Tunis, Tunisia - 23 Ocotber 2015 - The United Nations Mine Actions Service (UNMAS) and Arms and Ammunition Advisory Section (AAAS) of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) have celebrated an Awards and Graduation Ceremony for the nine successful Libyan participants, who completed the three week-long Capacity Enhancement Training on Mine Risk Education (MRE) on 23 October 2015. Over 30 people attended the ceremony, including embassy officials and Humanitarian Mine Action partners in Libya, UNMAS is very grateful for their support.

A total of 84 hours MRE training was designed and implemented to enhance the capacity of Libyans involved in humanitarian mine action and emergency response to the dangers posed by mines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) as a result of the ongoing armed conflict. Specifically, it focused on key messaging, project management and practical application of MRE. The training was made possible by a generous contribution from the Government of Japan.

During the ceremony Mr. Lance Malin, Programme Manager, UNMAS/AAAS, thanked the participants for undertaking this lengthy commitment, and stressed that “there are now many Libyan people trained to deliver Risk Education, but UNMAS felt it was also important to provide training to the management level”.

Mr. Hidetoshi Kawahara, Second Secretary & Political Attaché from the Embassy of Japan, present on behalf of the Japanese Chargé d’Affairs Mr. Matsuda, echoed Mr Malin’s sentiments, adding, “Japan has defined mine action support as a core policy for humanitarian assistance, and our support through UNMAS reflects this recognition”. Mr. Kawahara wholeheartedly congratulated the graduates on the successful of completion of the training, emphasizing that the implementation of the principles learned during these courses would greatly assist the Libyan people and equip them with life-saving knowledge.

A participant and graduate of the course Mr. Yousuf Abraheem Albaraesi thanked the Government of Japan for their generous contribution towards this training and UNMAS for organising and providing the training.

UNMAS has completed four capacity enhancement training courses this year with 43 participants on humanitarian emergency response for Libyans in 2015.