Lebanon Mine Action Center · progressed in 2012. Cluster munitions completions covered a surface area of 2.83 km2 in three provinces within Lebanon and 4,546 cluster munitions devices

Lebanon Mine Action Center

2012ANNUALREPORT


ForwardSince its establishment in 1998, the Mine Action Programme ofLebanon (LMAP) has overcome many challenges and achieved greatsuccess. The year covered by this report demonstrates a continuedbuilding on bedrock and almost 25 years of professionalism – theimplementers of mine action as well as national and international non-government organizations have delivered survey, clearance and minerisk education work throughout the country. Community baseddemining approaches in which local people are trained, mentored andled by core staff, allow and enable implementers to continue their workin difficult areas and solve problems. The results are impressive and wehope this report does justice to the efforts of the deminers, educators,managers and leaders who make this programme so successful.

Since the beginning of the programme, tens of thousands ofhazardous areas have been cleared, resulting in the completeclearance of the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC) first priority.In addition to this, the casualty figures outlined in this report havefallen dramatically since its high point in 2006.

The opportunity exists for Lebanon to eliminate the impact of minesand unexploded ordnance over the next decade. Its professionalcapacity and capability has been proven and with continued supportand funds in the next few years, all Lebanese territories can be madesafer, through their removal.

Our vision is for Lebanon to be “a country free from landmines andother explosive remnants of war where people and communities livein a safe environment conducive to national development and wherelandmine and ERW survivors are fully integrated in the society andhave their rights and needs recognized and fulfilled”.

We are pleased to present this annual report which highlights the stepsthat the many different implementing partners of the LMAP haveworked together to achieve. They have not been achieved withoutfacing the challenges, which have been significant over the past year.

We are thankful to the donors, implementing partners, UnitedNations and partner Government Ministries who have enabled thisprogress and we look forward to continuing our work together, whileremaining focused on our joint vision and goals.

Sincerely,

Brigadier General Imad OdeimiDirector of the Lebanon Mine Action Center


About LMACThe Lebanese Mine Action Authority (LMAA), an interministerial bodyestablished in1998 by the Council of Ministers, is chaired by theMinister of Defense. The LMAA is responsible for the Lebanon NationalMine Action Programme (LMAP). The 2007 National Mine Action Policyoutlines the structure, roles and responsibilities of the LMAP. LMAC, apart of the LAF, has the overall responsibility for the management andimplementation of the mine action policy and strategy, including thecoordination of risk education and victim assistance.The Mine Action Program in Lebanon is the responsibility of theMinistry of Defense. The LMAA is the legislative body assigned by theLebanese Government to support efforts to address the mine andcluster munitions problem in the country. It is chaired by the Minister ofDefense

The LMAC structure consists of:■ the director■ an assistant■ a secretary■ a security officer■ the UNDP Mine Action Advisor

■ seven sections:✦ operations✦ quality assurance/quality control✦ information technology✦ media mine risk education with a steering committee✦ mine victims assistance with a steering committee✦ administartion logistics

■ a regional mine action centre in Nabatieh established in January 2009

LMAC’s mission is to manage the humanitarian mine action activitiesaccording to the national and international standards throughclearance, mine risk education, mine victims assistance andadvocacy. Its vision is for Lebanon to be free from cluster munitionsby 2016, and landmines and explosive weapons of war (ERW) by2020, as set out in the Lebanon National Strategy 2011-2020.

LMAC strives to be innovative in its mine action intervention fromclearing affected areas to rapidly releasing land for productive use, toreducing casualties and creating a favorable environment for themost affected communities, and to meeting Lebanon’s internationalobligations. It continuously strives to improve all aspects of itsoperations, human resources and support management, andfinancial accountability.


Table of Contents

Executive Summary

1. Introductiona. National Strategy 2010 – 2020 Results Framework

2. Backgrounda. Mine contamination in Lebanon

3. Mine Action Structure in Lebanona. The Lebanon Mine Action Centerb. Demining and Survey Teams in Lebanonc. Training of Demining Teamsd. Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Demining Teamse. National Committee on MRE and MVAf. Information Management (IMSMA)

4. Key Achievements in 2012:A. Output 1: Affected Communities enables to better manage

the risks posed by minesa. Rapid Responseb. Mine Risk Educationc. Achievement related to Output 1d. Challenges related to Output 1

B. Output 2: The Full Realization of the rights of mine victimsguaranteed

a. Mine Victims Assistanceb. Achievements related to Output 2c. Challenges related to Output 2

6

8

10

13131517172021

23

23242525

27

273232


C. Output 3: Mine Action Contributes to Socio Economic UseThrough Land Release

a. Post-Clearanceb. Non-Technical Surveyc. Training and Lessons Learnedd. Overview of Mine Clearance in Lebanone. Cluster Munitions Clearancef. Dangerous Areas Clearanceg. Landmine Clearanceh. Achievements related to Output 3i. Challenges related to Output 3

D. Output 4: Compliance to and Promotion of theUniversalization of the CCM and other relevantinternational instruments

a. Resource Mobilizationb. High-Level Coordinationc. Cooperation and Technical Assistance to

Affected Statesd. Technical Assistance to LMAPe. Advocacyf. Compliance with Convention on Cluster Munitionsg. Achievements related to Output 4h. Challenges related to Output 4

E. Output 5: A Sustainable Capacity to Manage Residual Risksis Established

a. Exit Strategyb. Challenges related to Output 5

F. Future Plans

33

333436363739394142

43

444646

4848484949

51

5151

51

6 Lebanon Mine Action Center

mine action activities according to thenational and international standardsthrough clearance, mine risk education,mine victims assistance and advocacy.

In September 2011, the LMACdevelopedits National Strategy 2011-2020 in partnership with other nationalpartners. It is based on a 10-yeartimeframe that highlights and costsLebanon’s priorities for mine and clustermunitions. It provides a prioritizationprocess to be used over the next decadethrough its use of indicators andbenchmarks covering mine riskeducation, mine victim assistance, landrelease, compliance and promotion ofrelevant international instruments relatedto mine action, and the need to put inplace a sustainable capacity in Lebanon tomanage residual risks.

The total funds needed for 2012, inaddition to the Government of Lebanon’scontributions, as set out in the NationalStrategy 2011 – 2020 was USD$33,125,000, to fulfill the objective of aLebanon free from cluster munitions by2016, and landmines and explosiveweapons of war (ERW) by 2020. However,only USD $11,791,376.95 was mobilizedwith a focus on cluster munitionsclearance, which left a funding shortfall ofUSD $21,333,623.05.

The funds available for Mine VictimsAssistance and Mine Risk Education wereparticularly low.

For Lebanon to reach its goal to be acountry free from Cluster Munitions by

Executive Summary

Lebanon’s mine /ERW contamination is alegacy of more than 40 years ofintermittentconflict, which involvedneighboring countries and various non-state armed groups. Lebanon presents astrong case of the devastating impact oflandmines and cluster munitions wherethe mine action programme can bedivided into three phases: The first phasewas the 1975-1990 civil war when theLebanese territories were littered with noless than 100,000 landmines and left thecountry with an alarmingly large numberof unexploded ordnances. The secondphase began in 2000 when Israelwithdrew from South Lebanon after a 12-year occupation leaving more than550,000 anti-personnel and anti-tankmines in the South and Western Bekaa.

In mid-2006, an impact free state withonly a residual problem seemedachievable within a few years and wasexpected to be reached in 2009, but theplanning and optimism came to anabrupt end in July 2006 when Israelbombarded Southern Lebanon in over1,278 locations with more than 4 millioncluster munitions, contaminatingapproximately 54.9 square kilometers ofland, and affecting over 1 million people(nearly one third of the population). Withthis contamination through clustersubmunitions, Lebanon entered the thirdphase in its history of landmines,unexploded ordnance and explosiveremnants of war.

The Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC)was established in April 1998. LMAC’smission is to manage the humanitarian

7Lebanon Mine Action Center

2016, Lebanon had to clear the remaining17.83 million meter square ofcontaminated area. Factoring in theannual clearance average since 2002 of3,31 million meters square (securingyearly 25 demining teams), indicates thatthe required time to clear the remainingareas would be close to 6 years. To reachLMAC’s clearance goal in the set 4-yeartime frame, increased contributions ofhuman resources, physical and financialsupport will be required.

Despite the funding shortfalls, much wasachieved in 2012 to realize the objectivesof the National Strategy. National minerisk education campaigns continuedthroughout the country.

On mine victim assistance, further effortswere undertaken to ensure eligiblevictims are provided with a disability cardand that the law 220/2000 isimplemented. In terms of socio-economic rehabilitation programs, whileprojects are ongoing, a lack of fundinghas prevented new programs beinginitiated in 2012.

Progress on landmine clearancecontinued steadily in 2012. The deminingactivities of the Manual and Mechanicaldemining teams covered a surface area of136.65 m2 in six provinces withinLebanon of wich landmines weredestroyed. Initiation of Blue LineClearance is pending a political decisionby the Government of Lebanon. Progresson cluster munitions completions alsoprogressed in 2012. Cluster munitionscompletions covered a surface area of

2.83 km2 in three provinces withinLebanon and 4,546 cluster munitionsdevices were destroyed. In 2012, the totalBattle Area Clearance (BAC) Teams fromNGOs were 28.

In 2012 LMAC did not have capacity fordangerous area clearance other thancluster munitions clearance. However,rapid response capacity was maintainedand requests for mine action rapidresponse were responded to immediately.

Lebanon succeeded in channeling allmine action funds to alleviate the burdenof the problem on its people, thusdocumenting success stories, whether atthe local level with the clearance andvictim assistance interventions or at theregional level with the interchangeprograms with Arab countries.

Lebanon made sure to fully utilize itscapacity in sharing knowledge and skillswith countries in need. Over the years ofits operations, LMAC, in cooperation withUNDP, has been keen on building localcapacities of staff and has gained thereputation of a focal point whose adviceis being sought out for best practices inthe region. In a short period of time,Lebanon has come to play a core role inthe MENA region.

Throughout Lebanon’s Presidency,Lebanon successfully promoted theuniversalization of the CCM in variousinternational and regional meetings. OnSeptember 11th, 2012, Lebanon handedover presidency to Norway at the ThirdMeeting of States Parties in Oslo.


1. Introduction

This annual report is intended to informmine action stakeholders in Lebanon andabroad of the activities, achievementsand opportunities realized during thereporting period. The report is in line withthe Lebanon Mine Action Strategy 2011 –2020 and covers mine action activities inLebanon in 2012. It offers an overview ofthe work completed by the Lebanon MineAction Center (LMAC), internationalorganizations and international andnational NGOs.

In September 2011, LMAC published itsNational Strategy 2011- 2020. It is basedon a 10-year timeframe that highlightsand costs Lebanon’s priorities for mineand cluster munitions, and provides anupdate to the LMAC’s Long-term Plan2008-2012 following the entry into forceof the Convention on Cluster Munitions inLebanon in May 2011. It provides aprioritization process over the next decadethrough indicators and benchmarks forland release, improving affectedcommunities ability to better managerisks posed by mines, ensuring the fullrealization of the rights of mine victims,and contributing to the socio-economicuse of land that has been released. It also

looks at compliance and promotion ofrelevant international instruments relatedto mine action including the Conventionon Cluster Munitions and the need to putin place a sustainable capacity in Lebanonto manage residual risks. The NationalStrategy 2011- 2020 was developed inpartnership with civil society organizationrepresentatives, as well as other Ministriessuch as the Ministry of Health and SocialAffairs.

2011 – 2020 National StrategyResults Framework:The table below presents the resultsframework of the Lebanon NationalStrategy to be achieved by 2013 it hasbeen, divided into 5 outputs, which tackleall aspects of mine action in Lebanon. TheAnnual Report will go through each ofthese outputs presenting the progress thathas been achieved on each output againstthe 2013 milestone. The results frameworkin the National Strategy includesmilestones up to the year 2020, when allclearance operations should becompleted. However, this annual reporthas only focused on the 2013 milestone asit deals with the progress that wasachieved in 2012.

a. NationalStrategy 2010– 2020ResultsFramework

Out

put 1

:Affe

cted

com

mun

ities

ena

bled

to b

ette

r man

age

risks

pos

ed b

y m

ines

Base

line (

2011

)

�A

rapi

d re

spon

se c

apac

ity is

est

ablis

hed.

It c

an b

e m

obili

zed

in a

few

hou

rs. S

uppo

rt is

req

uest

edfro

m N

GOs

whe

n av

aila

ble.

�Tr

aini

ng h

andb

ook

for M

RE a

ctiv

ists

exist

�Tr

ial f

or th

e in

tegr

atio

n of

MRE

mes

sage

s in

the

scho

ol p

rogr

amm

e co

mpl

eted

�60

0 he

alth

edu

cato

rs fr

om L

eban

on P

ublic

Edu

catio

n sy

stem

trai

ned;

they

exe

cute

two

MRE

act

iviti

espe

r gra

de p

er y

ear

�50

soc

ial w

orke

rs fr

om S

ocia

l Dev

elop

men

t Cen

tres

from

the

Min

istry

of S

ocia

l Affa

irs tr

aine

d

Mile

ston

e 201

3

�Ca

paci

ty is

mai

ntai

ned

�25

0 M

RE a

ctiv

ists

und

erta

ke ref

resh

er tra

inin

g�M

oEHE

scal

es u

p tria

l to

half

of the

sch

ools

in a

ffect

ed c

omm

uniti

es�80

0 sc

hool

tea

cher

s in

tegr

ate

regu

larly

MRE

in L

eban

on P

ublic

Edu

catio

nhe

alth

wor

k�15

0 so

cial

wor

kers

tra

ined

and

mon

itore

d

Out

put 2

: The

full

real

isat

ion

of th

e rig

hts o

f min

e vi

ctim

s gua

rant

eed

Outp

ut in

dica

tors

Requ

ests

for

min

e ac

tion

rapi

d re

spon

se a

re res

pond

ed to

imm

edia

tely

and

any

whe

re in

Leb

anon

Rele

vant

info

rmat

ion

abou

t m

ine

dang

er a

nd m

ine

actio

n re

ache

saf

fect

ed c

omm

uniti

es a

t le

ast on

ce a

yea

r th

roug

h:�M

RE A

ctiv

ists

�Sc

hool

chi

ldre

n an

d te

ache

rs�Sc

hool

chi

ldre

n’s

pare

nts

and

surrou

ndin

g co

mm

uniti

es�So

cial

Cen

ters

’ soc

ial w

orke

rs

�A

rapi

d re

spon

se c

apac

ity is

est

ablis

hed.

It c

an b

e m

obili

zed

in a

few

hou

rs. Su

ppor

t is

req

uest

edfro

m N

GOs

whe

n av

aila

ble.

�Tr

aini

ng h

andb

ook

for M

RE a

ctiv

ists

exist

�Tr

ial f

or th

e in

tegr

atio

n of

MRE

mes

sage

s in

the

scho

ol p

rogr

amm

e co

mpl

eted

�60

0 he

alth

edu

cato

rs fr

om L

eban

on P

ublic

Edu

catio

n sy

stem

trai

ned;

they

exe

cute

two

MRE

act

iviti

es p

ergr

ade

per y

ear

�50

soc

ial w

orke

rs fr

om S

ocia

l Dev

elop

men

t Cen

tres

from

the

Min

istry

of S

ocia

l Affa

irs tr

aine

d

�Ca

paci

ty is

mai

ntai

ned

�25

0 M

RE a

ctiv

ists

und

erta

ke ref

resh

er tra

inin

g�M

oEHE

scal

es u

p tria

l to

half

of the

sch

ools

in a

ffect

ed c

omm

uniti

es�80

0 sc

hool

tea

cher

s in

tegr

ate

regu

larly

MRE

in L

eban

on P

ublic

Edu

catio

nhe

alth

wor

k�15

0 so

cial

wor

kers

tra

ined

and

mon

itore

d

Righ

t-bas

ed a

cces

s of

min

e vi

ctim

s to

ser

vice

s an

d so

cio-

econ

omic

supp

ort i

s en

sure

d an

d m

onito

red

Elig

ible

min

e vi

ctim

s ar

e in

clud

ed in

soc

io-e

cono

mic re

habi

litat

ion

initi

atives

�Po

st-c

lear

ance

sur

vey

indi

cate

s th

at 9

7% o

f are

as c

lear

ed b

etwee

n 20

06 a

nd 2

010

has

been

imm

edia

tely p

ut in

to u

se (7

3,5%

agric

ultu

re; 2

0% h

ousin

g; o

ther

inclu

de g

razin

g la

nd; p

ublic

use

; tou

rism

and

com

mer

ce)

�No

n-te

chni

cal,

tech

nica

l and

dat

a ve

rifica

tion

have

bee

n co

mpl

eted

for t

he e

ntire

cou

ntry

exc

ept t

he B

lue

Line

.�Pi

lots

con

duct

ed a

nd le

sson

s le

arne

d id

entif

ied

to in

form

ope

ratio

n th

e pl

anni

ng a

nd e

xecu

tion

of d

emin

ing

oper

atio

ns

67%

clear

ed (J

uly

2011

)

83%

clear

ed (J

uly

2011

)

70%

cle

ared

(Jul

y 20

11)

0%cle

ared

�Le

bane

se A

rmed

For

ces

regi

men

ts h

ave

initi

ated

Non

-Tec

hnical

Sur

veys

and

Tech

nica

l Sur

veys

of th

e Bl

ue L

ine

�Dat

a is u

pdat

ed o

n a

need

bas

is

87%

cle

ared

90%

cle

ared

76%

cle

ared

33%

cle

ared

Acc

urat

e an

d c

om

pre

hens

ive

know

ledge

of

cont

amin

atio

n in

clud

ing

its

soci

o ec

onom

ic a

spec

ts

Clus

ter Bom

b S

trik

es a

reas

cle

ared

Dan

gero

us A

reas

(boo

by tra

ps

and n

uisa

nce

min

es) cl

eare

d

Min

e Fi

elds

(exc

ludin

g th

e Blu

e Li

ne) cl

eare

d

Blu

e Li

ne M

inef

ield

s cl

eare

d

Out

put 3

:Min

e Ac

tion

cont

ribut

es to

soci

o ec

onom

ic u

se th

roug

h la

nd re

leas

e

Out

put 4

: Com

plia

nce

to a

nd p

rom

otio

n of

the

univ

ersa

lisat

ion

of th

e CC

M

Out

put 5

: A su

stai

nabl

e ca

paci

ty to

man

age

resi

dual

risk

s is e

stab

lishe

d

� Est

imat

e co

st o

f th

e im

ple

men

tation

of th

e st

rate

gy is

bas

ed o

n co

mpre

hens

ive

dat

a co

ntam

inat

ion

�Gov

ernm

ent, priva

te se

ctor

and in

tern

atio

nal

dono

rs’

curren

t ple

dge

s do no

co

ver

the

cost

of

imple

men

ting

the

strat

egy

�Th

e in

ter-m

inis

terial

com

mitte

e fo

r m

ine

action

exi

sts

under

the

min

e ac

tion

pol

icy.

�Th

e In

tern

atio

nal Su

ppor

t Gro

up e

xist

s un

der

the

min

e ac

tion

pol

icy;

�Le

ban

on s

pec

ific

tech

nica

l exp

ertise

and

LM

AP

less

ons

lear

ned

can

be

mad

e av

aila

ble

to

affe

cted

sta

tes

�LA

F trai

ning

fac

ilities

are

ava

ilable

for re

giona

l an

d int

erna

tiona

l ex

chan

ge o

f ex

per

ienc

e an

d e

xper

tise

with

oth

er m

ine

action

pro

gram

mes

�LM

AP m

anag

emen

t an

d tec

hnic

al c

apac

ity

gaps

not sy

stem

atic

ally

iden

tifie

d�Oppor

tuni

ty to

lear

n from

MAP im

ple

men

ted in

othe

r co

untrie

s by

INGOs

�Le

bano

n pr

esid

ency

of th

e CC

M a

nd h

ost of

the

2M

SP in

Sep

tem

ber 20

11�As

of Ju

ly 2

011

a to

tal o

f 10

9 st

ates

hav

e jo

ined

the

Con

vent

ion,

of w

hich

3 fro

m the

reg

ion

as S

tate

s Pa

rtie

s.

�Th

e co

ordin

atio

n st

ruct

ure

for m

ine

action

is

def

ined

in

the

min

e ac

tion

pol

icy

Reso

urce

s m

obili

sed

allo

w for

the

impl

emen

tatio

n of

the

strat

egy

Reso

urce

s al

loca

tions

are

coo

rdin

ated

and

man

aged

Tech

nica

l ass

ista

nce

for th

e im

plem

enta

tion

of v

ictim

ass

ista

nce,

cle

aran

ce a

ndm

ine

risk

educ

atio

n is

pro

vide

d by

Leb

anon

to

affe

cted

sta

tes

Tech

nica

l ass

ista

nce

for th

e im

plem

enta

tion

of v

ictim

ass

ista

nce,

cle

aran

ce a

ndm

ine

risk

educ

atio

n is

pro

vide

d to

the

LM

AP

Advo

cacy

tow

ards

the

uni

vers

aliz

atio

n of

the

CCM

, in

partic

ular

fro

m the

reg

ion,

is u

nder

take

n

Com

plia

nce

with

tra

nspa

renc

y m

easu

res

(artic

le 7

) is

in p

lace

� In

tern

atio

nal as

sist

ance

allo

w f

or t

he i

mpl

emen

tatio

n of

the

firs

t tran

che

of t

hest

rate

gy

�Th

e In

ter-m

inis

teria

l Adv

isor

y Co

mm

ittee

for m

ine

actio

n an

d th

e In

tern

atio

nal S

uppo

rtGr

oup

are

re-e

nact

ed;

�Th

e m

ine

actio

n po

licy

is rev

iew

ed a

nd rev

ised

as

nece

ssar

y;�A

mec

hani

sm f

or m

anag

ing

finan

cial

res

ourc

es a

lloca

ted

to m

anag

emen

t se

rvic

es is

desi

gned

�Co

stin

g of

the

ser

vice

s pr

ovid

ed b

y th

e M

oH, M

oEHE

and

MOSA

reg

ardi

ng V

A, M

RE a

ndso

cio-

econ

omic re

habi

litat

ion

is u

nder

take

n

�Re

gion

al w

orks

hop

on p

rost

hetic

dev

elop

men

t in

201

2�Tr

aini

ng o

n in

form

atio

n m

anag

emen

t, IM

SMA

esta

blis

hed

and

prov

ided

to

othe

r m

ine

actio

n pr

ogra

mm

es p

erso

nnel

, in

parti

cula

r in

Ara

bic

and

Fren

ch

�LM

AP m

anag

emen

t an

d te

chni

cal c

apac

ity g

aps

syst

emat

ical

ly id

entif

ied

�Ca

paci

ty d

evel

opm

ent pl

an id

entif

ies

inte

rnat

iona

l tec

hnic

al a

ssis

tanc

e re

quire

men

ts�

Inte

rnat

iona

l tra

inin

g an

d pa

rtic

ipat

ion

to e

xcha

nge

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2. Background

a. Minecontaminationin Lebanon

Lebanon is located in the Middle East, withan area of 10, 452 square kilometersbordering Syria, occupied Palestine and theMediterranean Sea. With the brunt of thecontamination in the country’s southernprovinces, mine action in Lebanon wasmostly concentrated in the South.

Lebanon presents a strong case of thedevastating impact of landmines andcluster munitions. The Lebanon mineaction problem can be divided intothree phases: The first phase was the1975-1990 civil war when the Lebaneseterritories were littered with no lessthan 100,000 landmines and left thecountry with an alarmingly largenumber of unexploded ordnances. Thesecond phase began in 2000 when

Israel withdrew from South Lebanonafter a 12-year occupation leavingmore than 550,000 anti-personnel andanti-tank mines in the South andWestern Bekaa.

In mid-2006, an impact free state withonly a residual problem seemedachievable within a few years and wasexpected to be reached in 2009, but theplanning and optimism came to anabrupt end in July 2006 when Israelbombarded Southern Lebanon in over1,278 locations with more than 4 millioncluster munitions, contaminatingapproximately 54.9 square kilometers ofland, and affecting over 1 million people(nearly one third of the population).With this contamination through cluster


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containing 907 minefield locations,covering a surface area of approximately7.6 km². Initiation of Blue Line clearance ispending a political decision by theGovernment of Lebanon.

During the 2006 hostilities, the South ofLebanon was contaminatedwith more than4 million cluster munitions. The estimatedone million cluster munitions that did notdetonate cause an ongoing indiscriminatethreat to civilians; deny access to agriculturalland, the primary source of economy in theSouth; and remain a constant reminder ofthe war. The confirmed CBU strike locationstotaled 1,322 locations covering an area ofapproximately 55.8 km² but throughclearance this has been reduced to453locations covering an approximatesurface area of 17.8 km² by the end of 2012.

In Lebanon, long term plans take intoaccount clearance and technical surveydata and utilize an integrated dataapproach to tackle clearance priorities.Focus is currently on releasing land forhousing, by clearing areas adjacent tohouses and agricultural land. Thepremise is that resources available arescarce, that need overwhelms capacity,and that a hierarchy of priority areasshould be developed. Land is releasedupon request from landowners andmunicipalities.

LMAC priority list can be summarized asthe following:

Priority 1: Access road, infrastructure,water, electricity, municipalities,schools and houses and gardens, toallow for the prompt return of thedisplaced population. Land release forfirst priority contaminated land wascompleted between 2006 and 2009Priority 2: Agriculture lands. Landrelease for the second priority iscurrently being tackled.

submunitions, Lebanon entered thethird phase in its history of landmines,unexploded ordnance and explosiveremnants of war.

Mine contamination in Lebanon datesback prior to 1975, the year the civil war(1975-1990) began. Both the north andthe south of the country suffer fromlandmine contamination. The affectedareas are in Batroun, Chouf, Jbeil, andJezzine; north of the Litani river, in theBekaa Valley; and across Mount Lebanon.The initial surface area containingminefields was 44.18 km² and included2,284 locations; this has been reduced to23.37 km² and 652 locations by the end of2012. In addition, there are minefieldsalong the UN-delineated Blue Line


Priority 3: Uncultivated lands. Landrelease for third priority will be tackledonce second priority land has beencompleted.

Mines and UXOs continue to kill andmaim people in Lebanon although theclearance of highly impactedcommunities and the success in minerisk education has reduced the casualtytoll significantly. Information from LMAC-Information Managemnet System forMine Action (IMSMA) and results ofspecific surveys undertaken by LMACshow that mines and UXOs have killedand maimed more than 3683 persons inLebanon since 1975, with 903killed and2,780people injured. In 2012, 3werekilled and 6were injured.

Socio-economic development in Lebanonhas been substantially affected by clustermunitions and UXO contamination.Approximately 36% of land used forlivelihood activities has been contaminated,and it is estimated that the cost of lostagricultural production was USD $126.7million in 2007.

The ultimate goal of LMAC is for Lebanon tobe free of the impact of landmines, clustermunitions and ERW, where civilians can walkfreely without the fear of stepping on a mine,children can play without mistaking anunexploded sub-munition for a toy, andcommunities don’t bear the social andeconomic impact of mines or ERW presencefor decades to come.

Indirect economic consequences of themine contamination such as the‘opportunity cost’ and loss of investmentopportunities or tourism are also part of theindirect costs due to mine/ERWcontamination and should be taken intoconsideration.

The Lebanon Mine Action Programme hasdeveloped over three main phases:

1) The removal of explosive remnants ofwar (ERW) after the Lebanese civil war.

2) The clearance of minefield and boobytraps between 2000 and 2006 afterthe enemy withdrawal from SouthernLebanon.

3) The clearance of submunitionscontamination and ERW from the2006 hostilities.

a. Mine contamination in LebanonTable: Mine contamination in 2006 and at the end of 2012.

Map 1: Lebanon’s contamination phases

After 1990 After 2000 Year 2012After 2006


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3. Mine Action Structure in Lebanon

a. The Lebanon Mine Action Centre:The Mine Action Program in Lebanon isthe responsibility of the Ministry ofDefense. The Lebanese Mine ActionAuthority (LMAA) is the legislative bodyassigned by the Lebanese Governmentto support efforts to address the mineand cluster munitions problem in thecountry. It is chaired by the Minister ofDefense and it coordinates anycooperation process with nationalauthorities and between the State, civilsociety, and the internationalcommunity aimed at Humanitariandemining, victim assistance and minerisk education. The Lebanon Mine ActionCenter (LMAC) executes andcoordinates the Lebanese Mine ActionProgram on behalf of the LMAA.

LMAC is staffed with army personnelassigned to the mine action programfrom the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).Civilian personnel are made availablethrough UNDP support to cover

shortfalls and ensure transfer ofcompetencies. The LMAC office is basedin Beirut, and in cooperation with theRegional Mine Action Centre (RMAC)based in Nabatiyah, and manages alldemining operations. The RMACspecifically provides the tasking to allthemine action operators, and alsoundertakes independent qualityassurance, and quality control.

The LMAC manages deminingoperations through its Regional MineAction Centre (RMAC), based inNabatiyah. All of the NGOs andcommercial companies work towardsmeeting tasks and priorities establishedby LMAC. All NGOs have been accreditedby LMAC their standing operationprocedures (SOP) have been scrutinized,and they are subjected to periodic andregular quality assurance (QA) visits byLMAC. The land cleared by the NGOs isindependently checked before beinghanded back to local owners.

a. Rapid Responseb. Mine Risk Educationc. Achievement related to Output 1d. Challenges related to Output 1


Table: LMAC Structure

UNDP staff has been paired with RMACpersonnel to develop their understanding ofclearance management and oversightprocess, with a view of allowing for aneffective transfer of knowledge.

Positions are as follows: I. Operations Coordinator (National)to supplement the military operationsofficer assigned to the RMAC-N;

II. Information Management Officer(National) within the IM section ofthe RMAC to act as advisor, trainerand to provide GIS support to thetechnical survey and socio-economic priority setting;

III. Operations Clerk (National) tosupplement and support the militarypersonnel assigned to the RMAC-Nand to support the clearancesponsored by international donors;

IV. Quality Assurance Coordinator toensure the orderly and properhandover of all cleared land tolandowners and communities;

V. Provision of a Quality Control andAssurance Clerk (2) (National) tosupplement the military personnelassigned to the Operations Centre toensure the quality of mine clearancemeets international and national


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standards and to support theaccreditation of all national andinternational clearance assets;

VI. Provision of a Community LiaisonClerk (2) (National) to supportclearance and post-clearance activities;

VII. Radio Operator to ensure that theinternational and national clearancesafety and command radio net is

properly functional when clearancesare being conducted

VIII. GIS Clerks (2) (National) to inputmine action information from mineaction clearance and completionsinto the IMSMA database.

IX. Provision of a Project Officer(National) to support the managementof the project and act as the secretariatfor LMAC coordination mechanisms

b. Demining and Survey Teams in Lebanon:

DEMINING AND SURVEY TEAMS IN LEBANON

Name Description

Swiss Foundation for Demining (FSD) began working with LMAC at the end of 2010with two Battle Area Clearance teams (BAC)teams. In September 2011 an additional teamwas added to bring the total to three BACteams. In year 2012 FSD continued in fullcapacity operations with three (BAC) teams.

Mines Advisory Group (MAG) began working with LMAC in 2000. In 2011, anextra BAC team was added by MAG to bring itstotal capacity in 2011 to eight BAC teams, twoMine Clearance teams (MCT) and onemechanical team. In 2012 the operationswere reduced to six BAC teams, two MCTteams and one Mechanical team.

Danish Church Aid (DCA) has been clearing cluster bomb contaminatedareas in South Lebanon since 2007 andcurrently has four BAC teams working withLMAC. In November 2010, it started manualmine clearance activities in Mount Lebanonand currently has two MCT teams. In March2012 the BAC teams were to a total of twoteams and in August 2012 DCA added andadditional BAC team. In march 2012 DCAincreased the MCT operation to three teams inMount Lebanon.


Handicap International (HI) has been involved in land clearance inLebanon since 2006. In January 2011, HIbegan demining in Mount Lebanon with twoMCT teams and continued operations in2012 with two MCT teams in North Lebanon.

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has been working on cluster munitionsclearance in Lebanon since 2006 andcontinued with five BAC teams workingwith LMAC until April 2012. In June 2012one more BAC team was added and on July2012 an additional two BAC teams wereadded which brings the total to nine BACteams.

POD started working with LMAC in 2009 with 2BAC teams and in February 2011 added anadditional 4 BAC teams to bring them to atotal of 6 BAC teams. In 2012 one team wasadded to operate as BAC and MCT whichbrings the total to seven teams.

Lebanon Demining Organisation (LDO) started working with LMAC in October 2010with two Non-Technical Survey teams andcontinued to work on the non-technicalsurvey in 2011. In 2012 LDO worked withthree teams on Post-Clearance and ceasedwork at the end of 2012.

Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) also contribute to the clearance capacity byproviding 25% of overall manual minefieldclearance capacity (12 teams in 2011), 50%of mechanical clearance (1 Mech team in2011), and 100% of mine detection dogteams (9 teams in 2011). They are alsoresponsible for 100% of rapid responsecapacity. LAF continued in 2012 in thesame capacity.

DEMINING AND SURVEY TEAMS IN LEBANON

Name Description


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Current Capacity:

Management- Quality Assurance andQuality Control (QAQC) Section in LMAC.The process of accreditation involvesinspecting the organizations (deskassessment, logistics, equipment’s andmachines, Mines Detection Dogs, metal-detectors and admin, etc.) and ifcompliant, they will be provided with aonemonth provisional accreditation followedby (at least) four officers’ follow-up visits tothe organization to ensure operationsremain satisfactory. Once the QAQCofficers finalize their report, theorganization is granted a full operationalaccreditation for one year. However, if theresults are not satisfactory, a re-accreditation procedure starts a week later,followed by additional QAQC visits. If theorganization does not meet the requiredstandards, it will be suspended from workand must undertake a one month longtraining.

In 2012, LMAC issued 1,498 operationalAccreditations including all qualityassurance form visits conducted over

c. Training of Demining Teams:Each NGO or organization wishing toundertake demining activities inLebanon must first complete a trainingprogram. All demining teams alsoundertake refresher training sessions atleast twice a year. In addition, refreshertraining is required if a deminer hasstopped work for a minimum two weeksand after sick leave. If an incident occurs,the entire team undergoes refreshertraining. Until now, all organizations hadindividual programs based on theNational Mine Action Standards (NMAS).In 2012, LMAC drafted an integratedtraining program for all organizations,which will streamline the training ofdemining teams and also improve therate and efficiency of work.

d. Quality Management of DeminingTeams:

Accreditations for the OrganizationsEvery year in January, re-accreditation of allorganizations performing demining inLebanon is undertaken by the Quality


organizations teams. The organizationalaccreditation (Desk Assessment) formine action have been renewed andissued to seven organizations (DanishChurch Aid, Handicap International,Foundation Suisse de Deminage,Lebanese Demining Organization, MineAdvisory Group, Norwegian People Aid,Peace Generation Organization forDemining ) and for Lebanese ArmedForces/Engineering Regiment (LAF/ER).

NMAS standardized quality assuranceand quality control according to theIMAS standards. The quality assuranceand quality control head section at theLMAC closely supervises that the mineclearances are conducted inaccordance with internationalstandards. Reports are provided on adaily basis and the data is collected andentered into IMSMA. An outline for thedevelopment of a more holistic

approach for quality was formulated.The LMAC is in the process ofcontinuous evaluation.

The combined application of qualityassurance (before and during theclearance process) with post-clearancequality control contributes to achievingan acceptable level of confidence thatthe land is safe for its intended use. Thequality of clearance must beacceptable to both the national mineaction authority and the localcommunity that benefits, and needs tobe measurable and verifiable.

Recently, the number of accidents in thereleased lands has significantlydecreased and this was directly linked toquality assurance and control. Officersattended several training courses inGeneva related to quality control andthese trainings improved their capacity.

Table: Operational Accreditations per NGO

2012 2012 Total

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4DCA 40 44 40 82 206FSD 24 27 28 38 117HI 4 5 9 18LAF 2 9 1 12LDO 50 52 102

12 13 11MAG 75 6 7 8 456

11NPA 58 67 6 95 336POD 31 55 60 84 230RMAC 4 14 1 2 21

39 39 42Grand Total 282 1 6 9 1,498


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Table: Quarterly statistics for QAQC

Table: Operational Accreditation per Type of Activity

2012 2012 Total

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q423 26 25

Battle Area Clearance (J5) 144 6 4 6 900Command and Control (J8) 2 2Demolitions (J9) 23 6 5 12 46Explosive Ordnance Disposal (J6) 1 1Impact assessment survey (J20) 50 52 102Manual Clearance (J2) 21 34 19 49 123Mechanical Clearance (J3) 4 7 18 9 38Medical (J10) 5 9 44 67 125Non Operational Asset (J19) 15 3 10 28Organization Training & Evaluation (J12) 3 7 13 3 26Post Clearance Quality Control Sampling (J18) 4 9 2 2 17Quality Assurance Evaluation Form Completionof Clearance Task (J16) 4 19 10 11 44Site Setup (J1) 8 12 16 10 46

39 39 42Grand Total 282 391 396 429 1,498


Training Each NGO wishing to undertake deminingactivities in Lebanon must first completean internal training program (approved byLMAC) for their teams to be accredited.The training program (TP) includestrainings for the Deminers, Medic, TeamLeader, Site Supervisor, Explosiveordnance disposal specialist, etc. Thestandards operations procedures (SOP)must be in accordance with the NationalMine Actions Standards (NMAS) andapproved by the QAQC section in LMAC.

ControllingLMAC QAQC and Operation officersconduct technical inspections on alldemining tasks through weekly visits tothe clearance sites to ensure that workis compliant with the clearance plan,which is approved by the Operationsection in LMAC, and undertakenaccording to the National Mine ActionsStandards (NMAS) and the StandardsOperating Procedures (SOP). If aclearance team receives twounacceptable visits within a month,they are issued a warning. If during thevisits LMAC, QAQC and or the operationofficers see a breach of safety, then theteam is suspended from work and thesite is closed until internal refreshtraining is undertaken for all the team.

Written and verbal warningsare issuedsometimes on an individual basis forthe deminers caught not workingaccording to the SOP and the NMASand have even been issued for having abad manner in the sites. If a deminerreceives a final warning then he will bepermanently suspended from workingin the NGO.

The QAQC team performs randomsampling of a cleared land to ensure itscompliance. If it is satisfactory, acompletion report is filled out and afollow-up visit is undertaken after threemonths.

LMAC conducts regular, emergency andadditional testing on existing and newmachinery for soil preparation andannual verification of the characteristicsof machines for humanitarian deminingwhere all tested machines successfullypassed the tests.

e.The National Committees onMine Risk Education and VictimAssistance

LMAC manages risk education andvictim assistance and chairs the TwoNational Steering Committees on MineRisk Education and Mine VictimAssistance.

The National Steering Committees onMine Risk Education and VictimAssistance were established under theauspices of LMAC to effectively manageand implement mine risk education andmine victim assistance activities. Thecommittees bring together 14 bodieslisted below, which include NGOs andMinistry representatives, and they arecoordinated by LMAC, with theassistance of the Landmines ResourceCentre for Lebanon from the Faculty ofHealth Sciences of the University ofBalamand and Norwegian People’s Aid(NPA). All implementing NGOs are localNGOs. NPA provides financial,managerial and technical assistance tonational NGO projects, but does notimplement projects.


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f. Information Management NewGeneration (IMSMA NG)

Information Management System forMine Action (IMSMA) is the UN-approvedstandard for information systemssupporting humanitarian demining. Theintent is to collect standardized mine-related data and manage it in astandardized system using powerfulstatistical and geographical tools.

When the Council of Ministers createdthe national mine action programme in1998, it mandated that a database becreated. The LMAC informationmanagement section is responsible forthe management of mine action data. Itsdatabase, using IMSMA software, includesdata from the 2002–2003 LIS, resultsfrom the technical survey project, andclearance operations after the July-August 2006 hostilities. RE activities andCasualty data are also recorded in IMSMA.

Initially, it used a local database to storemine action data but in December 2001,LMAC adopted the international system,IMSMA, first using version 2.2, until July2003 when LMAC upgraded to version3.0. In 2010, LMAC initiated the upgrade tothe new generation of the InformationManagement System Mine Action(IMSMA) to enhance the availability ofinformation for clearance relateddevelopment planning, in cooperationwith GICHD. This was completed in 2011and was fully operational in 2012.Lebanon has been a leader in transferringfrom IMSMA Legacy to the IMSMA NG.Being among the first to utilize the newsystem, it is constantly being referred to byGeneva International Centre forHumanitarian Demining (GICHD) toprovide feedback on the system updates.

Its main goal is to manage theinformation technology and maintain

Table: The national steering committee


the database of the National DeminingProgram at LMAC. It supports andmanages the IT infrastructure at LMAC,analyses and manages mine action data,continuously develops and updatesexisting policies and Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs), and supports thecontinuous capacity building of localNGOs implementing mine-relatedprograms in Lebanon in terms ofproviding training on the use of GIS,IMSMA and on ACCESS and NAVICAT.

As part of its mission to provide technicalsupport and capacity development toNational Mine Action Authorities, theGICHD Information Management Sectionin Geneva and the Lebanon Mine ActionCenter (LMAC) jointly held a 5-day regionalInformation Management workshop inorder to -facilitate cooperation andexperience sharing in the MENA region atCedars, Lebanon (17-21 September, 2012).

This workshop aimed at gathering highlyexperienced experts with programming

knowledge in order to build capacity inmine affected countries on theadvanced reporting capacity within theIMSMA NG software and how to enhancethe information management. Thecountries that received this support arethe following: Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Libyaand Mauritania.

During 2012, an Arabic OutreachConference was organized in Dubai inwhich all mine-affected Arab countriescame together to discuss coordinationefforts and agree on the way forward.Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Sudan,Mauritania, Iraq, Palestine, Morocco,and Algeria participated in thisconference. There was a generalagreement on the need to Arabize thesupport documents and trainingtargeting the Arab region. Lebanonstood out as a country which hadmastered the necessary know-how andis capable of sharing and transferringits expertise in all mine-action relatedfields, including Quality, Operations,Information Management, and MineRisk Education. The LMAC served as anexemplary center demonstrating howLMAC has progressed withhumanitarian demining and how thecenter is serving as an umbrella forlocal as well as internationalorganizations working in Lebanon.

Due to the key role played by Lebanon,participants unanimously agreed thatLebanon should organize anInformation Management workshop inDecember 2013 hosting all Arabcountries, similar to the workshoppreviously organized in the Cedars inSeptember 2012. The Cedar workshopwas considered a great initiative by allparticipants and especially by GICHD.


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During an awareness-raising sessionperformed by LMAC during class in thePublic Schools in Nabatiyeh, one of thestudents reported that he saw asuspicious object while playing. Hisparents promptly informed RMAC andthe suspected dangerous item waschecked within less than an hour andfound not to be dangerous.This is anexample of collaboration between mineaction actors at local levels and thecommunity based reporting system

4. Key Achievements in 2012A. Output 1: Affected Communities enables to better manage the

risks posed by mines

a. Rapid Responseb. Mine Risk Educationc. Achievement related to Output 1d. Challenges related to Output 1

Output 1 objectives 2011 – 2013

a. Rapid responseThroughout 2012, a Rapid ResponseTeam was operational 24 hours a daythroughout the year and all requestswere answered immediately, therebyachieving the milestone set out in theNational Strategy.The Lebanese ArmedForces are responsible for rapidresponse. However, at times mine actionNGOs werealso requested to assist LAFwith requests in their geographical areaof operations.

Output indicators

Requests for mine action rapidresponse are responded toimmediately and anywhere inLebanon

Relevant information aboutmine danger and mine actionreaches affected communitiesat least once a year through:● MRE Activists● School children and teachers● School children’s parents andsurrounding communities

● Social Centers’ social workers

Area

RapidResponse

MineRiskEducation

Output 1: Affected communities enabled to better manage risks posed by minesBaseline (2011)

● A rapid response capacity isestablished. It can be mobilized in afew hours. Support is requested fromNGOs when available.

● Training handbook for MRE activists exist● Trial for the integration of MRE messagesin the school programme completed

● 600 health educators from LebanonPublic Education system trained; theyexecute two MRE activities per grade peryear

● 50 social workers from SocialDevelopment Centres from the Ministry ofSocial Affairs trained

Milestone 2013

● Capacity is maintained

● 250 MRE activists undertakerefresher training

● MoEHE scales up trial to halfof the schools in affectedcommunities

● 800 school teachers integrateregularly MRE in LebanonPublic Education health work

● 150 social workers trainedand monitored


technique. While the suspecteddangerous item was not a mine or ERW,this story highlights how well thereporting mechanism worked.

The rapid response service ensures thesafety of the communities in affectedareas as requests are responded toimmediately. It also has socio-economicbenefits as the immediate responsemeans that the land does not becomeunusable if a UXO or other ERW is found.This in turn provides peace of mind tothe affected communities.

b. Mine Risk EducationMine/explosive remnants of war riskeducation (MRE) refers to all educationalactivities seeking to reduce mine andERW injuries by raising awareness andpromoting behavior changes among at-risk groups. The objective of MRE inLebanon is to provide sufficientinformation to recognize and reportthese items to LMAC. LAF can thenremove the items, making the area safefor people and creating an environmentwhere economic and socialdevelopment can occur free from theconstraints imposed by contamination.

Mine Risk Education (MRE) campaignshave been initiated all over the countrysince 1997. Under the coordination andclose supervision of LMAC, MRE activitieshave reached directly over 1 millionschool children, farmers, and the generalpopulation using appropriately targetedmaterials and approaches. A study in2007 by UNICEF revealed that 70% of thepopulation had important knowledge ofthe problem but still lacked the skills ofkeeping safe as economic and socialneeds still pose real obstacles to the

application of safe behaviors, creating adangerously high likelihood ofmunitions incidents.

The success of mine awarenessprogrammes is notoriously difficult tomeasure as the qualitative nature of thechanges defy simple measurement andare also part of a complex mix of factorsthat affect a vulnerable communityliving at risk. A comparison of databefore and after mine awarenesstraining would only partly indicatewhether the training had made animpact as other factors influence the riseor fall of numbers of accidents – such aschanges in farming activities, andpopulation movements. Thequantitative indicators used by LMACinclude numbers of people that attendtraining, number of materialsdistributed, and the number ofcommunity visits conducted, etc.

The main aim of Mine Risk Education(MRE) in Lebanon is to promote theknowledge among citizens in mineaffected areas, and throughout thecountry, of the risk posed by landminesand ERW in order to promote abehavioral change and limit the risk ofinjuries through the dissemination ofeffective prevention measures. LMACand the National Steering Committee onMine Risk Education also work toincrease the capacity of localcommunities and enhance their role toensure the success and sustainability ofawareness programs.

The National Steering Committee onMine Risk Education undertake MREcampaigns in affected and at-riskcommunities targeting in particular


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students, farmers, shepherds, mothers,and residents. They develop and produceMRE materials, and work to integrateMRE into the national school curriculum.

MRE activities in 2012: April 2012: A presentation on minerelated issues for university students withthe overall participation of 75 students.

April 2012: A national mine awarenesscampaign was launched andimplemented in April 2012 (23 to 27), itwas funded by the Lebanese Army and theUS Ministry of Defense. The awarenessactivities during that week varied toinclude national television spots, face toface interventions, schoolbased games,and public games. One of the proxyindicators of the effectiveness of suchactivities is the gradually declining numberof accidents and causalities over the years.

May - July 2012: Seminars on awarenessof mine dangers in public schools in theSouth of Lebanon, with the overallparticipation 2,676 youths.The seminarencouraged youth to mobilize, takeresponsibility for their safety inmine/ERW-impacted areas, educateothers on mine/ERW risks, liaise withdemining and MRE mine action teams inparticular by reporting mines/ERW aswell as new hazards/minefields.

June 2012: Training of Scouts leaders onawareness of mine dangers with theoverall participation 120 Scouts.

July and October 2012: Train of thetrainers program with the overallparticipation of 48 trainers. The programencouraged trainers to mobilize,educate others on mine/ERW risks, liaise

with survey, demining and MRE mine actionteams, and share any recent changes withtheir communities.

c. 2012 Achievements based onOutput 1:■ LMAC has improved its rapid response

capacity and planning for quickresponse in the last few years. RapidResponse capacity is well establishedand was maintained in 2012.

■ LMAC is effectively managing the freehotline the population uses to reportsuspicious objects or mine/ERW accidents

■ Under the coordination and closesupervision of LMAC, a national mineawareness campaign was launched andimplemented last April 2012 (23 to 27).

■ After years of exposure to mine/ERWrisk education sessions, the level ofknowledge and awareness of at-riskand risk-taking groups improved.

■ Trials to integrate safety messages inthe health promotion of the Lebaneseprimary health care centers and in thesocial health component of the socialdevelopment centers are underwaybut the 2013 milestone has yet to befully achieved due to a lack of funding.

■ Efforts are underway to integrate MREmessages into the general curriculumof students, but this has yet to beoperationalized because thegovernment is currently reviewing thecivics book that will contain themessages.

d. Challenges related to Output 1:While some MRE activities have beenundertaken in 2012, lack of fundingremains the major challenge and hinderedthe implementation of MRE objectives in2012. The challenges are summarized asthe following:


■ Lack of funding for MRE activities.According to the National Strategy2011 -2020, USD $100,000 should beallocated to MRE activities each year.The only contribution received in 2012was from the Government of Lebanonthrough the Lebanese Armed Forcesand the US Ministry of Defense and isestimated at USD $20,000 for MRE forthe period 2011 – 2012. This falls farshort of the target and hindered theimplementation of MRE objectives inLebanon.

■ The high cost of producing new MREmaterial further underlines the needto increased funding in this area.

■ The delays of the government inreviewing the civics book resulted inthe postponement of the integration ofMRE messages in the generalcurriculum.

■ Economic and social needs still posereal obstacles to the application ofsafe behaviors, creating adangerously high likelihood ofmunitions incidents.

■ While the integrated approach hasbeen theorized and widely applied,current challenges in the mine riskeducation sector are still not properlydiscussed at international and nationallevels.

■ Difficulties in changing behavior andcorrecting misconceptions.

■ The success of mine awarenessprogrammes is notoriously difficult tomeasure and to evaluate as thequalitative nature of the changes defysimple measurement and are alsopart of a complex mix of factors thataffect a vulnerable community livingat risk.

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2102a. Mine Victim AssistanceAssistance to victims of unexplodedordnance, landmines and cluster bombs(MVA) is a major component of mineaction. In Lebanon, victim assistance isturning out to be the most expensivecomponent and requires lots ofcoordination among various stakeholders,including governmental and non-governmental, national and internationalbodies. Beyond the immediate dangers tolife and limb, the mine problem isimposing a heavy economic burden onthese communities. The average cost ofan artificial limb varies between USD $500to USD $7,500. An adult must replace hisor her prosthesis once every three to fiveyears, and a child must obtain a newprosthesis every six months.

In Lebanon, Mine Victim Assistance(MVA) is undertaken using the three-tiered definition of landmine victims,which includes individuals that are

directly affected by mines, their families,and mine-affected communities. Thehealth and social welfare sectors in Lebanonas well as other sectors like education,transport, and employment are unable tocater for the needs and rights of the victims.Hence, seeking donor money is the currentalternative and it would remain the onlyvalid and viable option until theGovernmental systems in charge of victimassistance have the capacity to take over; acase that is not foreseen to occur in the nearfuture. Over the last four years, MVAwitnessed a major decrease in funding thatfroze many operations and activities.

The growth in awareness of the landmineproblem led to a broader understanding ofthe depth of the problem and the importanceof addressing the needs landmine survivers(mine victims). The identified areasconcerning mine victims include:

■ Emergency medical care, amputationsurgery and post-operation care;

B. Output 2: The Full Realization of the rightsof mine victims guaranteed

a. Mine Victims Assistanceb. Achievements related to Output 2c. Challenges related to Output 2

Output indicators

Right-based access of minevictims to services and socio-economic support is ensuredand monitored

Eligible mine victims areincluded in socio-economicrehabilitation initiatives

Area

Mine

Victim

Assistance

Mine

Victim

Assistance

Output 2: The full realisation of the rights of mine victims guaranteedBaseline (2011)

● Eligible survivors have access tocomprehensive right based assistancethrough law 220/2000, “Access and Rightsof the People with Disability”

● Law voted but not fully implemented● Victims not fully aware of their rights● Medical treatment is provided free of

charge by GoL PH services

● Baseline data highlights needs forvocational training and financial support toinitiate small business

● Trial indicates need for psycho-socialsupport to be embedded in recreational &socio-economic activities

Milestone 2013

● Eligible victims are issuedwith disability card, and aremade aware of their rights,law partially implemented

● 1/3 of eligible victims havebeen included in socioeconomic rehabilitationprogrammes



■ Physical rehabilitation andprosthetics, wheelchairs andcrutches;

■ Assistance for non-amputee minevictims (blindness, deafness, etc.);

■ Psychological rehabilitation andcombating social stigma;

■ Returning victims to economicproductivity, vocational training etc.

■ Victims need assessment surveysand continuous update of thevictims’ database.

■ Advocacy of the rights of the Victimsand support of the process of theinternational convention on theirrights.

The overall objective of MVA section atLMAC is to reduce the threat and socio-economic impact of landmines, clustermunitions and other explosive remnantsof war. The specific objective is to providemine/UXO victims with medical, social,psychological and economic assistancetoward the realization of their rights.

The MVA plan has been developed in linewith the respective terms of relatedinternational treaties. In September 2011,the Lebanon Mine Action Centre (LMAC)presented the Lebanese “2011-2020National Mine Action Strategy” that clearlystated that the ultimate goal is to have:

“the rights of victims fulfilled; all this as perthe Convention on Cluster Munitions(CCM) obligations, in the spirit of the MineBan Treaty (MBT), and in accordance withthe Convention on the Rights of Peoplewith Disability (CRPD)”.

Moreover, activities are derived fromthe LMAC Three-Year National ActionPlan that was developed consequent tothe victims workshop held on 5-6

September 2011, at the eve of the2MSP that was organized in Lebanon.Proposed activities aim at allowing thedesign and implementation ofsustainable MVA operations andmechanisms in Lebanon.

It is becoming clear to LMAC and to theMVA National Steering Committee thatMVA cannot be differentiated from thenational noble cause of the disabledpopulation in Lebanon who are fightingfor the implementation of the disabledlaw 220/2000. Hence, knowing the rightsof victims will ease their protectionprocesses and will facilitate the access toservices with effectiveness and efficacy.Most important is that the provision ofprosthetic fitting, psychosocial support,and income generating activities shall beparalleled with advocacy and lobbyingactivities hopefully resulting in makingLebanon accede to the CRPD and inenforcing the Lebanese Disabled Law220/2000. MVA tangible services shall beaccessed, at an affordable cost, accordingto clear operating procedures, and withacceptable national standards.

PartnersLMAC manages risk education and victimassistance and chairs the Two NationalSteering Committees on Mine RiskEducation and Mine Victim Assistance.

The National Steering Committees onMine Risk Education and VictimAssistance were established under theauspices of LMAC to effectively manageand implement mine risk education andmine victim assistance activities. Thecommittees bring together 12 bodies,which include NGOs and Ministryrepresentatives, and they arecoordinated by LMAC.


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Mine victims’ databaseIn 2010, LMAC completed the first phaseof a national victim survey and needsassessment. The survey collecteddetailed information about the needsof mine/ERW and cluster munitionvictims, including survivors, familymembers, and affected communities,

in accordance with the Convention onCluster Munitions. The survey covers thosepeople affected between July 2006 andthe end of 2010. The data collectionprocess and survey questions weredesigned by LMAC in consultation with theNational Steering Committee on VictimAssistance.

Data on mine victims is continuouslyupdated and entered into the IMSMAdatabase to provide a comprehensiveoverview of the numbers of mine-relatedvictims in Lebanon. There are currently

2,781 landmine and cluster munitionssurvivors in Lebanon, of which 50% sufferedan amputation. The below tables provide asummary on the statistics since 1975 bygender and region.

PHASE IIIBefore2000

PHASE II2000-13/08/2006

PHASE I2006-2012

TotalInjured

PHASE I2006-2012

PHASE II2000-13/08/2006

Killed

PHASE IIIBefore31/12/2000

Male 1944 207 333 2484 683 43 50 776 3260

Female 243 23 24 290 121 2 1 124 414

Grand Total 2187 230 362 2779 804 45 54 903 3682

Total Grand Total


Table: Percentage of Victims by Region

Region Death SurvivalSouth 20% 19%Nabatiyeh 28% 30%Bekaa 7% 15%Mount Lebanon 9% 20%North Lebanon 2% 2%Beirut 2% 4%Unspecified 32% 10%

Gender Injured Killed Total

Male 2,491 778 3,269

Female 290 124 415


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Provision of emergency and medical supportEvacuation is taken care of by well-establishedgovernment and auxiliary services. Ambulatorycare is taken care of by the national publichealth chain of ambulatory services throughoutthe country. Emergency care and medicaltreatment is provided free of charge in allhospitals in Lebanon as per a governmentaldecree. The Ministry of Social Affairs and theMinistry of Health are responsible for theprovision of emergency care and hospitals.

AdvocacyThe national law 220/2000 “Access andRights of the People with Disability”, issuedin May 2000, is comprehensive law thatincludes all sectors: it addresses the rights ofpeople with disabilities to proper education,rehabilitation services, employment,medical services, sports and access to publictransport and other facilities. However, thelaw has yet to be comprehensively put intopractice, due in part to the lack of sufficientresource allocation within the public budget.

Lebanon also signed the InternationalConvention on the Rights of Persons withDisabilities (ICRPD) in 2007 but it has not yetbeen ratified.

There is a large network of disabilityorganizations advocating for theimplementation of the national law 220/2000and the ratification of the ICRPD. In July 2011, anational conference on disability at themunicipal level was held and mine surviverswere represented by the MVA NationalSteering Committee. A committee of NGOs iscurrently working on preparing first aid andmental health guidelines.

MVA Activities in 2012:Over the last four years, MVA witnessed amajor decrease in funding that froze manyoperations and activities.

Despite the funds decrease, LMAC accomplishedthe following activities:

■ Secured a grant from the Republic of Chinafor victims of cluster munitions valued atUSD $190,000. The grant was mainlymedical equipment to help victims ofcluster munitions and mines andunexploded ordnance

■ Secured a grant USD $90,000 from theMarshall Legacy Institutes (MLI) and partnerAmerican Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) fora project implemented to meet the nationalpriorities in VA under the supervision of theLMAC and with coordination of theUniversity of Balamand. It was spent formedical assistance to 30 landmine andExplosive Remnant of War survivors and tofund a computer literacy training coursedesigned for 60 landmine/ ERW survivors.

An evaluation survey was conducted to evaluatethe above mentioned activity and theparticipants’ feedback was very positive andsummarized as the following:

Beneficiary survey of physical rehabilitationservice:

■ their needs were taken into consideration■ the practitioner made sure that their

prosthetic fits well and that it i s comfortableand satisfactory

■ the delivery of the service was performedwithin a reasonable amount of time

■ it is adequate for their needs and that itsappearance and workmanship is to theirexpectation

Beneficiary survey of the computer trainingsessions:Positive results in terms of their satisfactionconcerning the information and the skillsacquired


■ Participants reported being able to identifyparts of the computer and how to use it; howto use the internet and email services on lineand their confidence in asking questionsabout computers to expand their skills.

■ The participants’ expectations about thetraining were met

■ They have gained valuable knowledge■ The timing of the sessions was adequate,

and the length was appropriate

b. 2012 Achievements for Output 2:■ In 2012, further efforts were undertaken to

ensure eligible victims are provided with adisability card and that the law 220/2000was further implemented. Work is currentlyunderway to review the requirements set bythe Ministry of Social Affairs for eligibility ofdisability cards and to compare them withthe LMAC database of victims to see whysome victims are not receiving their card.

■ Information campaigns are also underwayto inform victims of their rights andencourage them to apply for a disability card.

■ Providing medical assistance to almost 50ERW victims.

c. Challenges related to Output 2:Despite the best efforts by the National SteeringCommittee on Mine Victims Assistance,challenges remain to ensure its objectives are metand the needs of all victims and their families’needs are fulfilled:

■ Clearly, multiple landmine and UXO injuriesabsorb valuable medical resources andpersonnel. Surgical operations, aftercare,physiotherapy, limb replacement, andpsychosocial counseling are demandingand expensive provisions for anygovernment to provide, even if assisted bythe international aid community. The costsare considerable but the strains on anoverburdened and poorly functioninghealth service will be significant and willrequire almost complete external support if

victims are to receive even the mostrudimentary assistance.

■ In the past few years, the majority ofresources provided for victim assistancehave supported medical and physicalrehabilitation initiatives. But there has neverbeen enough of such support and currentlyother additional requirements have beenidentified. The needs of landmine survivorsare long term, and although various NGOsare working to provide assistance, ideallydisability issues should be dealt with withinthe mandate of the national governmentministries of health, education,employment/labour and social welfare.

■ Currently there is a lack of funding given forthe continuous follow-up needs of victimsdespite a reduction in the number ofcasualties. According to the NationalStrategy 2011-2020, USD $1.025 millionshould be allocated to MVA each year. In2012, a total of USD $ 280,000 was receivedfor MVA assistance. The government’scontribution includes emergency care,hospitalization and medical treatmentprovided free of charge. This overallcontribution for 2012 falls very short of thefunding target and resulted in resources notbeing available to provide key servicesincluding reintegration of victims, advocacyon implementation of disability laws, andmicrocredit for victims and other forms ofsocio-economic rehabilitation.

■ Lack of implementation of established lawsin particular the national law 220/2000“Access and Rights of the People withDisability” in addition to this Lebanon has yetto ratify the International Convention on theRights of Persons with Disabilities.

■ Difficulties in changing society’s behaviortowards victims.

At the field level, LMAC, with its partners, hasproduced tangible results that continue toimprove the safety and livelihoods ofthousands of people.


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a. Post-ClearanceBeyond the threats Landmines, clustermunitions, and ERWs present to human life,they also cause serious obstacles tosustainable development and humansecurity. They affect a broad range ofdevelopment sectors in particular theagricultural sector in Lebanon, given thatmuch of the contaminated land is located inagricultural areas and the presence oflandmines or cluster munitions prevents theproductive use of the land.

A post clearance project supported by the USDepartment of State, Office of Weapons

Removal and Abatement (WRA) waslaunched in January 2012 and stopped inDecember 2012 of which 683 Clustermunitions strikes were cleared since theIsraeli Enemy hostilities in July 2006.

The project aimed at compiling an all-inclusive knowledge base of post clearanceimpact and lessons learned that will supportfuture planning effectively, improvingdecision making and reporting while,assisting in furthering the analysis ofclearance that evaluates the socio-economicimpact of all Lebanon’s explosive remnantsof war (ERW) and land release activities.

B. Output 3: Mine Action Contributes to socio economic use throughland release

a. Post-Clearanceb. Non-Technical Surveyc. Training and Lessons Learnedd. Overview of Mine Clearance in Lebanone. Cluster Munitions Clearancef. Dangerous Areas Clearanceg. Landmine Clearanceh. Achievements related to Output 3i. Challenges related to Output 3

Output indicators

Accurate and comprehensiveknowledge of contaminationincluding its socio economicaspects

Cluster Bomb Strikes areascleared

Dangerous Areas (booby trapsand nuisance mines) cleared

Mine Fields (excluding theBlue Line) cleared

Blue Line Minefields cleared

Area

PostClearance

Non-technicalsurvey

Trainingand LessonsLearned

Cluster MunitionsClearanceDangerous AreaClearance

LandmineClearance

Blue Line Clearance

Output 3: Mine Action contributes to socio economic use through land releaseBaseline (2011)

● Post-clearance survey indicates that 97% of areascleared between 2006 and 2010 has beenimmediately put into use (73,5% agriculture; 20%housing; other include grazing land; public use;tourism and commerce)

● Non-technical, technical and data verification havebeen completed for the entire country except theBlue Line.

● Pilots conducted and lessons learned identified toinform operation the planning and execution ofdemining operations

67% cleared (July 2011)



0% cleared

Milestone 2013

● Lebanese Armed Forcesregiments have initiated Non-Technical Surveys and TechnicalSurveys of the Blue Line

● Data is updated on a needbasis

87% cleared

90% cleared

76% cleared

33% cleared


The chart above shows the number ofcleared and completed areas that wereput into use in 2012. In total, 80% of thelands release was used for agriculture.This means that locals in these affectedareas were finally able to use their landagain especially for agricultural use, whichthey had been unable to do for a numberof years while it was contaminated witheither landmines or cluster munitions.

b. Non-technical surveyThe Lebanese National Mine Action

Program benefits from acomprehensive identification ofcontaminated areas. Once defined, allSuspected Hazardous Areas aremarked and fenced and all newinformation is entered into the IMSMAdatabase. In 2011, the national non-technical survey was completed in allareas of Lebanon apart from the UN-delineated Blue Line, and all relevantdata has been systematically enteredinto the information managementsystem, IMSMA.

The national non-technical survey project wasundertaken in fourphases:

Phase Description

1 The non-technical survey started in August 2005 and ended in August 2006 hostilities.

2 Work on the non-technical survey resumed in February 2008 until July 2010 and wasundertaken in Mount Lebanon, North Lebanon, and Bekaa.

3 Started in July 2010 until October 2011 and work was completed in Southern Lebanonand Nabatiyeh. Following phase three, the non-technical survey of the whole ofLebanon, excluding the Blue Line, was completed in October 2011.

4 Started in October 2011 until February 2012with three teams from LAF. It involvedperforming a non-technical survey of the Blue Line and it is estimated that it will taketwo years with the same capacity and the same funding.

The dashboard of results is as following:


The table below shows the amount ofland in square meters that was set out fornon-technical survey during each phase.It shows that in each case additional landwas added to the initial size of the surveyarea as either discussions with locals orphysical inspection of the land made itclear the total size of the land requiringnon-technical survey was larger thanoriginally thought. The table also showsthe benefit of non-technical survey asmuch of the land was released in eachphase without requiring clearanceoperations, which means that much ofthe land was returned to the localssooner and with lower cost than ifclearance operations had beenundertaken for the entire area.

Table: Results of national non-technicalsurvey

Period

09/05/05-

06/07/06

25/02/08-

02/07/10

26/07/10-

14/10/10

17/10/11-

31/03/13

(Ongoing)

Phase

1

2

3

4

Total

No.

of

surveyed

sites

470

821

771

536

2,598

Initial

size (m2)

41,910,075

55,433,220

64,873,798

9,213,726

171,430,819

Added

size (m2)

1,260,998

17,717,494

800,466

218,300

19,997,258

Total

size (m2)

43,171,073

73,150,714

65,674,264

23,431,988

205,428,039

No.

of sites

requiring

clearance

operations

202

512

403

474

1,591

Area

requiring

clearance

operations

(m2)

2,356,244

30,313,060

15,754,022

4,028,654

52,451,980

No.

of sites

released

268

309

368

62

1,007

Area

of sites

released

(m2)

40,814,829

42,837,654

35,920,242

19,403,444

138,976,169

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c. Training and Lessons LearnedLMAC constantly strives to improve theplanning and execution of the deminingoperations in Lebanon. Two aspects havecurrently been identified that could helpperformance, build national capacity andimprove costs:

■ All organizations working with LMAC,whether they are national or international,have provided their own individual trainingprograms for their staff based on theNational Mine Action Standards (NMAS).

■ Within the LMAC, there has been a driveto build national capacity within theinternational NGOs working ondemining as this can also help drivecosts down. . In 2011, two fieldoperations officers (FOO) from DCAwere turned into national positions, andin 2012 DCA turned the OperationManager into national position. MAGalso turned one of its Technical FieldManagers (TFM) into a national positionin 2011 out of a total of four TFMs. InNPA, only the Programme Manager isinternational. HI will turn the OperationManager in 2013 into national position.

The objective is to have all TFMs/FOOsas national staff by 2013.

d. Overview of Mine Clearance in LebanonThe table below provides a summary of themine and cluster munitions contamination inLebanon, setting out how large the initialcontamination was when clearanceoperations began in 1990, how much hasbeen cleared by the end of 2012 and howmuch land remains to be cleared. In additionto providing the land surface area, the numberof identified locations is also provided.

In 2012, demining operations wereimplemented by 7 national and internationalNGOs totaling 28 Battle Area Clearance Teams(BAC), 6 Mine Clearance Teams (MCT), 1Mechanical Team (Mech) and 3 Non-Technical Survey Teams (NTS). LMAC, throughRMAC, also coordinates and tasks the 7 LAFteams of mine detection dogs’ pairs, and 2mechanical demining teams, and 2 LAFengineering regiment to complement thework of NGO demining teams. In addition the2 LMAC Sampling Teams worked under RMACinstructions.

Table: Summary of Mines and cluster munitions contamination in Lebanon as of end 2012

Summary of Mines and Cluster munitions contamination in Lebanon as of end 2012

Type Initial Cleared RemainedAll Minefields 2,282 1,630 652Surface 43,184,607 20,792,090 22,392,517Blue Line Minefields 908 21 887Surface 7,584,031 478,313 7,105,718Mined Area 1,079 970 109Surface 129,462,204 91,823,004 37,639,200Dangerous area/Without CBU 2,419 2,079 340Surface 44,748,926 29,311,949 15,436,977CBU 1,309 861 448Surface 55,565,369 37,831,114 17,734,255Total 7,997 5,561 2,436Total/Sqm 280,545,137 180,236,470 100,308,667


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e. Cluster munitions clearanceFor cluster munitions strike areas,overall approximately 68% of that landhas been released so far for use by theaffected community.

The chart below shows the size of thearea (km²) that has been cleared ofcluster munitions every year until 2012.It reached a peak in 2008 because of theincrease in funding in the aftermath ofthe 2006 hostilities. In 2012, clustermunitions completions covered asurface area of 2.836 km² in twoprovinces within Lebanon and 4,557

cluster munitions devices and 1,259UXOs were destroyed. The size of thesurface area of the BAC teams’ activitiesis larger than the completion area shownin the table below because sometimesre-clearance of the same area must beundertaken either due to rapidresponse, or because surface clearancewas undertaken in that area before thesub-surface clearance had to beundertaken in the same area. Inaddition, all BAC teams must clear aminimum of 50 meters beyond the lastcluster munitions found, which is calleda ‘fade out’.


The table below shows that most of theCBU completions in 2012 were sub-surface. In the immediate aftermath ofthe 2006 Israeli hostilities, clearance ofcluster munitions became the priorityand a very rapid clearance rate wasachieved during 2007-2008 as the focuswas on emergency work involvingsurface clearance of cluster munitions,ignoring the sub-surface contamination.While this was a useful hazard reductionprocess given the emergency context atthe time, more systematic sub-surfaceclearance is now being undertaken toremove all hazards, as required by theConvention on Cluster Munitions. Thisprocess is much slower, which accountsfor the decrease in the size of the surfacearea of land released since 2008 and thedecrease in the number of remnantsdestroyed in 2012.

There remain some cluster munitionsaffected areas in Lebanon where there iscurrently no work being undertaken,including around Baalbeck in the Bekaavalley, because they are not currentlyconsidered priority areas.

The National Strategy 2011 – 2020 has setthe deadline for Lebanon to be free ofcluster munitions within five years, by 2016.Of the remaining 18.7 km² that has yet to becleared, 55% is described as high impact,35% as medium impact, and 10% as lowimpact. While the Convention on ClusterMunitions gives Lebanon until 2020 tocomplete clearance and destruction ofcluster munitions remnants, LMAC aims tocomplete its obligation by 2016 given thehigh impact of the contaminated land andthe desire for Lebanon to become one ofthe first affected countries to become freeof cluster munitions.

Table: CBU completions by provinceand method in 2012

CBU Completions by Province in 2012

Province Surface Area (m2)

Al-Beqaa 0North Lebanon 0Mount Lebanon 0South Lebanon 2,068,421Nabatiyah 768,309Grand Total 2,836,730


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f. Dangerous Area Clearance:Dangerous areas refer to all areas otherthan cluster munitions strike areas thatare suspected of containing unexplodedordnance. For dangerous areasexcluding cluster munitions strike areas,68% of the land has been cleared so far.

Currently, LMAC has no capacity fordangerous area clearance other thancluster munitions clearance becausecluster munitions clearance remains thepriority. However, unexploded ordnance(UXO) clearance is currently undertakenby rapid response teams on a case bycase basis whenever a call is receivedthat a specific area might becontaminated by unexploded ordnance.

These rapid response teams areoperational 24 hours a day as discussedabove. The National Strategy 2011-2020envisages that capacity for dangerousarea should be increased to twodedicated teams, as CBU clearance iscompleted, to have Lebanon free of allUXOs, and has set a deadline of 2016 forclearance of dangerous areas other thancluster munitions strike areas.

g. Minefield clearance:Overall, approximately 48% of the totalland suspected to be contaminatedfrom landmines, including bothminefields and mined areas butexcluding the Blue Line, has beencleared or released to date.

In 2012, the demining activities of theManual and Mechanical demining teamscovered a surface area of 156,000 squaremeters in six provinces within Lebanon and5,984 landmines were destroyed. The sizeof the surface area of the deminers’activities was larger than the clearance areashown above because sometimes re-clearance of the same area was undertakeneither due to rapid response, or becausesurface clearance was undertaken in thatarea before the sub-surface clearance wasundertaken in the same area.


In January 2012, two Manual ClearanceTeams from Handicap Internationalbegan work on demining inNorthLebanon (Ash-Shimal) and continuedworking in 2012. Also two ManualClearance Teams from Danish ChurchAid began work in Mount Lebanon(Jabal-Lubnan) in 2011 and wereincreased to three in 2012. This markeda significant achievement as previouslythere were no demining teams at workin these areas. This had a socio-economic impact on the citizens’ lives inthose areas, as they will be able to usetheir land productively again. It has alsohad a positive impact on tourism inLebanon as visitors will now be able tovisit these areas freely.

The table below shows the size of thesurface area where landmine clearanceoperations were undertaken in 2012 byprovince and clearance method. Most of

the clearance of landmines wasundertaken manually as there arecurrently six manual clearance teams(MCT) operating in Lebanon while therewas only one mechanical team in 2012.Some of the land was also released fromthe completion of the non-technicalsurvey. All clearances in 2012 wereundertaken in land considered secondpriority, which mainly includesagricultural land.

Table: Minefield clearance by provinceand method in 2012

Minefield Clearance by Province in 2012

Province Surface Area (m2)

Al-Beqaa 0North Lebanon 61,800Mount Lebanon 25,842South Lebanon 65,746Grand Total 153,388


There remain some landmine-affectedareas in Lebanon where there iscurrently no work being undertaken,including Tannourine. Clearance hasnot been undertaken yet in such areasbecause of lack of funding which wouldallow for more demining teams andbecause such areas are mostly listed asthird priority which will be tackled oncesecond priority land has beencompleted. However LMAC willmanage to deploy one or two teamsfrom the existing DCA and HI teams toJeita and Tannourine in 2013. Inaddition the clearance on the Blue LineMinefields has yet to be undertaken and

is pending a political decision by theGovernment of Lebanon.

The National Strategy 2011 – 2020 has setthe deadline for the release of all minefieldswithin 10 years, by 2020. This target is basedon a capacity of 45 Manual ClearanceTeams, 2 Mechanical Teams, and 9 two-dogdemining teams with the assumption thatadequate resources will be available. The10-year deadline is in keeping withLebanon’s decision to implement mineaction “in the spirit’ of compliance with theInternational Convention to Ban Landmines,even though it is not currently in a positionto sign the Treaty”.

h. Achievements related to Output 3:■ National non-technical survey was

completed in all areas of Lebanonapart from the UN-delineated BlueLine.

■ National non-technical survey of theUN-delineated Blue Line begun andis due to be completed within a two-year period.

■ Approximately 382 sites were

surveyed in 2012 and 18.16 km² ofarea released in 2012 through non-technical survey.

■ Progress on cluster munitionscompletions continued steadily in2012 despite lacking full capacity asset out in the National Strategy. In2012, cluster munitions completionscovered a surface area of 2.836 km²in two provinces within Lebanon and

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4,557 cluster munitions devices and1,259 UXOs were destroyed.

■ Cluster munitions clearance capacity wasincreased in 2011 with two extra BattleArea Clearance Teams from NGOs tomake a total of 28 BAC Teams, althoughthis still falls short of the requiredcapacity as set out in the NationalStrategy to reach full clearance by 2016.

■ Progress on landmine clearancecontinued steadily in 2012 despitelacking full capacity as set out in theNational Strategy. In 2012, thedemining activities of the Manual andMechanical demining teams covered asurface area of 156,000 square metersin six provinces within Lebanon and5,984 landmines were destroyed.

■ A post clearance project funded by WRAwas launched in January 2012 andstopped in December 2012 of which683 Cluster munitions strikes werecleared since the Israeli Enemyhostilities in July 2006.

■ The project ensured that genderconsiderations are incorporated into theproject outputs, and into mine actionwork in general by ensuring that bothmen and women of different ages andbackgrounds are involved in thedecision making process regarding theprioritising of mine action projects, theland release process (investigation,decision-making and handover) andMRE and MVA priority setting. Inaddition, the project sought to achieve agender balance of highly qualifiednational and international staff andencouraged international and nationalmine action agencies in Lebanon toadvocate equal employment

i. Challenges related to Output 3:Despite the best efforts by all deminingteams, challenges remain to ensure theclearance targets are met:

■ Lack of funding:◆ For Lebanon to reach its target of being

free of cluster munitions by 2016 asrequired by the Convention on ClusterMunitions, the National Strategy statesthat 30 BAC Teams are needed eachyear but according to the new currentsituation and new LMAC analysis theminimum teams required is 34 BACTeams.In 2011, 28 BAC teams wereoperational, which leaves a shortfall of6 teams or of USD 2.52 million infunding terms. To compensate for thisyear’s deficit, additional funding will beneeded in future years to stay on tracktowards the 2016 target.

◆ Due to lack of funding, FondationSuisse de Deminage (FSD) was obligedto stop its operations in Lebanonreducing the BAC teams to 25.

◆ For Lebanon to reach its target ofbeing free of landmines by 2020, theNational Strategy states that 45Manual Clearance Teams are neededeach year. In 2012, only 18 ManualClearance Teams (9 from theLebanese Army) were operational,which leaves a shortfall of 27 teams orof USD $11.34 million in funding term,if Blue Mine clearance were also to beundertaken. To make up for this deficitin 2012, additional funding beyondcurrent levels will be needed to ensureLebanon can reach the 2020 target.

■ Much of the clearance will continue tobe sub-surface, and therefore theprogress of the BAC teams willcontinue to be slower than previousteams undertaking surface clearancein previous years.

■ The remaining areas that arecontaminated with landmines areoften in more remote and difficult toaccess terrain, which has an impact onperformance.


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C. Output 4: Compliance to and promotion of the universalization of the CCM andother relevant international instruments

a. Resource Mobilizationb. High-Level Coordinationc. Cooperation and Technical

Assistance to Affected Statesd. Technical Assistance to

LMAPe. Advocacyf. Compliance with Conventionon Cluster Munitionsg. Achievements related to

Output 4h. Challenges related to

Output 4

Output indicators

Resources mobilised allow for theimplementation of the strategy

Resources allocations arecoordinated and managed

Technical assistance for theimplementation of victimassistance, clearance and minerisk education is provided byLebanon to affected states

Technical assistance for theimplementation of victimassistance, clearance and minerisk education is provided to theLMAP

Advocacy towards theuniversalization of the CCM, inparticular from the region, isundertaken

Compliance with transparencymeasures (article 7) is in place

Area

ResourceMobilization

High-LevelCoordination

TechnicalAssistance toAffected States

TechnicalAssistance toLMAP

Advocacy

CompliancewithConvention onClusterMunitions

Output 4: Compliance to and promotion of the universalisation of the CCM Baseline (2011)

● Estimate cost of the implementation of the strategyis based on comprehensive data contamination

●Government, private sector and internationaldonors’ current pledges do no cover the cost ofimplementing the strategy

●The inter-ministerial committee for mine actionexists under the mine action policy.

●The International Support Group exists under themine action policy;

●Lebanon specific technical expertise and LMAPlessons learned can be made available to affectedstates

●LAF training facilities are available for regional andinternational exchange of experience and expertisewith other mine action programmes

●LMAP management and technical capacity gaps notsystematically identified

●Opportunity to learn from MAP implemented inother countries by INGOs

●Lebanon presidency of the CCM and host of the 2MSP inSeptember 2011

●As of July 2011 a total of 109 states have joined theConvention, of which 3 from the region as States Parties.

● The coordination structure for mine action isdefined in the mine action policy

Milestone 2013

● International assistance allow for theimplementation of the first tranche of thestrategy

●The Inter-ministerial Advisory Committeefor mine action and the InternationalSupport Group are re-enacted;

●The mine action policy is reviewed andrevised as necessary;

●A mechanism for managing financialresources allocated to managementservices is designed

●Costing of the services provided by the MoH,MoEHE and MOSA regarding VA, MRE andsocio-economic rehabilitation is undertaken

●Regional workshop on prostheticdevelopment in 2012

●Training on information management, IMSMAestablished and provided to other mineaction programmes personnel, in particular inArabic and French

●LMAP management and technical capacitygaps systematically identified

●Capacity development plan identifiesinternational technical assistancerequirements

● International training and participation toexchange of experience

●More States, in particular from the region,join the CCM, as a result of Lebanon’sadvocacy

●A focal point for the follow up of theimplementation of the CCM is designated

●All concerned ministries are aware of theirroles and responsibilities

●Article 7 reports are accurate and submittedon time


The table above sets out how muchfunds were needed for 2012 in eacharea in order to achieve the objectivesset out in the National Strategy 2011 -2020. This budget sets out the needs inaddition to the contributions from theGovernment of Lebanon, which aredetailed in the table below. As can be

seen, for 2012, there was a shortfall ofUSD $21,133,623.05. The fundsavailable for Mine Victims Assistanceand Mine Risk Education wereparticularly low. It is noteworthy thatLebanon should secure proper fundingin order to meet its internationalobligations.

a. Resource Mobilization

Table: Budget per year as set out in Lebanon National Strategy 2011 - 2020

Table: Contributions from the Government of Lebanon (GoL) in 2012

Government of Lebanon (GoL) Estimated Contribution 2012Activity Contribution (USD)Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)Rapid Response (Full Coverage) No EstimationNon Technical Survey $11,025Dangerous Areas Demining $700,000Mechanical Demining (50% of the need) $700,000MDD (100%) $350,000LMAC LAF Employees (Salaries and Maintenance) $1,890,000Minefield Demining (25%) $5,040,000TOTAL $8,691,025MoSA, MoHMRE/MVA $250,000Total GoL Contribution $8,941,025

National Strategy 2011-2020Yearly Budget

Community RiskManagement(Mine Risk Education) $100,000 $20,000Mine Victim Assistance $1,025,000 180,000Land Release $32,000,000 $11,791,376.95Total $33,125,000 $11,991,376.95Total Shortfall for 2012 $21,133,623.05

Area Amount needed 2012 in additionto GoL Contribution (USD)

Contribution received 2012 inaddition to GoL Contribution (USD)


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Table: funds administered by NGOs in 2012

Donor Contributions 2012

DonorNorway- Norwegian Ministry of Foreign AffairsNorway- Norwegian Ministry of Foreign AffairsNorway - Norwegian Public TelevisionSpanish GovernmentAECID (Spain)US Department of State (PM/WRA)US Department of State (PM/WRA)US Department of State (PM/WRA)US Department of State (PM/WRA)US Department of State (PM/WRA)AusAidAusAidEuropean UnionEuropean UnionEuropean UnionEU / Agence Française de développement (AFD)German GovernmentKingdom of Saudi ArabiaKingdom of Saudi ArabiaKingdom of Saudi ArabiaBelgium (Fund managed by UNDP)Italy (Fund managed by UNDP)ITF SpanishITF GermanITF/U.S Department of StateTOTAL

Implementing NGOMines Advisory Group (MAG)Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)Mines Advisory Group (MAG)Danish Church Aid (DCA)Mines Advisory Group (MAG)Danish Church Aid (DCA)Swiss Foundation for Demining (FSD)Handicap International (HI)Lebanon Demining Organization (LDO)Mines Advisory Group (MAG)Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)Mines Advisory Group (MAG)Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)Danish Church Aid (DCA)Swiss Foundation for Demining (FSD)Mines Advisory Group (MAG)Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)Danish Church Aid (DCA)Swiss Foundation for Demining (FSD)Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA)Danish Church Aid (DCA)Danish Church Aid (DCA)Danish Church Aid (DCA)

Contribution (USD)$1,087,074.00$1,067,000.00$874,998.00$604,799.00$9,074.00$243,927.00$475,264.00$300,000.95$458,434.00$458,434.00$770,520.00$367,667.00$499,878.00$687,167.00$41,031.00$312,243.00$573,650.00$48,000.00$459,000.00$434,000.00$912,214.00$450,000.00$92,821.00$300,872.00$263,309.00$11,791,376.95


The Lebanese Government contributessalaries, equipment, and the running costsof the LAF regiment two engineeringcompanies, LAF manual clearance teams,dog teams, and mechanical machinery,and salaries, equipment, and running costsfor LMAC and RMAC. This contribution tomine action is estimated conservatively atabout USD $8 million.

In addition, the Ministry of Health providesmedical care to survivors and the Ministryof Social Affairs provides socio-economicrehabilitation services. The cost of theseservices is being undertaken to provide anaccurate figure but it is currently estimatedat around USD $250,000.

Additional resource mobilization isundertaken conjointly by the LMACDirector and operators. As can be seen inthe tables above, the following donors arecurrently funding mine action in Lebanoneither through UNDP or the LMAP NGOpartners: Belgium, the European Union,France, Germany, Italy, Kingdom of SaudiArabia, Norway, Spain, and the UnitedStates.

b. High-level CoordinationThe Inter-ministerial Advisory Committeeand the International Support Group wereestablished by government decree in 2007.The Inter-Ministerial Advisory Committeeon Mine Action was established to create aparticipatory and transparent method ofproviding strategic priorities and overviewof mine action. It is composed of theMinistry of Defense as Chair, the Ministry ofthe Interior and Municipalities, the Ministryof Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, theMinistry of Education, the Ministry of PublicWorks and Transport, the Council forDevelopment and Reconstruction, and theLebanon Mine Action Center.

The International Support Group (ISG),which consists of senior representativesfrom UNDP, and Ambassadors of donorcountries, fulfills the role of macro-leveldonor coordination and helps to mobilizeresources.

The International Support Group was re-activatedin December 2011 following aperiod of inactivity due to the politicalsituation prevailing in Lebanon over the lastyears. The Inter-Ministerial AdvisoryCommittee is not yet activated. Both theInter-Ministerial Advisory Committee andthe ISG allow for better integration of mineaction at the higher level, opportunities topool resources from other governmentsectors serviced by the Lebanon mineaction program, and also improve resourcemobilization amongst internationaldonors.

c. Cooperation and TechnicalAssistance toother Affected StatesLebanon succeeded in channeling all mineaction funds to alleviate the burden of theproblem on its people, thus documentingsuccess stories, whether at the local levelwith the clearance and victim assistanceinterventions or at the regional level withthe interchange programs with Arabcountries.

Lebanon made sure to fully utilize itscapacity in sharing knowledge and skillswith countries in need. Over the years of itsoperations, LMAC, in cooperation withUNDP, has been keen on building localcapacities of staff and has gained thereputation of a focal point whose advice isbeing sought out for best practices in theregion. In a short period of time, Lebanonhas come to play a core role in the MENAregion. This achievement would not havebeen possible without the teams’


competence and the extensive capacitybuilding provided to them over the pastyears (Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)trainings in Denmark, InformationManagement Systems of Mine ActionTrainings in Geneva, Senior Managementcourses at James Madison University, etc.).Lebanon has been providing technical aswell as operational advice to Arabic-speaking countries, in cooperation withGeneva International Centre forHumanitarian Demining (GICHD). To note,Jordan, Yemen, Sudan and Iraq havebenefited from capacity building initiativesrun by Lebanon.

During 2012, an Arabic OutreachConference was organized in Dubai inwhich all mine-affected Arab countriescame together to discuss coordinationefforts and agree on the way forward.Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Sudan,Mauritania, Iraq, Palestine, Morocco, andAlgeria participated in this conference.There was a general agreement on theneed to Arabize the support documentsand training targeting the Arab region.Lebanon stood out as a country whichhas mastered the necessary know-howand is well capable of sharing andtransferring its expertise in all mine-action related fields, including Quality,Operations, Information Management,and Mine Risk Education. The LMACserved as an exemplary centerdemonstrating how LMAC hasprogressed with humanitarian deminingand how the center is serving as anumbrella for local as well as internationalorganizations working in Lebanon.

Due to the key role played by Lebanon,participants unanimously agreed thatLebanon should organize an InformationManagement workshop in December

2013 hosting all Arab countries, similar tothe workshop previously organized in theCedars in September 2012. The Cedarworkshop was considered a great initiativeby all participants and especially by GICHD.

Providing Assistance to the Libyan MineAction CenterDelegates from the Libyan Mine ActionCenter visited Lebanon and met withLMAC on February 1st, 2013 for a seriesof training workshops and informationexchanges. Libya, like Lebanon, is one ofthe world’s most heavily minedcountries and LMAC will be sharingexperiences and lessons learnt over thepast 25 years of mine action to assist thedevelopment of mine action in theMENA region.

During the visit, the Libyan delegation wasexposed to all fields of the mine actionwork, from mine clearance operations tothe administration of the mine actionsector as a whole. In the near future, thedelegation will undertake trainingworkshops in areas such as land releaseand landmine area reduction, informationmanagement in mine action, theapplication of mine action technology,

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mine action accreditation and the mine riskeducation and reduction approach.

The LMAC Director B.G Odeimi said thatthis was a great opportunity for Lebanonand LMAC to show the internationalcommunity their capacity and achievementsin mine and explosive remnants of war(ERW) clearance. “This is the fourthinternational collaboration we have been apart of since 2010, proving yet again howsuccessful LMAC is at conducting training,matching international standards,” he said.“It really shows that LMAC is a world leaderin the international mine actioncommunity and we are excited to besharing the information and experienceswe have gained over 25 years of mineaction with other countries that are alsodealing with the issues of landmine andERW contamination.”

LMAC believes that international knowledgesharing is the key enabling innovative solutionto the landmine and ERW problem that is stillthreatening the lives of so many people aroundthe world. LMAC welcomes all delegationsnationally and internationally to share theseexperiences in the mine action.

d. Technical Assistance to LMAP:During 2012,The Lebanon Mine ActionProgramme began a review of its owntechnical expertise and in some casesparticipated in international training toimprove its expertise. This included:

■ Three LMAC staff attended a QualityAssurance training in Jordan.

■ The Head of Information and the ITand GIS Officer from LMAC undertookthe second and third administrationinformation management for IMSMAcourse at GICHD in Switzerland toassist in their preparations for the

Lebanon becoming a regional focalpoint on mine action informationmanagement.

■ The Head of Quality ManagementSection at the LMAC attended QualityManagement Course in Geneva-GICHD.

e. AdvocacyInternational TreatiesLebanon was one of the first countries tosign the International Convention onCluster Munitions (CCM), with 93 otherscountries, on the 3rd of December in Oslo.Lebanon’s parliament approved ratificationof the Convention on August 17, 2010allowing Lebanon to ratify the internationalconvention banning cluster munitions onNovember 5, 2010. In addition, Lebanonpresided and hosted the convention inSeptember 2011. Lebanon as a state partyto the convention is obliged to clear allcluster munitions by 2020. In addition,Lebanon has signed the UN Convention onthe Rights of people with Disability whileadvocacy to ratify the convention andenforce the law 220/2000, “Access andRights of the People with Disability”, is stillan important aspect of mine action.

f. Compliance with the Convention onCluster MunitionsIn October 2011, Lebanon’s first report onthe implementation of the Convention onCluster Munitions, as set out in Article 7 ofthe CCM, was successfully submitted tothe Secretary-General within the deadlineof 180 days from the entry into force ofthe Convention.

In addition, efforts are underway toimplement the Convention into nationallegislation. A legal consultant is beingrecruited to perform a mapping and reviewof all relevant national legislation in order to


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present a set of recommendations on anychanges that must be undertaken at thenational level to ensure nationalimplementation of the Convention onCluster Munitions. This process will becompleted in 2012.

Handing over the CCM Presidency-Lebanon passes the mantle to NorwayActing as the president of the Conventionsince the Second Meeting of States Parties(2MSP) that was held in Beirut lastSeptember 2012, Lebanon proudly andactively promoted the Treaty.

The work of the Lebanese Presidency wasbased upon the series of decisions taken byStates Parties during the closing day of the2MSP. To this end, Lebanon convened tenmeetings of the Coordination Committee,in addition to three informal open-endedconsultations.

On September 11th, 2012, Lebanonhanded over presidency to Norway at theThird Meeting of States Parties in Oslo.

Universalization of the CCMThroughout Lebanon’s Presidency,Lebanon promoted the universalization ofthe CCM in various international andregional meetings.

In April 2012, Lebanon convened anIntersessional Meeting that witnessed ahigh level of participation from signatoriesand non-signatories alike. From 16 to 19April 2012, 346 delegates from 45 StatesParties, 22 signatories, 12 non-party States,and 23 Organizations participated in themeeting, where States not yet party to theConvention were encouraged to take allnecessary steps to ratify or otherwiseaccede to the Convention as soon aspossible.

In May 2012, Lebanon participated in theregional meeting for the Sub-Saharan AfricanStates hosted by Ghana in partnership withTogo and Zambia, to encourageuniversalization.

In addition, efforts are underway to implementthe Convention into national legislation. A legalconsultant wasrecruited to perform a mappingand review of all relevant national legislation inorder to present a set of recommendations onany changes that must be undertaken at thenational level to ensure nationalimplementation of the Conventionon ClusterMunitions.

g. Achievements related to Output 4:■ Resource mobilization efforts amounted

to USD $11,791,376.95 in support of mineaction in Lebanon in 2012.

■ The Government of Lebanon alsoprovided a contribution ofapproximately USD $8 million to coversalaries and running costs of the LAFengineering regiment, LMAC andRMAC, as well as mechanicalequipment.

■ The International Support Group (ISG),which fulfills the role of macro-leveldonor coordination and helps tomobilize resources, was convened inSeptember 2012.

■ LMAC demonstrated its commitment toprovide technical support to affectedstates becoming IMSMA focal point inthe Arab region, to provide high qualityand customized mine actioninformation management support toArabic-speaking countries. It alsoprovided technical support to severaldelegations on MRE and MVA.

■ The Lebanon Mine Action Programmealso began a review of its own technicalexpertise and in some casesparticipated in international training to


goal to be free from Cluster Munitions by2016, Lebanon had to clear theremaining 17.83 million meter square ofcontaminated area. Factoring in theannual clearance average since 2002 of3,31 million meter square (securingyearly 25 demining teams), indicatesthat the required time to clear theremaining areas would be closed to 6years. To reach LMAC’s clearance goal inthe 4-year time frame, increasedcontributions of human resources,physical and financial support will berequired.

■ Total funds needed for 2011, in additionto the Government of Lebanoncontributions, was USD $33,125,000.However, only USD $11,791,376.95 wasmobilized with focus on clustermunitions clearance, which left afunding shortfall of USD$21,333,623.05. Therefore, currentpledges do not cover the costs ofimplementing the National Strategywhich forecasts implementation of thefirst tranche of the strategy by 2013.This could negatively affect theprovision of essential services for minevictims and advocacy forimplementation of their rights. It couldalso hamper Mine Risk Education andclearance activities, both of which couldlead to an increase in casualties.

■ There is some concern that fundingover the coming years might be limitedand difficult to secure because of thegrowing competition for financialresources in the broader peace andsecurity field.

■ The current wave of uprising in the Arabregion may hamper universalizationefforts as States are currently focusingtheir attention on more pressingpolitical concerns.

improve and expand its expertise andknow-how.

■ Throughout Lebanon’s Presidency,Lebanon promoted the universalization ofthe CCM in various international andregional meetings.

■ In May 2012, Lebanon participated in theregional meeting for the Sub-SaharanAfrican States hosted by Ghana inpartnership with Togo and Zambia, toencourage universalization.

h. Challengesrelated to Output 4:■ Currently Lebanon is bound by the

Convention on Cluster Munitions and hasto ensure a sustained pace of clustermunitions clearance to comply with itsobligations, therefore this remains apriority for the LMAC. For Lebanon to reach its

In 2013, LMAC will continue to worktowards the objectives set out in the 2013milestone of the National Strategy 2011 -2020, while remaining dependent onincreased funding to achieve the objectives:

■ Progress on Cluster bomb strike areaswill continue.

■ Capacity for Dangerous areas (boobytraps and nuisance mines) clearancewill be provided.

■ Progress on Mine field clearance(excluding Blue Line) will continue.

■ LMAC is undertaking an integration ofthe training programs provided to thedemining teams in 2012, so that allteams receive the same trainingprogram.

■ With adequate provisions, LMAChopes to develop guidelines offeringbaseline recommendations for


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D. Output 5: A sustainable capacity to manage residual risk isestablished

E. Future Plans

a. Exit Strategyb. Challenges related to Output 5

Output indicators

A sustainable and adequatestructure to manage mineaction at inter-ministerial andprogramme implementationlevels is in place

Area

ExitStrategy

Output 5: A sustainable capacity to manage residual risks is establishedBaseline (2011)

● Resource management and higherlevel coordination structure not inplace

● LMAP execution body, LMAC, isfunctional with limited internationalsupport, final structure to be identified

Milestone 2013

● Resource management andhigher level coordinationstructure designed

● LMAC management servicescosted and funded; capacitydevelopment plan developedand implemented; exit strategyfor international supportdeveloped

a. Exit Strategy:Work is currently ongoing to develop acapacity development plan that will enablean exit strategy for international support tobe put in place.

b. Challenges related to Output 5:■ The development of an exit strategy for

international support is dependent uponensuring adequate resources are in placeto allow for the National Strategy 2011 –2020 to be implemented so that onlyresidual risk will remain by 2020.


emergency medical care, physicalrehabilitation, prosthetics, psychologicaland social support, and employment andeconomic integration for mine victims.

■ LMAC plans to prepare a national victim-assistance strategy, which will helpcoordinate work among stakeholders andprovide technical support for strategizingvictim-assistance efforts. The strategy isexpected to call for ensuring that existinghealthcare and social-service systems,rehabilitation programs, and legislativeand policy frameworks are adequate tomeet all citizens’ needs—includinglandmine survivors and deceased victims’family members.

■ Continued support was provided byUNDP to the implementation ofInformation Management System MineAction (IMSMA) new generation toenhance the availability of information forclearance related development planning.It is worth mentioning that the upgrade ofthe IMSMA will allow increased sharing of

information between stakeholders in theprogram, including local andinternational NGOs. While thisinformation has been systematically usedto inform planning of operation, morefocus will be put towards improvingcommunication with communities andincluding them in the planning andprioritization of mine action. With theUNDP support and the EU funding, twoofficers received IMSMA training inGeneva, Switzerland. They havesuccessfully accomplished the exams ofA1, A2, A3 and the Expert level allowingthem to build up the capacity of LMAC’sIMSMA section as well as that of NGOs’.This training has significantly improvedthe practice of validating and enteringdata into IMSMA.

■ To institutionalize Lebanon’s expertiseand facilitate the sustainable transfer ofexperience, a school will be established,supported by the French Army, throughwhich Lebanon will provide the regionwith training services tailored to theneeds of mine-action

■ The Second Transparency Report, asrequired by the Convention on ClusterMunitions, will be submitted by April2013.

■ Also for capacity-building, sustainability,legislation, public awareness, access forpersons with disabilities and datacollection. It is a comprehensive packageof which very little is currently beingfunded or carried out. This aspect of mineaction is a long-term challenge.There is aneed for a change towards a broaderunderstanding of mine action toincorporate these elements and to avoidthe current separation that existsbetween the short-term urgency ofremoving mines and the longer termrequirements of assisting victims.

This Programme is funded by the European Union

Lebanon Mine Action CenterChekri Ghanem Casern-Damascus Road I Fiyadiyeh-Lebanon

Tel: +961 5 956143 I Fax:+961 5 856192 I E-mail: [email protected] I Website: www.lebmac.org

Documents

Lebanon Mine Action Center · progressed in 2012. Cluster munitions completions covered a surface area of 2.83 km2 in three provinces within Lebanon and 4,546 cluster munitions devices