapon contamination issues in other affected countries;
– Discussing main achievements, challenges and requirements in the field of humanitarian mine action;
– Exchanging experiences and lessons learned in the field of mine action operations between countries dealing with this issue and with related international organizations.

The participants of this event included the high level officials and managers from countries such as: Croatia, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Afghanistan, Armenia, Vietnam, China, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, ASEAN Mine Action Centre, Cambodia, and Iraq, as well as a number of Iranian organizations including the Iranian Mine Action Center, Iranian Red Crescent Society, State Welfare Organization together with some International organizations such as the ICRC (Tehran Delegation and Headquarters), the Director of the United Nations Mine Action Services, the UNICEF Resident Representative, and the UN Information Center resident representative in Iran.

Over the last three decades, Iran has endured the impact of landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and made every effort and committed resources to mitigate the threats they pose. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) started its contribution to Mine Action activities in Iran, in 2004, by supporting the volunteers of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in raising awareness about the risk of Mines and ERW among communities living along the Iran-Iraq border.

Since then, the ICRC has cooperated with a wide range of Iranian institutions engaged in mine action, aiming at reducing the risks posed to civilians through mine risk education and the provision of physical rehabilitation services to the victims, in order to alleviate their suffering.

The Mine Risk Education project with the IRCS has also been expanded to include Afghan refugees who are returning to their country. The IRCS and ICRC joint MRE activities had reached more than 350,000 people in 2018.

Under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ICRC and the Iranian Mine Action Center (IRMAC) also formalized a memorandum of understanding on “Cooperation in Implementing the Program of Mine and Explosive Remnants of War Action in Iran”. Sharing mine action knowledge and experience, cooperation in the Mine Risk Education Program, and support to the IRMAC humanitarian demining activities have been the main areas of cooperation between the ICRC and the IRMAC over the last 2 years.