Baku, 20 May 2009 – Azerbaijan has experienced the enormous costs of war on its lands and on its people. But today 15 years after the end of the active hostilities people are still losing their lives; people are still getting injured, because of the leftovers of war: landmines and unexploded ammunition. “Azerbaijan is not alone in this situation, around the world almost 80 countries still face similar challenges of dealing with landmines and unexploded ordinance”, said the UNDP Representative Bruno Pouezat at today’s event launching the third phase of  UNDP’s joint project with the Azerbaijan National Mine Agency (ANAMA).

Cooperation between UNDP and ANAMA started in 1999 with the first phase of the Azerbaijan Mine Action Programme. UNDP was the first international organization to offer assistance to Azerbaijan’s newly established mine action agency, said Nazim Ismailov, Director of ANAMA in his opening remarks. According to him, UNDP’s role was crucial in mobilizing external support to ANAMA in the initial years of the project. “In those years 90 per cent of ANAMA’s funding came from foreign donors and UNDP due to the weak economic situation.  Meanwhile, today the government contributes 70 % of the funding of ANAMA, said Mr. Ismailov. The government of Azerbaijan has taken landmines and unexploded ordinance as a major issue. Within its first five years the project created a national capacity able to survey, map and clear mine-affected areas.

The objective of the new phase of the joint project entitled “Further Strengthening and Expansion of Mine Action Capacity in Azerbaijan” is to provide ANAMA with a further 3 years (2009-2011) of technical, advisory, networking and promotional support. In particular, UNDP will help ANAMA sustain and expand its capacity to effectively undertake mine/unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance, mine-risk education, mine-victim assistance, international networking and support to other mine-affected countries. The new USD 6,600,000 phase of the project will also help ANAMA evolve into an International Centre for Mine Action. On numerous past occasions, ANAMA has already provided training assistance to neighbouring countries. ANAMA is now determined to formalize this training capacity by establishing a fully-funded International Mine Action Resource & Training Centre, complementary with other similar Centres (Nairobi, Cranfield, etc.) in imparting skills and knowledge and in sharing information among the world-wide mine action community.

Expressing UNDP’s pride of the competence and the expertise that ANAMA’s staff have gathered over the past 10 years since the creation of the agency, UNDP Resident Representative said his organization was “so proud of the people of ANAMA that we are now prepared to offer that to the world as a source of expertise, as a source of competences”. The trust in ANAMA has been shared over the years by a large group of donors, he went on to say. Besides UNDP, US, EU, UK, Norway, Italy, Japan and others have provided financial and technical support for ANAMA.

ANAMA’s present resources include more than 500 staff,  two regional offices (Fizuli and Goygol), three sub-regional offices, three demining and technical survey teams (2 run by NGOs and 1 by ANAMA) with more than 139 deminers, 19-man Emergency Response Team, 78-man UXO Team, 6 mechanical demining machines and  32 mine-detection dogs. With these resources in hand, ANAMA has cleared about 100 km2 since 1998.  

As of end 2008, landmine impact surveys indicated that mine-contaminated areas covered 268 km2. ANAMA envisages clearing approximately 30 km2 of mine/UXO-contaminated land in 2009 and will continue to raise this figure in subsequent years by employing the innovative Land Release method to accomplish this substantially large clearance task.  

UNDP looks at the landmine problem from a development perspective. Thus, UNDP’s overall goal is to eliminate the impact of mines/UXOs in the economy, health and environment of the population in the affected areas. Mine action is not about mine/UXO clearances per se, it is about allowing people to live in an environment that is safe and which brings about economic and social well-being. Clearing mines/UXOs from the ground increases access to valuable arable land, thereby reducing poverty among rural communities. Mine risk education increases knowledge of mine/UXO threats, thereby reducing accidents in mine-affected communities. Mine/UXO survivor’s assistance provides sorely-needed medical and economic support, thereby facilitating their social integration and decreasing economic hardship. 

For more information please contact  Ms. Sabina Jalilova, ANAMA PR Officer, tel. 497 38 51