United States

Support for Mine Action

Last updated: 17 November 2022

In 2021, the United States (US) contributed some US$194.5 million to 21 countries and one other area.[1] This represents a 4% decrease from the $202.6 million provided in 2020.

US support to mine action was distributed among the following regions: East and South Asia and the Pacific ($94.1 million, 48%, six recipient countries), the Middle East and North Africa ($49.5 million, 26%, six recipient countries), the Americas ($21.5 million, 11%, one recipient country), Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia ($17.9 million, 9%, five recipient countries/territories), and Sub-Saharan Africa ($11.5 million, 6%, four recipient countries).

Contributions by recipient: 2021

Recipient	Sector	Amount (US$)
Lao PDR	Clearance and risk education	40,000,000
Iraq	Clearance and risk education	38,150,000
Colombia	Capacity-building, clearance, risk education, and victim assistance	21,500,000
Afghanistan	Capacity-building, clearance, risk education, and victim assistance	20,000,000
Vietnam	Clearance and risk education	17,500,000
Ukraine	Capacity-building and clearance	8,500,000
Sri Lanka	Clearance and risk education	8,000,000
Cambodia	Clearance and risk education	7,000,000
Lebanon	Clearance and risk education	6,000,000
Angola	Clearance	4,000,000
Democratic Republic of Congo	Clearance and victim assistance	4,000,000
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Clearance and risk education	3,900,000
Tajikistan	Capacity-building and clearance	3,500,000
Libya	Clearance and risk education	2,000,000
South Sudan	Clearance and risk education	2,000,000
Yemen	Capacity-building, clearance, risk education, and victim assistance	2,000,000
Nepal	Victim assistance	1,587,000
Zimbabwe	Clearance and risk education	1,500,000
Kosovo	Clearance	1,000,000
Palestine	Clearance and risk education	1,000,000
Serbia	Capacity-building and clearance	1,000,000
Jordan	Victim assistance	400,000
Total		194,537,000

Mine action assistance approach

The US allocates the majority of its mine action funding through the State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA), within the framework of its conventional weapons destruction efforts. Additional funding is allocated through the Patrick Leahy War Victims Fund within the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The US is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions nor the Mine Ban Treaty, but it has been the largest financial support to mine action since the 1990s.

At the UN Security Council Open Debate on Mine Action in April 2021, the US noted that its mine action assistance aimed at protecting civilians and creating a safe environment for people to live in; further adding it was following a “three-pronged approach” focusing on clearance, risk education programmes, and rehabilitation.”[2]

COVID-19 and mine action support

No USAID funding was diverted to address COVID-19, with the exception that a few programs were working with the Department of Health to support the development of accessible communications, while remaining within the scope of the initial activity of the contributions.[3]

The US also reported that in some instances mine action funds were used to assist COVID-19 related activities, such as the simultaneous provision of explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) and pandemic prevention messaging, or the delivery of medical supplies to hospitals through unused demining vehicles.[4] In May 2020, a US representative said that “where host governments are requesting the use of HMA [humanitarian mine action]-funded assets, and it can be done in a reasonable and minimally disruptive manner, we will consider it.”[5]

Five-year support to mine action

From 2017–2021, the cumulative US contribution for mine action totaled more than $1 billion. This represents 63% more than the $672.7 million provided in the previous five-year period from 2012–2016. Annual US support has totaled more than $100 million since 2009.

Summary of contributions: 2017–2021[6]

Year	Amount (US$)	% change from previous year
2021	194,537,000	-4
2020	202,552,000	+14
2019	177,359,314	-12
2018	201,682,000	-37
2017	320,579,224	+103
Total	1,096,709,538	N/A

Note: N/A=not applicable.

[1] US Department of State Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA), “To Walk the Earth in Safety 2021,” 5 April 2021.

[2] Remarks by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Representative to the UN, UN Security Council Open Debate on Mine Action, New York, 8 April 2021.

[3] Email from Kirsten Lentz, Senior Technical Advisor, Rehabilitation, Technical Support Contract, USAID, Empowerment & Inclusion Division, 16 June 2020.

[4] US Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA), “To Walk the Earth in Safety (2021),” 5 April 2021.

[5] Wolfgang Bindseil and Ian Mansfield, “Mine Action in the Time of COVID-19: A Donor’s Perspective,” The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction,Vol. 24, Issue 2, December 2020.

[6] See previous Monitor reports.