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Intl Contributions | Ntl Contributions | OAP and support for Mine Action | Five-Year Support

The right of each State Party to seek and receive assistance from other States Parties in order to fulfill its treaty obligations—often referred to as cooperation and assistance—has been pivotal in supporting the implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in the past 25 years.

Since 1997 and the adoption of the treaty, at least US$12.7 billion has been allocated to mine action efforts, with the majority of assistance provided by international donors (80%, or $10.5 billion).[1] This shows the strong spirit of solidarity and shared responsibility built over the years. Yet it is becoming apparent that growth in global mine action assistance has stalled in recent years and that available financial resources to achieve a mine-free world continue to shrink.

In 2021, global support for mine action decreased by 7% ($44.6 million), with 32 donors and 13 affected states contributing a total of $598.9 million in international and national support for mine action.[2] It is the fourth consecutive year that global mine action support decreased and the first time since 2016 that it dropped below $600 million.

Mine- and explosive remnants of war (ERW)-affected states are facing ever-growing challenges in allocating national resources to their own mine action budgets. In parallel, international donors are confronted with multiple and intersecting global crises to respond to, putting overall aid budgets under greater pressure. This was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the 2022 conflict in Ukraine has also added further needs to an already complex picture. In this context, investments in human security risk being deprioritized as demand for other expenditure is increasing; including military spending, which reached a new global peak of $2.1 trillion in 2021, rising for the seventh year in a row.[3]

This chapter examines the financial response provided in 2021 by affected countries and international donors to support mine action efforts. The analysis focuses on financial contributions, but other forms of assistance can include the provision of equipment, expertise, and personnel, as well as the exchange of experience and know-how, best-practice sharing, and South-to-South or other forms of bilateral and multilateral cooperation.[4]

In 2021, 32 donors contributed a total of $543.5 million in international support for mine action in 42 affected states and five other areas, as well as to global activities. This is a $21.7 million decrease from the $565.2 million provided in 2020.[5]

Overall, funding from international donors in 2021 was in line with trends observed in previous years, with the major donors and recipients remaining mostly the same. The majority of international mine action assistance came from a handful of donors, with the top five donors—the United States (US), Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), and the European Union (EU)—contributing a total of $377.6 million, or 70% of all international funding for the year. The top five recipient states—Iraq, Lao PDR, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Colombia—received a combined total of $267.5 million, representing half of all international contributions. Iraq received more funding than any other country for the seventh consecutive year.

As has been the case since the Monitor began reporting international support by sector in 2007, the majority of the funding provided by donors in 2021 went to clearance and risk education activities (58% of all funding), with more than $317 million provided. International support for victim assistance declined by $7.7 million, reaching its lowest level recorded since 2016. The $25.6 million total for 2021 represented 5% of all international funding. The Monitor includes only direct contributions to victim assistance activities, while some donors supported such activities via funding for other programs or disability activities. Yet the steep decline in victim assistance funding in 2021 is still indicative of the general trend of support for this sector.

A total of $20.5 million was allocated to capacity-building activities, representing 4% of all funding. Capacity-building covers efforts to develop and strengthen the expertise, skills, and resources of national and local organizations and communities in mine action. It comes in many forms, including the improvement of data collection and management, the strengthening of organizational sustainability, or the establishment of national standards. It is ultimately applicable to the whole range of mine action activities. Capacity-building has received growing support from international donors in recent years: from an average annual total of  $9.4 million in 2010–2019 to $20 million in 2020 and 2021. This is indicative of the growing interest in investing beyond the immediate needs of mine action work and ensuring the long-term sustainability and longevity of national mine action capacities. The remaining 33% of overall funding ($180 million) was either not disaggregated by the donors, unearmarked, or used for advocacy purposes.

The Monitor identified 13 affected states that provided $55.4 million in contributions to their own national mine action programs in 2021, representing 9% of global mine action funding. This marks a decrease of $22.9 million from 2020, when 14 affected countries reported contributing $78.3 million.

International Contributions in 2021

International support to mine action has steadily declined since 2018. After increasing by more than $100 million each year in 2016 and 2017, assistance from international donors declined in 2018 (by 8%) and 2019 (by 13%), and essentially flatlined in 2020 (less than 1% change from the previous year). In 2021, spending on mine action totaled $543.5 million, representing a 4% decrease from 2020. This is the fourth consecutive reduction in annual mine action spending by international donors since the 2017 peak of $696.3 million.

In 2021, as has been the case for the past two decades, the donor base remained largely unchanged, with no shifts towards greater diversification of the pool of donors. The 15 largest donors continued to provide almost all international mine action funding, with a combined total of $524.5 million (97% of all support).[6] Since 2017, support from the 15 largest donors has decreased by 23% or $154.1 million. The reliance on a small number of donors makes the implementation of mine action activities extremely precarious.

In line with findings from previous years, the list of countries receiving international mine action support changed little in 2021. The 10 largest recipients received $365.6 million and accounted for 67% of all international assistance. Three countries entered the list of the top 10 recipients in 2021—Lebanon, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine—replacing Croatia, Türkiye, and Yemen. Since 2017, only 15 countries have appeared in this group of largest recipients, with six of them present every year over the five-year period: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Colombia, Iraq, Lao PDR, and Syria.[7]

Donors

In 2021, 26 States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, two states not party, the EU, and three other institutions contributed a total of $543.5 million to mine action.

As in past years, a small group of donors continued to provide the majority of international mine action support. The five largest donors—the US, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the EU—accounted for 70% of all international support, providing a combined total of $377.6 million.

In 2021, the US remained the largest mine action donor with a total contribution of $194.5 million, representing more than a third (36%) of all international support for the year. Germany ranked second with $64.8 million, which accounted for 12% of all contributions. Japan was third with a total contribution of $42.3 million, representing 8% of all support. The next two largest donors—the UK[8] and the EU—provided more than $35 million each.

Despite variations in the level of support provided, the proportion of total assistance from the top five donors for each year has remained constant over time. From 2017–2021, the combined annual contributions from the five major donors accounted for 70–78% of all international support. Only five countries and the EU appeared in the group of five largest donors of international support in 2017–2021: the EU, Germany, Japan, Norway, the UK, and the US.

Support from States Parties in 2021 accounted for more than half of all donor funding (57%), with 26 countries providing $310 million. This represents a 16% increase from the $268 million contributed in 2020.

Contributions by donors: 2017–2021[9]

Note: States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty are indicated in bold.

*Other donors in 2021 included: Andorra, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, the United Nations Association-Sweden (UNA-Sweden), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Overall, 17 donors contributed more in 2021 than they did in 2020, including a $10.5 million increase from Germany (19%), while the Netherlands and Canada increased their contributions by more than $7 million each. Seven donors increased their assistance by less than $1 million each.[10]

Two donors provided new funding in 2021: the United Nations Association-Sweden (UNA-Sweden) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

In contrast, 12 donors decreased their funding, with the EU representing the largest fall (down $52 million, a 58% decrease). The decline in EU assistance to mine action was primarily the result of lower contributions to Croatia (from $27.4 million provided in 2020 to $6.5 million in 2021) and to Türkiye (from $21.2 million to $11.2 million). In addition, five countries which benefited from EU support in 2020 did not receive new support in 2021: Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Myanmar, Palestine, Somalia, and Sri Lanka. The second largest decrease was seen for the US (down $10.3 million, a 5% decrease).

Additionally, Estonia provided the same contribution as in 2021, while three donors from 2020 did not report any new contribution to mine action in 2021.

Summary of changes in 2021

Note: UNA-Sweden=United Nations Association-Sweden; UNCERF=United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund; UNICEF=United Nations Children’s Fund; and UNTFHS=United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security.

The following table summarizes the changes in mine action funding from the top 15 donors, expressed in their respective national currencies and in US dollar terms, and shows the impact of exchange rates on value of international contributions.

In both national currency and US dollar terms, international support for mine action increased in 10 countries. After conversion into US dollars, funding increases were slightly more pronounced in nine countries. In the case of Japan, the increase was lower after conversion.

Consequently, whereas a total of four states and the EU reported decreases in their mine action assistance in national currency terms in 2021, when converted into US dollars these reductions were lower in percentage terms for all.

Changes in mine action funding in national currency terms and US$ terms[11]

Funding paths

Donors contributed to mine action through several trust fund mechanisms, notably the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action (VTF), administered by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and ITF Enhancing Human Security, and established by the government of Slovenia and formerly known as the International Trust Fund.

In 2021, contributions through UNMAS totaled at least $50.6 million from 26 donors. Several small donors—providing total financial assistance of under $1 million each—used the VTF to contribute to mine action: Andorra, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, and Spain, as well as UNA-Sweden, the UNDP, and the United Nations Childen’s Fund (UNICEF).

Five donor states reported allocating a combined total of $6.2 million for mine action programs in 2021 through ITF Enhancing Human Security.[12]

While donor funding is frequently used for national activities, implementation is often carried out by an array of partnering institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trust funds, and United Nations (UN) agencies.

The implementing partners landscape has remained largely unchanged in recent years, with multilateral organizations, non-profit oganizations, and UN agencies receiving most of the funding. Overall, international assistance to national and international non-profit organizations accounted for more than a third (38%) of total funding during 2021, with least $209.9 million received.[13]

Organizations that received a significant proportion of contributions in 2021 included the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies ($26.1 million), the HALO Trust ($42.6 million), Mines Advisory Group (MAG) ($39.5 million), Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) ($25.9 million), Humanity & Inclusion (HI) ($18.1 million), the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) ($15.5 million), and Danish Refugee Council ($11.6 million).

Recipients

A total of 42 states and five other areas received $487 million from 28 donors in 2021. Another $56.5 million, designated as “global” in the table below, was provided to institutions, NGOs, trust funds, and UN agencies without a designated recipient state or area. Four donors—Andorra, Estonia, Liechtenstein, and UNA-Sweden—only reported contributions to “global” activities.

As in previous years, a small number of countries received the majority of funding.[14] The top five recipient states—Iraq, Lao PDR, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Colombia—received $267.5 million, or 49% of the total.

Since 2015, Iraq has been the largest recipient of mine action assistance. In 2021, Iraq received 18% of all international support from the largest number of donors (15). Fourteen states and three other areas, or 36% of all recipients, had only one donor.[15]

List of international support recipients in 2021

Note: States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty are indicated in bold; other areas are indicated in italics.

*Lao PDR and Lebanon are States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In 2021, a total of 21 recipient states and areas experienced a change of more than 20% in funding compared to 2020, including 12 that received less support and nine that received more support. In addition, four previous recipients received no new support: Albania, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Montenegro.

Cambodia was the recipient with the largest increase in funding in 2021, receiving $13.4 million more than in 2020. This was primarily due to a massive increase in Japan’s contribution toward clearance and victim assistance activities, including a socio-economic development project. Japan’s support to Cambodia in 2021 was more than 10 times larger than in 2020. Other affected countries with significant increases in international assistance received were Afghanistan, Lao PDR, and Ukraine, with approximately $7 million more each.

Croatia was the recipient with the largest decrease in 2021, receiving $20.9 million less than in 2020 (a 76% decrease). The decline was due to lower contributions from the EU, Croatia’s sole international donor. Despite the reduction, Croatia was the second largest recipient of EU support to mine action in 2021, and represented 17% of the EU’s total contribution for the year ($6.5 million out of $37.8 million). At the Mine Action National Directors and United Nations Advisers meeting in May 2021, Croatia said that “the stability of financing sources for mine action…is based on political will, high proportion of its own resources, extraordinary cross-sectorial cooperation and exceptional European Union contribution.”[16] Since Croatia’s accession to the EU in 2013, the EU has contributed more than €130 million (more than $150 million) to demining efforts in the country.

In 2021, mine action funding channeled to Syria decreased for the fourth consecutive year. Syria received $1.9 million less than in 2020 (a 7% decrease). Previously, in 2020, support to mine action activities in Syria fell more steeply (by $16.4 million, a decrease of 39%) than in 2019 (by $24.2 million, a fall of 36%). The reduction in contributions observed since 2018 is the result of sharp decreases in funding from Germany and the US, following their exceptional contributions in 2017 which saw a combined increase of more than $67 million in support. The US has not reported providing new mine action funding to Syria since then, while funding from Germany fell from $13.9 million in 2017 to less than $5million in 2021. Despite these decreases, Syria remained among the top five largest recipients of mine action funding in 2021.

Summary of changes in 2021

Funding by thematic sector

In 2021, 58% of mine action funding supported clearance and risk education activities, while support to victim assistance represented 5%. Advocacy and capacity-building also represented 5%. “Various” funding represented 32% of all international mine action support. This includes contributions not disaggregated by donors, as well as funding not earmarked for any sectors.

Contributions by thematic sector in 2021[17]

Note: N/A=not applicable.

Clearance and risk education

In 2021, $317.4 million, or more than half (58%) of all reported support for mine action, went toward clearance and risk education activities. This represents a decrease of nearly $70 million (or 18%) from 2020.

Five donors—the US, the EU, Germany, Norway, and Canada—provided the majority (73%, or $232.2 million) of all support to clearance and risk education in 2021.

Many donors reported clearance and risk education as a combined figure. Twenty donors did, however, indicate contributions specifically for clearance activities, providing a total of $97.8 million across 23 affected countries and four other areas.[18]

About two-fifths of international support ($239.5 million) was spent in nine States Parties with massive landmine contamination. Most of this funding, $145.3 million, went to clearance and risk education projects. As illustrated in the following graph, States Parties with smaller contamination have tended to receive less financial support to implement their clearance obligations.

Nine mine-affected States Parties did not receive new external support to carry out clearance and/or risk education projects in 2021, and for some of them it has been the case for years.[19]

Clearance and risk education dedicated support by extent of mine contamination in States Parties: 2019–2021[20]

Nine donors reported contributions totaling $6.7 million specifically for risk education projects across 10 countries, and globally.[21] Myanmar, Iraq, and Syria received the most risk education-specific funding with a combined total of $4.5 million, about two-thirds (67%) of all risk education dedicated support.

Recipients of risk education dedicated support: 2021[22]

Note: States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty are indicated in bold.

*Lao PDR and Lebanon are States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Between 2017 and 2021, approximately two-thirds of international support went to clearance and risk education activities (60%, or $1.8 billion). Risk education-specific funding represented just 2% of all dedicated support, totaling $47.1 million. In comparison, a total of $30 million was recorded as specific risk education funding during the previous five-year period, from 2012–2016. This 57% increase reflects better disaggregation of funding data and demonstrates renewed focus on this life-saving pillar of mine action since 2019.

Victim assistance

Based on data available as of October 2022, direct international support for victim assistance activities in 2021 totaled $25.6 million, representing a 23% decline from the 2020 level ($33.3 million). Nine donors[23] reported contributing to victim assistance projects in eight States Parties and six states not party.[24] This is the lowest level of victim assistance dedicated funding recorded since 2016.

In 2021, most mine-affected countries did not receive any direct international support for victim assistance. As observed in 2018–2020, a large proportion of the contributions from donors to victim assistance activities in 2021 were the result of support within the context of emergency operations in conflict-affected countries in the Middle East and Afghanistan. In 2021, more than half of all victim assistance support (55%) went to just five countries—Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen—receiving a combined total of $14.1 million.

The remaining 45% ($11.5 million) went to victim assistance activities in nine other countries, including five affected States Parties.

As in previous years, a large number of States Parties in which there were significant numbers of mine/ERW victims received no, or very little, victim assistance support; whereas needs remained great and available resources were lacking.[25] In 2021, 27 States Parties with significant numbers of survivors did not receive any direct victim assistance funding.[26]

Funding for victim assistance remains especially difficult to track, as many donors report that they support victims via more general programs for development and the rights of persons with disabilities, and are not able to detail specific victim assistance funding. However, the Monitor’s annual estimate still provides an informative picture of the global victim assistance funding situation.

Advocacy and capacity-building

In 2021, just 1% of all reported support for mine action went toward advocacy activities ($4.7 million).[27] Of the 33 donors reporting international contributions to mine action, nine reported supporting advocacy activities.[28]

Fifteen donors collectively provided $20.5 million—4% of all international support in 2021—for capacity-building activities in 13 countries and one other area.[29] This is a 5% increase from the level of funding for capacity-building reported in 2020 ($19.6 million) and more than double the 2019 level ($7.4 million). It is the highest annual total support allocated to this sector ever recorded by the Monitor. This could reflect a growing interest from donors in strengthening local capacities to create conditions for effective and sustainable mine action efforts.[30]

National Contributions in 2021

Overall national contributions to mine action continue to be under-reported. Few States Parties report national funding in their annual Article 7 reports. As in previous years, a dozen affected states indicated contributing to their national mine action programs but details on their level of contribution are either unavailable or only partially available. In most of these states, national contributions were limited to covering the running costs of their respective mine action authorities.

In 2021, the Monitor identified that at least 13 affected states provided a combined total of $55.4 million in contributions to mine action from their national budgets.[31]

National support: 2021

Note: States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty are indicated in bold.

*Lao PDR is a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Chile is one of the few affected states to have completely funded its own mine action program; it last received international support in 2007. Chile completed clearance of its mined areas in 2020, and provided more than $75 million in total toward completion of its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 obligations.[32] Chile still has clearance obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and estimated that $2 million would be needed to complete clearance of all areas contaminated with cluster munition remnants.[33] In 2020–2022, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Chile’s ability to allocate financial resources to mine action.[34] In 2021, the country covered the full cost of technical survey activities—estimated at some $30,000—provided from the state budget.[35] No national resources were allocated to mine action work in 2022.[36]

In previous years, Lebanon contributed to a large proportion of its mine action program, with an average of $9 million per year in 2017–2020. However, in 2021, Lebanon could not allocate national resources to conduct clearance operations as planned due to political instability and the economic crisis.[37] Lebanon is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty, but is a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.  

In 2020–2021, due to ongoing armed conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic, Yemen was not in a position to maintain its annual commitment of $3 million to its mine action program. Limited national support was provided to staff of the Yemen Executive Mine Action Centre (YEMAC) and for healthcare, though the amount was not reported.[38] Yemen reported that while the majority of international support is directed toward the implementation of activities, there was still a need to support coordination mechanisms.[39]

Oslo Action Plan and Support for Mine Action

At the Oslo Review Conference in November 2019, States Parties reaffirmed their commitment to complete their respective time-bound obligations by 2025, and to ensure sustainable and integrated support for victims. The Oslo Action Plan contains six action points along with a series of specific indicators, aimed at tracking progress toward enhancing international cooperation and assistance. These indicators include, among others: the level of national funding; the provision of assistance by States Parties; regular reporting on challenges and needs for assistance; the existence of coordinating mechanisms; and the facilitation of dialogue and information exchange among affected states, the donor community, and relevant stakeholders. A number of these points are tracked by the Monitor.

As regards the provision of assistance by and to States Parties, in the last decade, a total of 32 States Parties reported contributing some $1.7 billion in mine action support to 49 affected States Parties. In 2021 alone, 21 States Parties provided $196.3 million in mine action support to 26 States Parties. This is a 10% increase from the $176.6 million provided by and to States Parties in 2020, but remains similar as a proportion of overall international mine action assistance. This is the third year in a row that such funding has remained below $200 million. It is an important reminder of the need to secure adequate resources for the effective and timely implementation of the treaty’s obligations.

Cumulative figures remain just one aspect of the story. The distribution of support among affected states and territories, as well as the sustainability of assistance, are also key factors.

Tracking national financial commitments by affected States Parties has proven more difficult as a result of under-reporting. Since 2010, the Monitor has recorded a total of $1.5 billion provided by affected states to their own mine action efforts.[40]

National support has remained below $100 million annually for six consecutive years. Affected states do not all provide the same level of information regarding national resources allocated to mine action activities, and some have never done so.

Five-Year Support to Mine Action 2017–2021

Over the past five years (2017–2021), total support to mine action amounted to $3.4 billion, an average of more than $670 million per year. This is $256 million more than the total support provided in the previous five-year period from 2012–2016, constituting an 8% increase.[41]

Although data on national support for mine action remains incomplete, such support accounted for around 11% of total mine action funding from 2017–2021, and amounted to approximately $378 million. International support totaled $3 billion, an average of some $600 million per year, and represented 89% of all support.

Three donors—the US ($1.1 billion), the EU ($379.2 million), and Germany ($284.7 million)—contributed $1.8 billion, or more than half of total international support (59%). Three other donors—the UK, Japan, and Norway—contributed more than $185 million each; while Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland ranked among the top 10 mine action donors for the five-year period.

Support from States Parties accounted for half (49%) of all international funding provided in 2017–2021, with a combined contribution of $1.5 billion.[42] In percentage terms, this is similar to States Parties support in 2012–2016, when $1.2 billion was provided, representing 53% of all international funding during the period.

This shows that historically, States Parties have been a stable and consistent contributor to mine action, despite variations in budget allocations and changes in situations or contexts observed in the past decade. One of the main challenges to improve efficiency in international support remains greater coordination among donors for a better geographical distribution of financial resources, in order to address both legacy and new contamination, as well as all sectors of mine action, from clearance to risk education and victim assistance.

The overall increase in total support provided in 2017–2021 compared to the previous five-year period was mostly driven by the unusually large 2017 contributions from Germany and the US to support clearance efforts in Iraq and Syria, which represented a combined total increase of $204 million. There was also an apparent impact from the series of pledging conferences held in 2016 to secure funding for mine action in some heavily affected countries, as well as one-off extraordinary pledges announced around that time.[43] This contributed to significant increases in support for activities in Colombia (up $116.7 million), Iraq (up $381.4 million), and Lao PDR (up $43 million), as shown in the table below.

This increase was partially offset by a 55% reduction in national support, which fell from a combined total of $794.8 million reported in 2012–2016 to $354.1 million in 2017–2021.

Summary of changes: top 10 recipients of mine action support

Note: States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty are indicated in bold; N/A=not applicable.

*Lao PDR is a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In 2017–2021, the 10 largest recipients of mine action support received the majority of available funding, totaling more than $2 billion; this represents, on average, more than two-thirds (68%) of total international contributions annually. Of these 10 recipients, four came from the Middle East and North Africa region, three from the Asia-Pacific, two from Europe, and one from the Americas. No country from the Sub-Saharan Africa region was among the largest 10 recipients.

Two affected states from Sub-Saharan Africa were among the 15 largest recipients of mine action assistance in 2017–2021: Somalia ranked fourteenth ($54.7 million received) and South Sudan fifteenth ($48.6 million). Both of these states were among the top 10 recipients in 2012–2016: Somalia ranked seventh ($80.3 million) and South Sudan tenth ($62.7 million).

From 2017 to 2021, the composition of this group of recipients remained relatively similar from one year to another, while there were some variations in the contributions received by each recipient from one year to the next.[44] This illustrates changes in circumstances globally and/or nationally, as well as shifts in funding approaches, priorities, and focus.