The United Nations’ International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is observed on April 4 each year. This day aims to raise awareness about landmines and progress toward their eradication.

Awareness programs and activities to mark the day take place in many countries around the world on April 4 every year. Activities for these awareness-raising events include photo exhibits, press conferences, film screenings, educational displays, and community chats. Public events may include public statements from land mine survivors, mine action theatre performances, and mine risk education demonstrations.

The day aims to raise awareness about landmines and progress toward their eradication. “Mine action” refers to a range of efforts to clear landmines and explosive remnants of war and to mark and fence off dangerous areas. It also includes assisting victims, teaching people how to remain safe in a mine-affected environment, advocating for universal participation in international treaties related to landmines, explosive remnants of war and their victims, and destroying landmines stockpiled by governments and non-state armed groups.

Public Life

The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is a global observance and not a public holiday.

Background

On 8 December 2005, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared that April 4 of each year would be officially proclaimed and observed as International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. It was first observed on April 4, 2006.

It called for continued efforts by states, with assistance from the UN and relevant organizations, to help establish and develop national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and explosive war remnants constitute a serious threat to the safety, health, and lives of people, or hinders social and economic development at the national and local levels.

According to the Landmine Monitor Report 2005, 84 countries were affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance, which together kill or maim between 15,000 and 20,000 adults and children annually. The UN works together with countries to find and destroy these devices. It also helps to provide various mine-action services in many countries.

Since 1995, the Organization of African Unity/ African Union (OAU/AU) has been involved in activities aimed at addressing the scourge of the anti-personnel landmines as well as other explosive remnants of war. In conjunction with partners such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the OAU/AU has held seminars to raise awareness of the landmines problem among Member States. As a result of these seminars, the 62nd Ordinary Session of the OAU Council of Ministers held from 21 to 23 June 1995, in Addis Ababa, adopted Resolution CM/Res 1593, in which it:

• Urged Member States to ratify, or accede to, the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW);
• • Further urged Member States defend an African common position throughout the 1996 CCW review process calling on a total ban on the manufacture and use of mines, the strengthening of the Convention’s implementation mechanisms, and the mobilization of resources for Mine Action, including victims’ assistance, and;

• Appealed to the international community to increase its assistance to affected Africa countries as well as African institutions supporting in victims’ assistance.

During the first continental meeting of experts that was held in May 1997, in Kempton Park, South Africa, under the theme “Towards a Landmine-Free Africa: The OAU and the Legacy of Anti-Personnel Mines ”a Plan of Action was adopted committing Member States to the elimination of all anti-personnel landmines in Africa and establishing the continent as an Anti- Personnel Landmine-Free Zone. The second continental meeting was held in September 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the theme “Kempton Park — Seven Years After”. The Conference adopted an African Common Position on anti-personnel mines in preparation for the First Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Convention (hereinafter referred to as the Mine Ban Treaty or APMBT), that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 29 November to 3 December 2004.

AU Member States are party to the international normative framework (see table 1) to prevent or regulate the use of weapons. Parties to these Conventions accept to be bound by explicit obligations, and for each one of these conventions States Parties have to submit reports on the progress made towards the enforcement of their legal obligations.

Since 1995, the Organization of African Unity/ African Union (OAU/AU) has been involved in activities aimed at addressing the scourge of the anti-personnel landmines as well as other explosive remnants of war. In conjunction with partners such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the OAU/AU has held seminars to raise awareness of the landmines problem among Member States. As a result of these seminars, the 62nd Ordinary Session of the OAU Council of Ministers held from 21 to 23 June 1995, in Addis Ababa, adopted Resolution CM/Res 1593, in which it:

• Urged Member States to ratify, or accede to, the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW);
• • Further urged Member States defend an African common position throughout the 1996 CCW review process calling on a total ban on the manufacture and use of mines, the
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strengthening of the Convention’s implementation mechanisms, and the mobilization of

resources for Mine Action, including victims’ assistance, and;

• Appealed to the international community to increase its assistance to affected African

countries as well as African institutions supporting in victims’ assistance.

During the first continental meeting of experts that was held in May 1997, in Kempton Park, South Africa, under the theme “Towards a Landmine-Free Africa: The OAU and the Legacy of Anti-Personnel Mines ”a Plan of Action was adopted committing Member States to the elimination of all anti-personnel landmines in Africa and establishing the continent as an Anti- Personnel Landmine-Free Zone. The second continental meeting was held in September 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the theme “Kempton Park — Seven Years After”. The Conference adopted an African Common Position on anti-personnel mines in preparation for the First Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Convention (hereinafter referred to as the Mine Ban Treaty or APMBT), that took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 29 November to 3 December 2004.

AU Member States are party to the international normative framework (see table 1) to prevent or regulate the use of weapons. Parties to these Conventions accept to be bound by explicit obligations, and for each one of these conventions States Parties have to submit reports on the progress made towards the enforcement of their legal oblig