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NDO WORKING LEVEL MEETING
January 10th2007
The National Demining Office (NDO) held its
first Working Level Meeting for 2007 on Wednesday the 10th of
January at the UN office building in Tyr in the presence of donors and local
stakeholders – organizations and municipalities, to discuss the updates on mine
action activities and set priorities for 2007. The attendees included donor
country delegates and municipality heads and mukhtars and national and
international NGOs.
After a brief introduction, NDO Director
spoke of previous achievements and 2007 priorities and activities, and the
various types of cluster bombs and mines and showed clearly the affected areas,
and explained the ongoing demining efforts. NDO Director explained that so far
nearly 91,000 cluster munitions have been cleared. One more time the NDO’s Director
stressed that first priority is saving human lives thus the clearance of homes
and public areas is of natural precedence, after which the clearance of
agricultural had started. So far, 26% of agricultural land in the South is
contaminated. As this a topic of extreme significance to livelihoods in
affected areas, the NDO is working with a team of experts to determine
clearance priorities regarding agricultural produce. Please check NDO Director's
complete 2007 presentation posted on this website.
Chris Clark, head of MACC-SL, introduced the
centre and presented its clearance plans and efforts. The number of cluster
bombs removed is at an estimated 94,500. 26% of cultivable land in the south is
contaminated, and work is ongoing to clear agricultural land according to crop
cycles.The UAE teams will remove the remaining mine threat by end 2007.Please
check Mr. Clark’s presentation posted on the website.
Lieutenant Colonel Mechref, as head of the National
Committee for MRE and MVA, explained the successes in mine awareness activities
and the urgent need for mine victim assistance at this point and coordination
between the various interested organizations and the NDO so as to avoid the
duplication of efforts. The commission is currently working on advocacy and
lobbying for the rights of mine victims, and on the integration of mine
awareness in the school curriculum. There is a plan to conduct MRE in 500
schools in 2007.There is an attempt at socio-economic integration of victims
through micro credit schemes for small projects. The need for MVA is real and
pressing; yet, MVA still faces major challenges like the lack of sustained
funding and specialized equipment and limb providers. The MVA plan for 2007
will be available shortly.
The most recurrent concerns were the
following:
Q: Why are we still witnessing casualties in certain areas? Are all
minefields marked?
A: All minefields that are reported are marked to international standards. UXOs and cluster bombs that are
reported are removed within 24 hours of reporting. Civilians are cautioned to not handle UXOs under any circumstances.
Q: How can we acquire details on the Victim Assistance program?
A: The data is posted on the NDO website at www.ndo-lb.org.
Col. Mechref at the NDO heads the coordination efforts of all MRE and MVA activities.
Q: Agricultural land is contaminated and the farmers’ livelihood is threatened.
How does the NDO tackle this problem?
A: The demining teams have integrated a crop cycle into their demining activities so that most cultivable land is
clear by the time it is to be cultivated. See Mr Clark’s presentation.
The NDO acknowledges the support of the donor countries and organizations and thanks them immensely, in the hope that their support will continue to help Lebanon overcome this problem.
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