National Humanitarian Demining Association starts working in Ukraine

The Ukrainian National Humanitarian Demining Association (UNHDA) brings together all the relevant organizations capable of applying their efforts, energy and professionalism so as to structure and organize the humanitarian demining processes as quickly as possible and in a more professional way. It ensures inclusivity for industry producers, and operators who are currently accredited in Ukraine, as well as representatives of various government agencies involved in this process.

This was discussed during the relevant event at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

The key mission of the UNHDA is to expedite professional demining of the Ukrainian territories contaminated with explosive ordnance as well as to bring together all stakeholders in this field.

According to Mary Hakobyan, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, as of today the main directions for the UNHDA work are determined to include, first of all, joint efforts and communication with state authorities on the issues of humanitarian demining in Ukraine; development of recommendations as well as improvements for regulatory and legal support in the field of humanitarian demining; promoting the improvement of professional training of industry specialists; development, discussion and introduction of proposals on objectively justified types of classifiers, standards, operational reliability and safety; raising awareness, among the population and industry representatives themselves; promoting the formation of the market for humanitarian demining services; cooperation with international partners, foundations, charitable organizations in various directions and on various issues; representation of the industry participants’ interests at the international level; providing methodical assistance to the members of the association while eliminating shortcomings and difficulties in the work.

“The association is not a non-government or private organization – it is a platform for everyone. And we call and invite everyone to join us with their ideas, with their difficulties and problems that we each face at our own level while working in our fields of activity related to mine action or humanitarian demining,” she emphasized.

According to Mary Hakobyan, more than 20 organizations have already become members of the UNHDA, including operators, scientific and educational institutions.

The primary measures, with which the association began its activities, included the development of the state professional standard for a new profession – explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialist for humanitarian demining. Moreover, the training program for such specialist is already being created, with the following aspects being worked on: the methodology for training EOD specialists for humanitarian demining; preparing amendments and additions to the law of Ukraine on mine action and other legal documents ensuring industry cooperation with specialized state structures in implementing the mine action strategy; coordinating interactions with foreign specialized organizations, volunteer organizations, embassies and foundations to obtain funding and humanitarian aid to advance on this path.

In addition, Ihor Bezkaravainyi, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, noted that the establishment of the Ukrainian National Humanitarian Demining Association proves that the country has the prerequisites for creating a market for mine action activities.

“This is an initiative that comes from business, that comes from civil society. And actually, this is a prerequisite for the formation of this system, this market – the fact that the companies and civil society are interested in this topic. We currently have 32 mine countermeasures operators, and 19 of them are Ukrainian companies with LLC status. This indicates that Ukrainian business is entering the field, ready to invest resources, ready to invest money, develop this direction and the market,” he explained.

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