UN partners boosts up mine clearance operations in Syria, casualties persist

By Anjali Sharma

UNITED NATIONS – UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday told reporters in New York that explosive ordnance claim lives across Syria, with over 430 deaths and injuries reported since December,  a third of them are children.

“Mine action partners continue to report casualties due to explosive ordnance, and that is happening sadly on an almost daily basis,” Mr. Dujarric explained in a regular briefing in New York.

He said that farmers and shepherds are particularly vulnerable. More than 60 people have been killed and over 90 injured and many while tending to their land or grazing animals since January.

The hostilities subsiding in some areas, humanitarian partners have been expanding mine action work in newly accessible regions, he noted.

Mr. Dujarric said that since December, over 1,400 unexploded ordnance items have been safely disposed of, and 138 minefields and contaminated areas identified in Idleb, Aleppo, Hama, Deir-ez-Zor and Lattakia.

UN partners visited a farm in Darayya, Rural Damascus that had been cleared with support from the Syria Humanitarian Fund. The work is critical to enabled farmers to safely return to their land.

The humanitarian aid operations remain uninterrupted, he said

WFP sent 40 trucks with 1,000 metric tonnes of food crossed from Türkiye into northwest Syria through the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing assistance sufficient for more than 270,000 people, he told reporters.

UN partners have increased the import of food and other aid from Jordan since the start of the year.

He told that UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen will visit Damascus this week after meetings at the Munich Security Conference.

He stressed the need for an inclusive, Syrian-led political process and urged all parties to uphold their commitments on women’s rights.

“[The UN] calls on all parties in Syria to uphold their international commitments, respect the rights and dignity of women, and to ensure their full participation in shaping the country’s future,” Mr. Dujarric said.

He concluded that this is to ensure access to education, freedom of movement, political representation and protection from violence and exploitation.