After the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended in 1995, there were approximately 18.000 minefields in the country. According to the “Landmine Impact Survey” certified by the United Nations, and which was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2002-2003, 1.366 communities in 128 municipalities are affected by landmines and/or unexploded ordenances (UXOs). Many of the mine-impacted areas are situated along the front line, which today more or less constitutes the entity border. An estimated 1.375.800 people, that is roughly one third of BiH’s total population, live in the mine-impacted communities. Of these, an estimated 100.187 people are believed to be living in high-impacted communities. There are still around one million mines and UXOs in BiH, and approximately 3.7 % of the territory of BiH is covered with minefields.
Norwegian People’s Aid is one of the leading mine clearance organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The NGO is primarily funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, 125 persons are working for the NPA in BiH. Since the start of their programme in BiH in 1996, their focus has been to demine areas of return for refugees and internally displaced persons. The mine programme started in the Tuzla region, and NPA has since also cleared areas in and around Sarajevo, the Brcko district, and in the Pozavina corridor. As the country has entered a more developmental phase, in contrast to the initial emergency phase the first years after the war, the priorities of NPA have changed. Focus is now on peace consolidating efforts which involve the return of minorities to majority areas.
Besides manual demining, NPA uses mine detection dogs and different demining machines in their demining activities. Today, NPA has 12 certified mine dogs in BiH. The mine detection dogs are trained at the dog centre in Vogošća for one year before they become accredited explosive detection dogs. Also people in other parts of the world benefit from the competence and quality built up in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dogs trained in this country have been used in mine clearance operation in other mine-impacted countries throughout the world.
The results of the demining activities does not only secure more safe areas for the residents of BiH, but it also has the wider effect to strengthen the rehabilitation of the infrastructure, recover the economy, and to secure the return of refugees.