United Nations Mine Action Service
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is a service located within the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations that specializes in coordinating and implementing activities to limit the threat posed by mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices. The Service operates under United Nations legislative mandates of both the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as by request of affected Member States, the United Nations Secretary-General or their designated official. In 2015, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon designated actor Daniel Craig as the first United Nations Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards. They last released their annual report in 2021, highlighting how UNMAS programmes made progress in the removal and destruction of tens of thousands of items of explosive ordnance, improved the safety of millions of people, strengthened the national capacity of multiple governments and reduced the threat and impact of explosive ordnance attacks carried out against United Nations peace operations. History Origins The United Nations had been involved in mine action since it established the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan in 1989. Additionally, in the early 1990s the organization was conducting various mine action activities in Cambodia, Angola, Bosnia and Mozambique as part of its Peacekeeping Operations. In 1992, Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, Medico International, Mines Advisory Group, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Vietnamese Veterans of America Foundation established the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Through this initial push, by 1993, scores of national campaigns formed and hundreds of organizations joined the ICBL. Following the success of ICBL, in 1994, member states of the United Nations took action. The Director of UNICEF Jim Grant, the Secretary-General of the United Nations Boutros Boutros-Ghali, called for the total ban on landmines and the Government of the Netherlands agreed to destroy its stockpile and support a total ban. In 1995, the Government of Belgium passed a law banning landmines. Pope John Paul II called for an end to the production and use of landmines. In the same year, the International Committee of the Red Cross launched a global petition pushing for a land on landmines. With pressure mounting, in 1997, 14 governments announced their support for a total ban on landmines. Canada hosted the Ottawa Treaty to build momentum for the cause. With the experience of Ottawa, the United Nations General Assembly drafted a resolution supporting the negotiation of a treaty to ban landmines, supported by 155 member states. In 1997, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines had gathered the support of more than 1000 organizations across 60 countries. Moreover, a total of 122 nations had signed the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines. Jody Williams, the founding coordinator of ICBL, received the Nobel Peace Price "for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines". United Nations Mine Action Service UNMAS was not formally formed until 1997, when the Department of Peacekeeping Operation's Demining Unit and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs' Mine Clearance and Policy Unit were