CISR News - Archive

Treading lightly in Shan State

The civilian casualties of Myanmar’s landmines

The impacts of explosive violence on healthcare infrastructure in Syria

Attacks on ambulances have been designed to be particularly violent and explosive

Yazidi women clear ISIS bombs

The women and their colleagues work long hours in dangerous conditions

Into the Fire

The documentary short is presented by National Geographic Documentary Films in association with the Nobel Prize

CALL FOR PAPERS: Robotics and Remote Sensing

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction encourages submissions on the latest technological advances

Over 160 nations agree to speed landmine clearing

Under the Oslo Action Plan, adopted Friday, states undertake to "identify mined areas and put in place national plans for mine clearance"

Myanmar still using landmines, global casualties 'exceptionally high': report

A surge in landmine use is also fuelling a migrant exodus in some areas

WW2 bomb defused in Turin after thousands evacuate

The British bomb contained 65kg (140lbs) of dynamite

The Oslo Review Conference on a Mine-Free World

#OsloRevCon will focus on the future for the Mine Ban Convention

Brave women who clear war-torn Donbas of landmines

The deminers make about $500 a month, which is decent money in poverty-stricken Donbas

German children fish WW2 ammunition from pond with magnet

Germany was littered with explosives after the war because of the intensive air raids

Climate change may be blowing up arms depots

More intense heat waves can destabilize the components of munitions, particularly where explosives are not properly stored

This Little Land of Mines

There's something you need to know about Laos

Researchers create new strains of bacteria to find landmines

Scientists involved in a DARPA project are now engineering bacteria genetically to create new strains that could be used to detect landmines

Losing his legs to a landmine changed professor’s life

After sharing Nobel Prize, Ken Rutherford wrote a history of Civil War explosive devices

Landmines pose serious humanitarian threat to Yemenis

On a daily basis, civilian casualties occur in several areas of Yemen as a result of Houthi-laid landmines

Explosive weapons and their impact on pets and pet-owners

The interdependent nature of relationships between humans and pets, often leaves both animals and people vulnerable when explosive violence separates them

Cross-border arms trafficking stokes the embers of northern Kenya’s conflict

For the criminal arms economy to stop, deep-rooted underlying problems need to be addressed

Namibia continues to be plagued by post-war unexploded ordnance

The government will continue to roll out educational campaigns on UXO

Drone and rover tag teams could help solve the world’s deadly land mine problem

Right now, the project is still in the research and development stages

Landmines continue to kill people in Zimbabwe

“I have lost many cattle since I started working as a cattle herder in this area in 2005”

The growing use of victim-operated IEDs by anti-government elements is increasingly harming Afghan civilians

On Saturday, 19 civilians—mainly children—were killed and injured in Afghanistan

The 7th Mine Action Technology Workshop

Robotics and remote sensing in mine action

Spike in landmine casualties as conflicts persists in Myanmar

Up to September this year, 42 people were killed

Fellowship application deadline approaching

College seniors, graduate students and recent grads may apply now for the Frasure-Kruzel-Drew Memorial Fellowship

Practical notes on the application of thermite systems in mine action

The Journal of CWD

Scores of Houthi-laid landmines defused in Yemen's Hodeidah

Around 55 landmines were defused from a number of farms and roads

The differing effects of explosive weapons on boys and girls examined

the report found that all studies on children and blast injuries showed the leading gender of victims to be male

The world’s landmine stockpiles in numbers

The report identifies 11 countries that retain the capability to produce landmines

Key performance indicators and humanitarian mine action: Time to standardize?

The Journal of CWD

'Whistles, warnings, kaboom!': A day with a landmine clearance team

Aki Ra was a child soldier, laying mines around Siem Reap; now he is using his expertise to clear land in rural Cambodia and make it safe again

2019 Clearing the Path Gala to honor outstanding leaders

Survivors’ Assistance Award: Selma Gušo, Bosnia Herzegovina

How destroying excess weapons in Niger weakens terrorists in the Sahel and Sahara

Nigerien soldiers use the hydraulic shear donated by the United States to cut decommissioned weapons

More bang for their buck: Enhancing the sustainability of surplus ammunition destruction programs

The Journal of CWD

Ruth Davidson helps break boundaries with school landmine workshop

Around 200 pupils from Year Six took part in a demonstration of landmine clearances with a dummy minefield created on the school grounds in Edinburgh, Scotland

Meet the Afghan women taking their country back—one land mine at a time

In Bamiyan, an all-female demining team provides jobs and hope

MAG teams up with Facebook to reduce casualties from ISIS mines in Iraq

Many landmine victims in the region are young boys

UK matches Zimbabwe landmine fund after Prince Harry tour

Prince Harry: "Landmines are an unhealed scar of war"

Managers gather for JMU course in global mine removal

Since 2004, 300 senior managers from all over the world have attended

Search and destroy: WPI students build a robotic system to find and safely detonate landmines

Student teams are developing an autonomous rover and payload-deploying drone to find and safely destroy hidden munitions that kill or maim as many as 20,000 people around the world each year

Trapped in the middle of a minefield in Iraq

Iraq is one of the world’s most landmine-affected countries

Prince Harry retraces Diana's footsteps through Angola minefield

Harry stressed the importance of international cooperation in the area

Global Gallop to help victims of landmines and explosive accidents

The funds raised will be used in countries such as Yemen and Afghanistan

Landmines planted by Houthis add to suffering of Yemeni civilians

Houthis have also used naval mines in fishing farms and areas

Second Rohingya killed in suspected landmine blast near Bangladesh border

Officials said the victim was Abdul Majid, a refugee in his 20s from Kutupalong, the world's largest refugee camp

Over two kilometers cleared of landmines in Angola

Demining is important for province development and promoting agriculture

Pressured by U.S., Colombians uproot coca plants, wary of landmines

So far this year, nine soldiers and civilians involved in coca eradication have been killed—mostly mutilated by landmine explosions

Israeli company could clear world’s minefields in just 10 years

Israel’s 4M Analytics has a minefield-location intelligence solution using machine learning, historic and dynamic datasets and software-guided robots

Ammunition stockpile management: A global challenge requiring global responses

The Journal of CWD

Wartime landmines still taking lives in Bosnia

Since 1996, a total of 55 Bosnian deminers and 673 civilians have been killed by exploding ordnance

Iraq: A photo essay

The Journal of CWD

CISR to address global landmine crisis with grant from U.S. Department of State

The course will focus on the management of conventional weapons destruction programs

Prince Harry will honor Princess Diana's humanitarian legacy on a "particularly significant" visit to Angola

The Duke of Sussex will follow in his late mother's footsteps on his upcoming trip to the country

Kabul attack claims life of iMMAP colleague

The attack claimed the lives of 16 people and injured 100 others, most of them Afghan civilians

EOD technician killed following explosion

Brandon Pinson was supervising one of FSD’s 12 teams in Iraq clearing IEDs left behind by the Islamic State

The impact of landmines and explosive remnants of war on food security: The Lebanese case

The Journal of CWD

Ninth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Due to lack of funds, the meeting was shortened to two days with translation in all six official languages

Barriers to peace: The deadly legacy of landmines and other weapons in post-conflict societies

JMU International Week

Establishment of the Explosive Ordnance Risk Education Advisory Group

Launched in May 2019, the group aims to raise the global profile of EORE

Landmines fuel migrant exodus in Myanmar’s north

‘Our villages are emptying. There are only babies and old people left.’

Hundreds of thousands of landmines remain from Korean War but serve no purpose

The U.S. and South Korea have not signed the Ottawa Treaty, citing the danger of a North Korean attack

Climbers in Dolomites injured after picking up First World War explosives

The Dolomites were the scene of high-level fighting in WWI

Drones in the desert: Augmenting HMA and socioeconomic activities in Chad

The Journal of CWD

Governmental and nongovernmental UXO stakeholders from Vietnam, Lao and Cambodia gather in Quang Tri province for Regional Cluster Munitions Remnants Survey Workshop

Quang Tri is one of the provinces with the heaviest contamination from cluster munitions and other UXO

Kyrgyzstan hosts 11th annual OSCE regional workshop on countering improvised explosive devices

Explosive hazards reduction and response: Countering improvised explosive devices

IEDs and urban clearance variables in Mosul: Defining complex environments

The Journal of CWD

Collaborative demining training in Cambodia

The Journal of CWD

Angola’s path forward for security and economic development

Weapons management and humanitarian demining

Stemming the flow of weapons to conflict areas in Africa’s Great Lakes region

Marking, tracing and training

U.S. helps peacekeepers avoid deadly explosive hazards through the Global Peace Operations Initiative

Effort to reduce peacekeeper casualties is improved preparation and training on counter-IED threat mitigation, explosive ordnance disposal, and conventional munitions disposal

IED threat consistency and predictability in Fallujah: A 'simple' model for clearance

The Journal of CWD

Worst month for Afghan civilians in over eight years of casualty recording

Of the civilians killed and injured in Afghanistan last month by explosive weapons, 89% were from IEDs

Breaking the vicious cycle of landmines and instability in Myanmar

Mines are regularly used by ethnic armies in rural ambushes and also for the defense of pockets of rebel-controlled territory in the countryside

Thailand starts destroying thousands of landmines

A total of 3,133 anti-personnel mines will be destroyed between Aug 6–10

We want your photos!

To Walk the Earth in Safety seeks content for the next annual report

The challenge of managing mine action in Jordan

The Journal of CWD

2019 Global Explosive Ordnance Disposal Symposium and Exhibition

August 6–8

For Afghan civilians, road between life and death is narrow—and mined

Diplomats have struggled to move to the next step of the peace process—direct negotiations between the Taliban and other Afghans

Accidents and field medical provision

The Journal of CWD

4 Syrian soldiers killed in landmine explosions in Sweida province

A total of 120 people had been killed by landmine explosions in the country since February

Women after war: “We want to rebuild our lives”

Two years after ISIL ceded territory in Iraq, these courageous women are clearing mines on their journey back home

The challenges of conflict reporting—when injuries from explosive weapons don’t make the news

In Syria, injuries often go unrecorded

Zimbabwe on track to clear landmines by 2025

Operations are ongoing by the Mine Clearance Squadron of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces in the area where landmines are most severe

Booby-traps and anti-handling devices: Common tactics

The Journal of CWD

Syrian conflict: Helping children through the horror of bomb blasts

Many children given prosthetic limbs require surgery every year or so to ensure they are not in pain

Land mines still claiming victims in Turkey

Seasonal factors such as rainfall or wind can cause soil to shift naturally, also causing land mines to shift

Army researchers building ‘smart’ land mines for future combat

The Army also wants the mines to be able to not just blow up when something rumbles by but also detect, track and engage threat vehicles

Fulfilling Secretary Pompeo’s pledge to increase demining support for Iraqi minority communities

U.S.-funded mine clearance efforts are having a tangible impact on the ground in Ninewa province

JMU grad receives prestigious State Department fellowship

Daniel Gurley continues legacy of fallen U.S. diplomats through post-conflict assistance

Minefield Clearance and Casualties – Holland 1945 – Military Operational Research Unit Report No.7

The Journal of CWD

Landmine kills 11 pilgrims in southern Afghanistan

22 children and eight women were among another 34 women and children who were critically wounded

ITF Enhancing Human Security in Serbia

The Journal of CWD

Unexploded World War II bombs may still be buried at Pompeii

Seven to 10 unexploded bombs may await archaeologists in unexcavated parts of Pompeii

NPA humanitarian disarmament director visits Quang Tri, confirming continued support to UXO clearance and capacity development

Deputy Governor Hoang Nam met with Per Håkon Breivik at the Office of Quang Tri Province People’s Committee

Japan’s commitment to a landmine-free world

The HALO Trust held an event in Tokyo in June to call attention to the work that still needs to be done

Mineland, the Endless War: A Photo Essay

The Journal of CWD

Removing landmines in Sinjar, Iraq

Improvised landmines lie on the ground on the hills of Sinjar

Iraq landmines: A legacy of decades of conflicts

Al Jazeera looks at how Iraq has been left littered with unexploded booby traps after decades of wars

Spot Report by OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine

Beginning of disengagement at Stanytsia Luhanska disengagement area

U.S. assistance to clear landmines in Colombia

The U.S. is a leading supporter for OAS support to Colombia unexploded ordnance clearance

Angola pledges $60m to fund landmine clearance in national parks

Without new funding, Angola will miss its target of clearing all landmines by 2025

Mysterious explosion in a German cornfield was probably a WWII bomb

Undiscovered bombs can often explode without outside forces acting on them, as their detonators decompose over time

Arsenal fire in Kazakhstan injures 46, prompts evacuation

The fire at the sprawling ammunition depot triggered powerful explosions

On the scourge of landmines in Yemen

Statement by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy

Workshop participants told that Quang Tri is on track to be the first province in Vietnam declared UXO “impact free”

Authorities host workshop to evaluate the 2016–2020 mine action plan

North Carolina beachgoer finds military ordnance at beach, brings home to put in garden, police say

No one was injured from the device

In Yemen conflict, some see a new age of drone warfare

Iran is also turning some target drones into low-tech weapons for its proxies

Land mines are a tool of terror that must be stopped

Nearly 80 percent of land mine deaths and injuries are civilians

Workers find WWII-era unexploded ordnance in Okinawa seabed

600 unexploded pieces of ordnance are processed on Okinawa each year

Landmine crisis in Yemen brings JMU professor to Capitol Hill

A plea to the international community

U.S. demining support enables access to desperately needed food aid at Yemen’s Red Sea Mills

Yemeni officials estimate that Houthi forces have laid over one million landmines and IEDs across Yemen

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Landmines, a disturbing reminder of war

U.N. says more than 70 percent of mines still under rubble in Iraq post-ISIS

Unexploded weaponry is the most significant challenge Iraqi authorities face regarding the return of displaced people to their areas

Angola in need of $300 million to clear land mines

In 2017, the country managed to clear about 1.2 square kilometers and destroyed about 3,546 landmines

Meet the man charged with ridding war zones of landmines

Guy Petts travels the world making places safe from life-threatening unexploded landmines

Interviews with HMA Directors: Dr. Jane Cocking

The Journal of CWD

Local authorities locate bomb partly dismantled by scrap metal collectors

Residents of Hoang Ha village were shocked to discover that someone had brought a big bomb to their community for reckless and dangerous dismantling

Interviews with HMA directors: Allan Vosburgh

The Journal of CWD

Women ambassadors visit Project Renew–NPA's all-woman, clearance team

Since October 2018, the team has found and safely destroyed 275 dangerous ERW

The machines clearing ISIS’s deadly landmine legacy in Iraq

Demining machinery is used for excavation, sifting, crushing, spreading and searching

900 landmines detonated in Qasr al Yahud on the Jordan River

IDF Combat Engineering and NGO Halo Trust are in the process of demining 6,500 landmines from church compounds near Jericho

Explosive ordnance disposal team performs detonation during Exercise Global Dragon 2019

Controlled live detonations help airmen prepare for scenarios that they may encounter while providing support to their local communities and while deployed

Contamination in Eastern Ukraine: Observations by OSCE

The Journal of CWD

Interviews with HMA directors: Ambassador Stefano Toscano

The Journal of CWD

Children in crisis-torn eastern Ukraine ‘too terrified to learn’ amid spike in attacks on schools

Schoolchildren are bearing long-lasting mental and physical scars from the conflict

The challenges of humanitarian mine clearance in Ukraine

The Journal of CWD

Man killed, 1 wounded by landmines in northern Shan state

Lone San Jam suffered wounds to his leg, body and hand, and died on the way to a hospital

Interviews with HMA directors: Arianna Calza Bini

The Journal of CWD

Tackling landmines globally

Smarter thinking about where to focus demining efforts can transform lives

World War II bomb in Hamburg prompts evacuation

Those living within a 500-meter radius of the bomb were ordered to evacuate

Falkland Islands land mines – Watch how they are cleared and blown up

This is the team clearing a hoard of the 25,000 land mines laid by Argentine forces

Ukraine's newly adopted mine action law: What does this mean for HMA programs?

The Journal of CWD

Landmine explosion kills seven children in Afghanistan

Years of conflict have left Afghanistan strewn with landmines, unexploded mortars, rockets and homemade bombs

Endangered moon bear photographed in Korean border zone peppered with landmines

This heavily mined no man’s land is 150 miles long and 2.5 miles wide

Project RENEW joins with Quang Tri province authorities and other mine action organizations in meeting with U.S. Senators on explosive remnants of war

Each NGO representative introduced themselves and spoke briefly about the involvement of their organization

Afghan boy dances away the horror of landmines

He lost his leg to an explosive landmine

Meet the robot that cleans up warzones by defusing landmines

The founder of Demine Robotics is using technology to reduce the number of live landmines in the ground

Humanitarian mine action increases demining capacity in Morocco

The HMA program is designed to assist allied and partner countries in reducing landmines and explosives that threaten the civilian population

Political obstacles cannot be used as an excuse for not ensuring effective mine action

Switzerland has continuously supported mine action in BiH since 2003

Explosive hazards in Mosul a major threat for years to come

Western Mosul was the part of the city most damaged by the battle against IS and where the most explosives were left behind

Clearing landmines in Ukraine, one careful step at a time

Ukraine is one of the most mine-affected countries in the world, posing a serious threat to civilians crossing the contact line

Armed groups seizing thousands of weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition from non-U.N. peace operations

More than 25 organizations apart from the U.N. have deployed more than 100 peace operations to date

When Flowers Fall on the Rain: Plucking out landmines with music

The album will have all proceeds donated to Landmine Relief Fund

Meet the women who detonate land mines in Colombia’s former war zones

Leftover explosives haunt towns and farms, where land mines were once planted by the guerrillas to ambush their enemies

Tree farmer reports a 750-pound bomb found in acacia forest near La Vang Catholic church

The bomb was identified as an air-dropped M117 series filled with 385 pounds of Tritonal explosive

Yemen: Houthi landmines kill civilians, block aid

Cease use of banned weapons; expand and improve demining

Jevit the robot detects and removes landmines

Jevit is a remote-controlled robot that is used after a field is suspected of holding mines

The founding story of Spirit of Soccer

"Instead of picking up guns, we pick up footballs”

16th International Mine Action Symposium held in Slano

170 participants from 31 countries from Europe, Asia, and North and South America attended

Westminster teen dedicates life to removing land mines through Marshall Legacy Institute

“It really makes me want to advocate for the people in different countries who have to deal with this fear of land mines”

Clearing land mines may cause lasting environmental damage, study says

A study by an Iraqi researcher shows high levels of toxic metals in areas where mines have been cleared

Marine Corps bomb squad called out to Cape Lookout for unexploded ordnance, park says

Park rangers met with USMC Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians who disposed of it safely

To Walk the Earth in Safety 2019

New U.S. Government report showcases U.S. global leadership in landmine clearance and conventional weapons destruction

Cause for celebration

U.S. support helps Zimbabwe clear deadly explosive hazards and opens paths to opportunity

Shell found on East Preston beach destroyed in controlled explosion

The bomb could not be reached initially due to the tide

Frasure-Kruzel Drew Memorial Fellows have the opportunity to participate in conferences and visit demining sites all around the world

Fellow Laura Barela visited an NPA and ITF clearance site in Albania

Trialing 3D-printed bespoke orthotics to refugees with Humanity and Inclusion

The long term goal of this project is to create digital manufacturing hubs that can support better provision of bespoke prosthetic and orthotic devices to people who live in refugee camps in East Africa

Post-Conflict Recovery Week

Between two worlds: Refugees, asylum seekers, and U.S. policy in 2019

Explosive violence in February 2019

Syria was the country worst impacted

Old land mines threaten farmers and livestock in Eastern Zimbabwe

Even if people stay away, livestock wander the area freely and sometimes die after detonating mines

Kosovo resumes bid to clear country of land mines

Demining only takes place in the warmer months

JMU Giving Day through the years

This year CISR plans on continuing its support of the JMU community by setting aside part of the funds raised to the newly recognized student organization Dukes for Demining and Peace

Project RENEW kicks off wall-mural artwork project in support of its mine risk education outreach in Quang Tri province

The mural project is aimed at reinforcing children’s and adults’ awareness of UXO

Landmines kill eight in Borno community

Military and civilian militia sources blamed Boko Haram jihadists for planting the mine

Opportunities for regional training and information exchange reap benefits for Central Asia

The Journal of CWD

28 killed in Syria by Daesh landmines, US bombings

At least 44 people have been killed by UXO planted by Daesh fighters in the past three weeks

See how Ukrainians remove dangerous landmines by hand

In this 360° report, you can join the mine clearers to see how landmines are detected and neutralised

Land owner calls for help as his builders encounter wartime munitions

Twenty-five mortar rounds were safely removed

Mali troops killed by landmines in Mopti region

A security source put the toll at seven soldiers dead

The reverberating health effects of explosive weapon use in Syria

Life expectancy in Syria dropped by over 20 years according to the Syrian Centre for Policy Research

Gun fire, landmines slow SDF advance in ruins of Islamic State's Syrian territory

Smoke rose from the area along with the sound of intermittent clashes

The effects of ERW contamination in Sri Lanka

The Journal of CWD

Land mines will be hidden killer in Yemen decades after war

Land mines scattered by Yemen’s Houthi rebels will remain a threat

Project Renew expands survey and clearance of unexploded ordnance into Huong Hoa district, where the best coffee in Vietnam grows

More safe land will enable the expansion of coffee production

One killed, 18 injured in Dera Murad Jamali blast

An IED was planted in a motorcycle parked outside a private clinic in Pakistan

This is what happened after mislabeled Revolutionary War grenades sat on museum shelves for decades

Live ordnance has shown up at the door before, brought by folks who didn't recognize what they'd dug up in their garden