UN agencies urge urgent mine clearance in Syria to reopen schools and enable returns
Loading...
Summary
UN agencies and presenters described widespread explosive ordnance contamination across Syria, citing 1,113 incidents and 2,034 civilian casualties between Dec. 8, 2024 and March 2026, and called for accelerated international support for clearance, risk education and victim assistance.
The war does not end when the guns fall silent, a presenter said, warning that landmines and other explosive remnants of war continue to kill and maim and block reconstruction across Syria. The presenter cited 1,113 explosive-ordnance incidents recorded between Dec. 8, 2024, and March 2026 and said those incidents resulted in about 2,034 civilian casualties, including 732 deaths.
The statement described wider consequences beyond the explosions themselves: contaminated land stalls economies, keeps schools closed and prevents families from returning home. "A single explosive device can paralyze an entire community," the presenter said, and added that contaminated fields and damaged infrastructure make reconstruction both slower and more expensive.
A UNHCR staff member who said they had returned to Syria after a decade away described visiting a community center in Daraa and seeing children taking part in risk-education sessions to learn about the danger of playing with mines. The staff member said UNHCR and other UN agencies are working with the government, NGOs and local communities on projects to clear land, educate people about risk and provide victim assistance. "No more mines in Syria. Let life return," the staff member said.
The presentation set out four pillars of humanitarian mine action: survey and mapping to identify contamination; clearance by trained deminers meter by meter; risk education so people can protect themselves while clearance continues; and victim assistance, including medical care, rehabilitation and psychosocial support. The presenter warned that at current rates, full clearance could take decades and urged accelerated international support, saying, "Every day of delay is another day of risk." The statement concluded that without safety there can be no recovery.
The presenters did not announce new funding commitments or specific timelines for accelerated clearance during this statement; they framed the message as an appeal to the international community to scale up support for mine action, risk education and victim assistance so reconstruction and safe returns can proceed.
