18 April 2000

Text: U.S. Humanitarian Demining Assistance to Bosnia-Herzegovina

The U.S. Department of State issued a media note April 17 saying the American people "were saddened and horrified" by the deaths April 10 of three Bosnian children who strayed into a known minefield. The note also reviews U.S. humanitarian assistance for demining activities in Bosnia-Herzegovina since the end of the 1992-95 conflict.

Following is the text:

U.S. Department of State
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, D.C.
April 17, 2000
Media Note

The American people were saddened and horrified by the deaths on Monday, April 10, of three Bosnian children who strayed into a known minefield. The deaths of these innocent little children remind us all once again that Bosnia-Herzegovina continues to suffer from the millions of landmines that were planted there during the tragic 1992-1995 conflict. Although the war has ended, the landmines still kill and maim, and continue to render parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina unsafe.

The United States has given significant humanitarian demining assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina since early 1996. To date, in addition to all of its other assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the U.S. Government has given over $40 million for humanitarian mine action support alone.

Since 1998, all U.S. financial assistance for mine action to mine-affected countries in Southeast Europe has been channeled through the Slovenian International Trust Fund (ITF) for Demining and Mine Victim Assistance. The partnership with the ITF was created when, in 1998, the U.S. Congress appropriated up to $28 million for this purpose.

The United States Government matches on a dollar-to-dollar basis donations of other governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civic groups and individuals who deposit funds into the ITF. Thus far, the U.S. has matched a total of $12.3 million. Last year, the United States earmarked $5.8 million of that amount to support mine action projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With those U.S. matching funds, the ITF, working through commercial and non-governmental mine action organizations, cleared over three million square meters of land, returning that land to productive use. In January, the U.S. earmarked another $5.4 million of its matching funds for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The ITF is working with Bosnia and Herzegovina's state- and entity-level Mine Action Centers (MACS) to dispense funds for mine clearance projects.

The success of the ITF, as the channel of choice for disbursing donors' and matching U.S. funds, has established it as a regional focus for humanitarian demining assistance throughout the Balkans.

Key elements and successes of U.S. humanitarian mine action support in Bosnia and Herzegovina to date have been:

1. The establishment of the central Mine Action Center (MAC) in Sarajevo.

2. The establishment of a civilian mine clearance training school in Brus.

3. The establishment of civilian regional operational demining centers in Banja Luka, Tuzla and Buna.

4. The training and equipping during 1996-1997 of more than 1200 military and civilian humanitarian deminers in Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified to demine to internationally accepted standards.

5. The establishment of three military demining training centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

6. A research and development program to test prototypical demining equipment for use in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

7. In 1996, with the collaboration of DC Comics and UNICEF, the distribution of a special edition Superman mine awareness comic book.

8. In 1997-1998, the U.S. Government provided $7 million, much of it channeled through the World Bank Demining Trust Fund, for humanitarian demining in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

9. U.S. Government financial assistance helped to establish three NGO humanitarian demining organizations: "BH Demining" and "Pro-Vita" in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and "Stop Mines" in the Republika Srpska entity.

In addition to its direct humanitarian demining assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States supports the United Nations Association of the United States of America NGO (UNA-USA). This NGO also provides funds for humanitarian demining assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina through its Adopt-A-Minefield program under the auspices of the ITF.

All of this assistance has enabled the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina to become capable of conducting full-scale humanitarian demining operations. However, as demonstrated by the April 10 tragedy, even though the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina and local NGOs have reached the point where they have the expertise and ability to carry on humanitarian demining operations independently and on a national scale, the scope of the problem that they and all citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina face is still daunting. That is why the United States continues to support humanitarian demining efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as match other donors' humanitarian demining assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina through the ITF.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)