Following a successful side event organised by France on 14th October 2024, held alongside the First Committee of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the responses to the threats posed by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Sebastian Kasack, MAG's Head of Programmes Performance and Learning, and Riccardo Labianco, International Policy Manager, reflect on the role of humanitarian mine action in addressing explosive devices with indiscriminate effects, particularly landmines of an improvised nature.
Certain weapons are particularly heinous as they are triggered by their own victim, who can be anyone, including ordinary people or children that accidentally encounter them. The ban of weapons that cannot distinguish between combatants and civilians, sparing the latter, has been central to humanitarian efforts since at least the 19th century.
International instruments and documents such as the Amended Protocol Two of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons*, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC), the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), and the very recent Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA Declaration) and the Global Framework for Through-life Conventional Ammunition Management are all important steps in strengthening those fundamental rules banning indiscriminate warfare.
For some time, another type of weapon, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), have significantly impacted people’s and communities’ lives and livelihood in different parts of the world, from the Middle East to West Africa. In terms of international law and policy, these devices are already framed by existing rules and instruments, including some of those listed above. In terms of operations to address and prevent the different types of harm caused by these devices, a constellation of actors, including states’ national authorities and humanitarian mine action operators, such as MAG, have been dealing with these devices for a long time.
In 2018, a victim-operated improvised explosive device made using a plastic bottle was discovered in northeastern Lebanon, showcasing the varied sophistication of victim-operated IEDs and improvised landmines in Lebanon and reflecting the resources available to armed groups
On 14th October, at the margin of the First Committee of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), MAG was invited by France to speak about the approach of humanitarian mine action – operations that address explosive ordnance based on the needs of people and communities, including improvised explosive devices.
After presenting data collected by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which shows that accidents involving IEDs, particularly improvised landmines, have the same effects to those involving industrially made landmines, Sebastian Kasack outlined the main features of humanitarian mine action operations to address IEDs. These operations, conducted with national authorities and operators like MAG, emphasise that clearance is just one of several main activities.
In fact, humanitarian mine action also includes activities to equip affected populations with the necessary knowledge to protect themselves – known as Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) – and supporting survivors of accidents involving these devices, including the families of those who have lost their lives, through victim assistance.
Throughout the intervention, Sebastian clarified how existing international frameworks, especially the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) are critical to the operations addressing these devices, particularly those that are considered landmines of an improvised nature, which effectively fall within the scope of application of the norms of the APMBC. In practice this does not only mean that APMBC States Parties are legally required to identify and destroy those devices within their jurisdiction, but also that other States Parties in a position to do so are required to support all the efforts to address and prevent all types of harm caused by improvised landmines undertaken by other States Parties to the APMBC.
An intricate system of victim-operated improvised explosive devices found in a doorway during clearance operations
For a long time and in many regions of the world, ranging from the Middle East to West Africa, MAG has been supporting state’s national authorities in their efforts to address IEDs within their jurisdiction, informed by the needs of the population and driven by the norms of humanitarian mine action and the APMBC and the humanitarian principles.
The response to the indiscriminate effects of IEDs is complex but it can be coordinated in a way that each actor involved is clear on the scope and modalities of its role. With each national and international actor being driven by specific agendas and objectives, it is important that coordination also include the distinction of different actors’ goals. As such, Sebastian highlighted the relevance of a conflict-sensitive approach for HMA operators, particularly when responding to IED threats during and immediately after conflict, so that military and anti-terror objectives are kept distinct from the humanitarian agenda.
This side event was an important example of dialogue and coordination among actors who showed deep awareness of their role. Along with MAG’s contribution, the side event included interventions on the most recent UN Secretary General Report on IEDs, by the United Nations Office on Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), on how peacekeeping operations should react to attacks involving IEDs and unmanned arial vehicles, by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), and on the supply chains involving the materials used to produce IEDs, by Conflict Armament Research (CAR).
Addressing the threats posed by IEDs is just another part of the efforts to ban weapons and tactics that do not spare civilians and harm them in an unacceptably and disproportionally way. As a humanitarian disarmament organisation, MAG keeps contributing to highlight the importance and relevance of the humanitarian mine action approach to the comprehensive and coordinated response and prevention of the harm caused by these heinous devices, which it is expected to be an important part of the incoming UN General Assembly Resolution on IEDs promoted by Australia, France, and Nigeria.
Addressing IEDs with existing norms and frameworks is about ensuring that all types of harm to people are addressed and prevented, securing conditions that allow people to enjoy their human rights while living in dignity and without fear.
*The Convention’s full title explicitly refers to indiscriminate effects: ‘The Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects.’
To read more MAG policy blogs and reports, visit our Publications Library
