Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at an open VTC of UNSC members on mine action
Mr. President,
Let me start by congratulating H.E. Mr. Bui Thanh Son on his appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam and wishing to him every success in this new capacity. Mr. Minister, let me assure you that you can count on fullest support from the Russian side.
Mr. President,
We appreciate the efforts of the Vietnamese Presidency in promoting such a crucial topic as mine action. We commend the highly professional efforts of Viet Nam’s negotiations team, and its transparent approach that accounts for the opinions of all UNSC member states. Thanks to this approach, we were able to agree on today’s PRST. It is a big achievement of Vietnamese diplomacy and a significant contribution that helps maintain the international peace and security.
We thank the Secretary-General and the other speakers for their meaningful briefings.
Historically, Russia has been paying much attention to the issue of demining, which is especially relevant in the context of resolving regional crises and overcoming their aftereffects, as well as countering terrorism. Many conflict-affected countries are in demand of professional assistance in the area of mine action. They need it in order to make a full-fledged transition to peaceful life, restore economy and infrastructure.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) plays an important role in the global demining efforts. UNMAS is active in the framework of the effective peacekeeping and special political UN missions, it also renders assistance to the interested states so that they could build up their own capacity. Russian experts took part in the elaboration of international standards in countering the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that was held under the UNMAS auspices. We provide every sort of support, including financial support, to the activities of the Service.
Russia takes robust measures aimed at achieving a world free of mines. As for countering the mine threat, we successfully implement our approaches to this issue within the Convention on “inhumane weapons” and its Amended Protocol II on mines. The results of our work at this track are presented in our annual national reviews for the CCW.
Besides, we help our partners enhance their technical and operative capacities, because it is the states who bear the main responsibility for ensuring safety and security of their people.
Mine action in Syria is among our priorities. Syria needs it in order to restore its infrastructure, ensure return of refugees and IDPs to their homes. Let me remind that in 2016-2017 Russian Engineer Troops carried out mine clearance in Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor, and twice – in Palmira. We continue to assist Syrians in mine and explosive clearance in the areas that have been liberated from terrorists and extremists. In total, Russian military experts demined over 6,500 hectares of the Syrian land and over 17,000 facilities, defused over 105, 000 explosive objects.
Taking into account the scale of mine action that needs to be done in Syria, we are also working to boost the international efforts. In particular, we closely engage with UNMAS at this track. Russia’s contribution to UNMAS made it possible for the Service to be carrying out a pilot project on humanitarian demining in Syria. We call on other international donors to join this initiative.
Starting from October 2018, Russian Engineer Troops have been doing mine clearance on the territory of the LAO PDR. Since the beginning of this year, the consolidated team of experts from Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations has been working on humanitarian demining in Nagorno-Karabakh.
We pay increased attention to developing the international cooperation in this area. We share best practices with military sappers, in the first place from Indonesia, Iran, the Lao PDR, the UAE, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. We also maintain close contacts with the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining.
On 25-28 May 2021, Moscow will host the 4th International Conference that will focus on the issues of humanitarian demining and countering the use of IEDs. We invite all member states to participate in it.
Since 2014, the International Mine Action Center of the Russian Armed Forces has been training those who specialize in landmine clearance, detecting and defusing various types of mines and IEDs, operators of mobile robotic units, employees of the mine-detection service. The Center has its affiliated branches in Syria and Laos, and it stands ready to exchange professional expertise with all the interested sides.
These systematic efforts constitute Russia’s practical contribution to the implementation of UNSC resolution 2365. We will be taking further action to step up these efforts.
