17 December 2015: Seventeen Libyan participants successfully completed a three-week-long humanitarian emergency response training course for explosive ordnance disposal on 17 December 2015.

This humanitarian emergency response training course was specifically designed and tailored for the current Libyan context not only to improve participants’ theoretical knowledge on how to safely dispose of landmines and other explosive ordnance, but also to acquire practical skills of new techniques and procedures, whilst maintaining safety as a primary consideration.

One of the participants said that “the training helps him to increase practical skills with confidence to safely remove explosive ordnance and landmines.” The participant also mentioned that the training course was provided at the right time to accelerate our humanitarian mine action activities in Libya.

Another participant expressed his concern in Libya saying that “contamination of landmines and remnant of wars is large and everywhere in Libya. The level of contamination is a disaster. Children and women are also victims due to widely spread remnants of war in residential areas.”

At the same time, another participant, who used to be a driver to support explosive ordnance operators, shared his strong commitment, expressing “I also wanted to be one of the effective explosive ordnance disposal team members to mitigate such risks for Libya.”

The course was made possible with the generous contribution from the Government of Japan, which fully supports the Humanitarian Emergency Response Programme.

As of today, there are 50 Libyan explosive ordnance disposal operators that have now received additional training through this UNMAS Libya programme.