814 citizens killed and wounded by enemy remnants since the beginning of 2022

Prime Minister Dr. Abdulaziz Saleh Habtour stressed that the coalition of aggression’s use of landmines in its war against Yemen has exacerbated this major problem facing the Yemeni people.

During his participation today, Tuesday, in the event organized by the National Committee for Mine Action and the Executive Center for Mine Action with the support of UNICEF, on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Cluster Munitions, the Prime Minister expressed his thanks to the Executive Center, the Ministry of Defense and UNICEF for organizing this event to warn of the dangers of these remnants.

He also expressed his thanks to UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the rest of the United Nations agencies for helping the Yemeni people and alleviating their suffering, as the eighth year of the aggression ends and the ninth year begins.

Habtour pointed out that the industrial states that produce mines to make money are the real cause of the killing of people. He pointed out that while these countries are producing mines, they are also producing mine detection devices and equipment for treating victims, which shows the purely material dimension of these countries and their lack of concern for the lives of people.

Dr. Habtour called on the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations to put more pressure on the countries of aggression to bring in the devices specialized in detecting the detained mines for three years in Djibouti, which some organizations have donated.

He expressed his appreciation to all those interacting with the issue of mines, nationally and internationally, and the solidarity of all in this aspect that draws everyone’s attention to the disastrous effects of mines on people’s lives.

In the event, which was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs, Major General Jalal Al-Rawishan, the Ministers of Planning, Abdulaziz Al-Kameem, and Human Rights, Ali Al-Dailemi, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Ali Al-Mawshki, the Attorney General, Judge Abbas Al-Jarafi, and the Director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Taha Al-Sufiani, the Governor of Hadramout, Lqman Baras, the Assistant Minister of Defense, Major General Ali Al-Kahlani, the Chairman of the Military Committee, Major General Yahya Al-Razami, and the Director of Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Ali Abu Halima; the Deputy Executive Director of the Executive Center for Mine Action, Muhammad Al-Abdali, stressed the importance of the International Day of Mine Awareness and Cluster Munition, especially since the Yemeni people are suffering from aggression and siege and the remnants of wars.

He pointed out that there are thousands of victims of children and civilians in different Yemeni areas as a result of the remnants of war, cluster bombs and landmines that have affected their lives, living and social conditions and caused displacement and forced displacement of residents of many areas.

Al-Abdali stressed that Yemen is one of the most affected countries by mines and remnants of wars and cluster bombs since March 26, 2015, when the aggression used cluster bombs, landmines and many internationally prohibited weapons, which negatively affected the lives of residents in local communities and led to casualties in different Yemeni areas and doubled suffering in various aspects.

Al-Abdali stressed the importance of community awareness, as it is the most prominent activity in many areas that clearance teams cannot reach due to the vastness of the affected areas and the lack of capabilities. He expressed the Center’s aspiration to continue partnership with the United Nations Development Program and work together to assess the current situation of the Center from all aspects, come up with professional solutions to ensure the continuation of war remnants clearance activities and capacity building, ending with achieving security and safety for humans as the main goal of the mine action program.

Al-Abdali pointed out that the Executive Center, despite the challenges, was able to carry out many activities to clear contaminated areas, especially highly affected ones, and cleared and opened main and secondary roads in cooperation with official institutions.

He said: “The International Day for Mine Awareness is an important occasion to remind the world of what the Yemeni people suffer from mines, cluster bombs and remnants of wars and their spread in many Yemeni areas and the continued displacement of thousands of citizens for this reason.”

He called on the international community, governments and international organizations to support and advocate for the Executive Center for Mine Action to enable it to intervene and implement the required humanitarian response in proportion to the size of the problem.

He also called on the United Nations to continue supporting and advocating for the Center to continue its activities of survey, clearance, awareness and assisting victims, in order to secure land, preserve people’s lives, ensure the return of displaced persons and practice their normal daily life in safety and security.

For his part, the head of the International Cooperation Department at the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ali Al-Kahlani, stressed the importance of raising awareness about the dangers of mines and cluster munitions, especially in light of what Yemen is exposed to in terms of aggression and siege.

The acting UNICEF representative in Yemen, Gianluca Buono, and the ICRC coordinator in Yemen, Maria Urdeza, stressed the importance of cooperation and coordination to succeed in campaigns to raise awareness about the dangers of mines and cluster bombs and remnants of war in this stage that Yemen is going through and continuing to support the activities of the Executive Center for Mine Action.

They praised the efforts made by the Center to raise the awareness of community members about the dangers of mines and cluster bombs and explosives that claimed the lives of thousands of innocent civilians and children. They pointed out the importance of expanding the scope of awareness activities and targeting the most affected directorates in this regard.

During the event, a statement was presented on the statistics and achievements of the Executive Center for Mine Action field operations since 2015 until March 2023, noting that a technical survey was conducted on an area of 10,021,160 square meters for 272 contaminated fields, and an area of 20,493,227 square meters was cleared.

The statement indicated that the Center collected and removed 563,140 pieces of various war remnants, stressing that the Center’s mine risk education teams conducted awareness activities in 13,715 villages and locations in the governorates of Ibb, Al-Baidha, Al-Jawf, Al-Hodeidah, Ad-Dhale, Al-Mahweet, Taiz, Hajjah, Rayma, Saada, and Marib, which benefited four million, 861 thousand and 863 people from all segments of society.

The statement revealed that since the beginning of 2022 until the end of March 2023, the Center documented 814 victims of war remnants, including 272 martyrs and 542 injured, in addition to providing medical support to 24 victims of war remnants.

In the end of the event, the workers in the field of the Executive Center for Mine Action and the participants in raising awareness about the dangers of mines and cluster munitions.

An exhibition of models of rockets and cluster bombs discovered was also inaugurated, as well as a photo exhibition on the activities and works of the Executive Center for Mine Action.