Landmine Awareness

Debate between Wendy Morton and Anne-Marie Trevelyan

Thursday 20th April 2023 Westminster Hall

[Wendy Morton]

The hon. Lady makes a really important point. We both served on the International Development Committee a number of years ago, so I know that she has a great interest in international development, and in mental health and wellbeing too. That point about education and support for the next generation is really important. In doing my research for my speech today, I was reminded that there are instances where people have kept a landmine as a remnant of war. It could be sitting in their home, yet it contains live explosives. Education really matters, and there is a need for that ongoing work.

The other important issue worth noting is land contamination. We often think that landmine clearance is about going in, removing the mine and that is it. The importance of that has increased due to greater awareness of the environmental agenda, but there is a need to ensure that that land is decontaminated; without doing that, agricultural land cannot be used. The hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) makes a really important point, and I thank her for that.

HALO reports that in Kosovo in the western Balkans, 4,722 landmines and 5,727 cluster munitions were destroyed during its 1999-2022 programme alone, and 21 million square metres of land were released. That starts to give us a sense of the scale of the land that is contaminated with landmines. The Kosovo mine action strategy will be realised in 2024. Back in 1999, there were 18 mine clearance agencies working in Kosovo—18—and now there are only two. That shows that progress has been made, but the work continues, and the commitment remains to creating a safe future for the people in Kosovo.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a really interesting part of the world, and one where there has been recent conflict. The region remains one of the most contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance in the world. The UK was the first country to announce humanitarian support following the 2020 conflict—I remember that because I was the Minister at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office at the time—and £1 million was donated to the ICRC for their work. The Government then announced a second contribution of £500,000 to support landmine clearance. In this region, more people have suffered from landmine explosions after the conflict than during the conflict. I appreciate the challenges and difficulties around the world, and earlier in my speech I touched on landmines having an impact on getting support, in particular humanitarian support, to communities. This part of the world is incredibly tricky, sensitive and complex. Will the Minister provide an update on the Lachin corridor, which is critical to that part of the region?

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)]

indicated assent.

[Wendy Morton]

I can see that the Minister is nodding. My point is in relation to humanitarian aid getting through to the civilians who need it.

A few years ago, we had many a debate on Syria in this House. It was good to notice on Twitter this morning that HALO has just announced that it has completed mechanical clearance training in north-west Syria—an important and exciting milestone that means that HALO is now able to start to clear minefields. That is another good example of a team going in with the skills and knowledge to clear unexploded weapons using an excavator. My understanding is that work will begin there in June.

In Syria, almost 15 million people are in need of humanitarian aid and a third of the population live in communities contaminated by unexploded ordnance. Add to that the recent earthquakes on the Syria-Turkey border and we start to understand some of the massive humanitarian challenges around the world. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, as many as 300,000 shells and bombs have failed to detonate during the conflict in Syria. It is another example of how, years after the battle has moved on, civilians are left vulnerable to death and injury. Sadly, it is estimated that 15% of the population there are living with a disability. That reinforces the need for education work to make children in particular aware of the dangers of landmines—that they are not toys to be played with and that children should not go into areas where there is sign saying not to. Alas, around the world there are cases of people assuming that no sign means the land is safe, when there could well be the remnants of war there.

This morning, I happened to catch up with an old friend who as a child lived in Lebanon. He was telling me that he could remember seeing the minefield warning signs as a child. That is a reminder that this is a problem not just of the past but of the present, and for the next generation. Decades of civil and external conflict in Lebanon—through the ’80s and ’90s and then again in 2006—have left Lebanon with an extensive legacy of landmine and cluster bomb contamination. Spillover from the conflict in Syria is evident in Lebanese territory, which has led to a new level of contamination by landmines best described as of an improvised nature.

In Lebanon and in many of the other countries that I have highlighted, agriculture is the key economic driver of livelihoods and activities for communities, yet large areas of farming land—fertile arable land—remain inaccessible or contaminated. If we are serious about tackling poverty and some of the drivers of migration flows, de-mining work has to be a priority.

Let me come to—do not worry, Mr Mundell; I will not mention every country in the world, but I will make the most of this opportunity—Georgia, where there were just five days of conflict in 2008, but those five days have led to Georgia appearing in this debate, because 30 huge aircraft bombs were found in the village of Chonto. Teams had to overcome the mountainous and highly unstable terrain in that area to destroy the bombs. A place called Shida Kartli was cleared a year later, again thanks to the work of de-mining teams, which allowed people to return home. Imagine not only going through conflict and leaving home, but being reliant on a team to de-mine before being able to return. That might be an international team, but in the longer term, the more we can do to help countries’ non-governmental organisations to develop capacity, the better; that is a much more sustainable way of de-mining, because then the capacity remains long after the conflict has ended. Abkhazia is another part of the world where unexploded items remained after decades of war, not just in homes but in ammunition stores. As long as those items exist, there is a threat to life.

I will turn to Ukraine, because it is rightly on our minds a lot in this place. The Government have a great track record of providing support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. I acknowledge the families in my constituency who have offered a home to Ukrainians. They all deserve our support, and we owe them a huge amount of gratitude. It is estimated that 300,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory is contaminated. To put that into context, that is an area larger than the UK. It is a huge amount of land. Swathes of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were already contaminated following eight years of conflict.

Let me put the situation for Ukrainian people into context. When the Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko spoke to the International Development Committee about the impact of landmines in Ukraine, she said that landmine contamination is “stopping farmers”, so stopping livelihoods, and “stopping children”—stopping them having a future and an education. She said it is

“stopping you just enjoying your leisurely walk in your local forest.”

If we ever needed proof of the impact on lives and livelihoods, we have it in the words of that Member of Parliament.

I welcome the fact that the FCDO has a £2 million agreement with the HALO Trust under GMAP, and it is providing de-mining equipment and training to the state emergency services. That is so vital. To illustrate the scale of the challenge, open-source satellite imagery indicates that there are minefields stretching for hundreds of kilometres in the east and south of the country. Shockingly, one single fortified mine line runs 90 km from the Russian border to north of the town of Lysychansk in the east. That is a long tract of land.

The World Bank has estimated the cost for clearance of explosive ordnance across the entire Ukrainian nation at $37.6 billion. That amount will only increase with every day that the conflict continues. I hope that there are many things that we can take away from this debate, but if there is only one, consider the point that one day of fighting results in roughly a month of clearance being needed. That really is quite a salient point. Funding to clear landmines and to educate the communities at risk of harm matters. It makes a difference, but so does our ability to train and build capacity in the countries concerned. The sustainable and right way of using development is to ensure that the skills, knowledge and expertise remain when an NGO has left.

However, we see from examples that de-mining takes time, commitment and funding. I have a few more questions for the Minister, which focus on that. Will her Department remain committed to this important work? How will the Government support mine action and awareness in countries no longer supported by GMAP? How will she encourage more states to accede to the anti-personnel mine ban? It is really important to stop mines being laid in the first place. Will she reassure me that, at a time of budgetary pressure, she will continue to provide Ukraine with the humanitarian and development support that it needs following the Russians’ illegal invasion?

The UK has been one of the most generous countries in the world in funding de-mining. In closing, I will share one example that shows why that really matters. Let us look at the Falkland Islands. Back in 2020, almost 40 years after the end of the conflict during which thousands of exploding devices were laid, the Falkland Islands were declared mine-free under the anti-personnel mine ban convention, also known as the Ottowa convention. Tribute was paid to the members of the British armed forces who contributed to mapping, fencing and clearing the minefields between 1982 and 2009, as well as to the civilian de-miners who, between 2009 and 2020, destroyed more than 10,000 mines and other unexploded ordnance in the UK-funded programme.

People in the Falkland Islands no longer have to teach their children about the dangers of minefields. Beaches and places of natural beauty that were once out of bounds can now be enjoyed. I was reminded just the other week of what a tremendous achievement that was, and how much we owe to the commitment of those brave and skilled men and women who worked tirelessly to achieve the mine-free declaration. Many of them were of Zimbabwean origin but have now made a permanent home in the Falkland Islands, as they have become part of the community. I thought it important to end on a positive note and show that the work of organisations to clear mines and educate civilians really can make a difference.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) for securing this timely and always important debate and to colleagues for sharing their concerns and experience and, indeed, the passion they feel for this issue and for how we can continue to be a real leader in this area.

Our colleague the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon)—I think I can say with confidence that he is a friend to us all—reminded us that the topic of the debate is not only about far-flung, war-torn countries that we see on our television screens. It can be very close to home, and indeed has been for him, and we all need to remember that landmines have killed and maimed our own neighbours and our own citizens. That is a sobering thought in a debate that often takes us to faraway countries.

I put on record, because I think he is about to stand up in the main Chamber, that the Minister for Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), would have been pleased to respond to this debate, because the topic is at the heart of his brief, but he is currently occupied on those other Benches. It is my pleasure to be able to respond on behalf of the Government today.

Earlier this month, the world marked the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, when we celebrate progress towards a mine-free world, despite the setbacks we continue to see. Of course, there is much more to be done, because these indiscriminate weapons continue to cost lives, rob people, young and old, of their limbs, destroy their livelihoods and hinder development opportunity.

The debate provides a good opportunity to reflect on the UK’s world-leading work to rid the world of this menace, and I am grateful for the thoughtful contributions from all our colleagues today. I will do my best to respond to all the points raised but, as ever, where I do not have a proper, full answer to hand, I will ensure that the Development Minister and his officials respond in a timely manner.

The UK was among the first to sign the 1997 anti-personnel mine ban convention and the 2008 convention on cluster munitions, which have catalysed progress. The first, the Ottawa convention, now has 164 member states and 30 of them have met their obligations to clear territory contaminated by landmines. That includes the UK, with its responsibilities, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills knows well, as she announced the conclusion of our work in the Falklands back in 2020. I thank her for her work. I know her commitment in that space, and she will continue to champion other countries that have yet to be able to look up and breathe a sigh of relief that they are clear of mines after a war that their country endured.

In the Falklands, nearly four decades were spent clearing more than 10,000 landmines and other unexploded remnants of war. That eventually allowed them to be free of that deadly legacy, but four decades gives us an idea of the time involved, even for what we know to be a relatively small area of land. We are very proud of the completion of that project, which underlined and demonstrated the UK’s commitment and real leadership on mine action. We continue to be a strong advocate for such work globally, including through our recent presidency of the convention on cluster munitions.

The hon. Member for Strangford educated me—I was not expecting to learn something today about my actual brief as the Minister with responsibility for the Pacific—about how the Solomon Islands only recently freed its citizens from the fear of landmines. It is safe to say that we learn something new every day. That is something I will be able to take with me as I travel around the Pacific islands. I will also consider how else the voice of the UK might be able to support such areas.

We are a generous donor, as well as a centre of expertise, including through the HALO Trust. I am sure, Mr Mundell, you are frustrated by not being able to champion one of your constituency’s great charities and organisations today, but we all know you to be a doughty champion of it, so we all speak on your behalf in thanking the trust and the Mines Advisory Group, our other real leader in this field. They are world-renowned, mine action NGOs—I speak with great honesty, as I have worked closely with both. We are grateful for their brave and tireless work to rid the world of this scourge.

I have had the privilege of seeing both organisations at their training bases, meeting some of their experts and indeed being taught by those experts how to go about work on an area of contaminated land. They also do powerful work to educate young people who have to live in mined agricultural areas while demining continues. One can only imagine what is in such children’s backyards. I found that even doing the simulated training and imagining being in that sort of situation was nerve-racking. The people who teach and support locals to develop those skills are genuinely extraordinary people: I record my thanks and that of all Members for their incredible work.

The sad fact remains, however, that 56 countries around the world remain contaminated by landmines and the explosive remnants of war. The number of people killed or injured each year is profoundly troubling: there were at least 5,500 casualties in 2021 alone, of whom more than 1,600 were children. That is not just historical; in the past year, new mines have been laid in Myanmar, and in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s barbaric and illegal invasion.

New wars bring new horrors, with this long tail of threat to civilians who have to continue their daily lives among the minefields, even after the wars eventually run out of steam. That is incredibly difficult. We need to continue to find ways of dealing with that because, beyond people losing their lives and suffering live-changing injuries, the contamination harms the whole economy of a country, and society has a sense of unease, because it is unable to step away after its war. That hinders development and prevents people from being able to live freely and safely, which we all want to see.

We see that from farmers in Laos who are unable to use contaminated fields, to children missing school in Zimbabwe because they cannot get there safely. As colleagues have mentioned, people in Afghanistan are blocked from accessing basic services such as water supplies and healthcare by the deadly legacy of mines, including improvised devices. Now, on our screens, we see Ukrainians unable to return safely to their homes.

In my work as the Minister with responsibility for Myanmar I have worked closely with our teams who are presently based in Thailand because they cannot be in-country. They work with schools and in internally displaced people camps to teach children how to live among dangerous and continually newly laid minefields.

[Wendy Morton]

It is good to understand the Minister’s perspectives from her time as Minister of State with responsibility for the Indo-Pacific. On education, does she agree that women have an important part to play? We often talk in this place about the role of women in development and the peace and security agenda, and they can often go into communities that perhaps a man cannot. They can have a role to play in breaking down barriers and boundaries and doing that really important education piece.

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. In fact, female officers in the British Army have shared stories with me about serving with their male counterparts in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were often the only people able to go and talk to women in their homes to try and understand what the challenges were. They were able to work with those women to find solutions. Those women simply could not engage with our male soldiers, even though they, of course, offered a similar relationship. We underestimate what can be done.

The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton), has highlighted how, in many cases, HALO and others recruit and train women to be the expert de-miners themselves. In a practical sense, it is a motivating skill to develop, but it is an incredibly high-risk one. However, women are stepping up and taking on that protective responsibility to ensure that their children can get to school and go and collect water, and that people can use their agricultural land again to help their livelihoods.

My right hon. Friend is right. We need to champion women and consider not only how much strain they often carry in their communities through the ravages of war, but the skills they have to develop afterwards to help their families get back into an environment that will be safe for their children’s futures.

That is why we will continue to support mine action projects across the world. As colleagues have highlighted, the global mine action programme—GMAP, as it is known—is our main vehicle for that. Over the four years from 2018 we invested £146 million across 14 countries. That helped to clear and confirm safe nearly 500 million square metres—Members should try to get their heads round that; it is a lot of land to check inch by inch—and saw more than 4 million people taught about how to stay safe around contaminated land.

We have explored options to attract new funding and led discussions at last summer’s meeting of parties to the anti-personnel mine ban convention. We have also assisted countries in Africa and Asia to develop strategies and priorities for mine action and helped to build the capacity of their national implementing organisations.

There is no escaping the fact—colleagues have raised this—that our development budget has come under real pressure in recent years, and the pandemic and Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine have taken resources in particular directions. Despite that, we launched the third iteration of our GMAP last spring, working with HALO and the Mines Advisory Group across eight countries. This included £2 million for an immediate response to tackle new contamination in Ukraine.

We will continue to build on our work this year. I can confirm a budget of £12.3 million to deliver de-mining, risk education and national capacity building globally, alongside additional funding for Afghanistan. In the short term, we are continuing to fund mine action work in Angola, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Ukraine and Zimbabwe. Through GMAP3 those countries have NGO-funded expertise continuing to quietly clear the mines and teaching local people how to do so for themselves.

We have signed a two-year £5.5 million contract for mine action work in Afghanistan, which encourages safer behaviours and increases access to basic services. Afghanistan consistently records the highest annual numbers of civilian casualties. My right hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills will be pleased to hear that we are making preparations for further, longer-term contracts  covering multiple countries, including Ukraine, to replace the current short-term arrangements.

We are continuing to innovate. In Cambodia, we are using a development impact bond model, creating partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors to solve challenges. We have signed an agreement with APOPO—do not ask me to tell you what it stands for; it is a Belgian acronym. It is an international non-profit mine action organisation that clears mines using specially trained detection southern giant rats—these are known as “hero rats”, obviously. Training can take nine months, and the rats will work for up to five years before retirement, developing skills to be able to identify and pinpoint where mines are. Agricultural experts will then be able to help local farmers to be able to grow organic rice in these newly and safely created land spaces, and then sell it. We hope they will be able to use their land once again to create an income for their families and communities.

I will highlight again that I am conscious of a number of questions that I am unable to provide answers to today, but I will ensure that those are provided to Members. We will continue our action to rid the world of landmines and deliver a safer, more prosperous future for those living under the shadow of these deadly weapons and other unexploded remnants of war. The UK Government’s commitment to funding expert NGOs that are teaching and clearing will remain for as long as it is, sadly, needed. We will also continue to advocate for the conventions, working with our international partners and funding our global mine action programme, including the innovative projects I have mentioned—and others that may come forward—to provide the chance of a safer life and the opportunity for a livelihood for all those left behind after wars end.