Skip to main content

Mine Clearance

Volume 400: debated on Tuesday 4 March 2003

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was spent on (a) humanitarian mine clearance, (b) commercial mine clearance (c) military initiatives, (d) mine awareness, (e) victim assistance and (f) research and development for mine clearance in 2002. [100011]

  • (a) DFID estimates that it will spend approximately £9 million on Humanitarian Mine Clearance in 2002–03. This figures also includes some integrated mine awareness activities. As programmes are often integrated separate costs of awareness are not available.
  • (b) DFID has not funded commercial mine clearance. There are no records of UK commercial demining activities currently available in Department of Trade and Industry.
  • (c) Military mine clearance has taken place in the Balkans since 1992. This is not funded by DFID. UK military advisers have been attached to UN Mine Action Centres assisting in the development of mine action programmes. They have also supervised the mine clearance carried out by the Entity Armed Forces and provided mine awareness to local populations. The Mine Information Training Centre (MITC) has provided mine awareness training to over 30,000 people. The MOD has also continued to monitor minefields in the Falkland Islands. This work is part of the wider responsibilities of those involved and is impossible to cost accurately.
  • (d) DFID has contributed £300,000 to UNICEF for specific mine awareness activities.
  • (e) Assistance to landmine victims is additional to our mine programme. Mine victims benefit from our mainstream health and population and social development programmes, as well as specific humanitarian programmes assisting the disabled. It is not possible to disaggregate expenditure figures for landmine victims.
  • (f)DFID estimates that it will spend £1,400,000 on research and development in 2002–03 in connection with Humanitarian Mine Action.
  • To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what organisations the Government gave money for mine clearance in 2002–03; and how much was given in each case. [100009]

    The following table gives the figures for the Department of International Development:

    £
    OrganisationEstimated final Outturn 2002–03
    The HALO Trust (bilateral)325,000
    Mines Advisory Group (MAG) (bilateral)660,000
    United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS)5,300,000
    UNICEF (Mines Awareness)300,000
    Organisation of American States (Nicaragua demining)378,000
    QINETIQ (Tech Advice and Testing)200,000
    UNDP2,500,000
    Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)1,000,000
    Landmine Monitor137,000
    DISARMCO (Research and Development)10,000
    ERA (Research and Development)117,000
    SERCO (Research and Development)30,000
    BARIC Consultants (Technical Advice)100,000
    Total11,057,000

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the expenditure was on humanitarian mine clearance in each year since 1997, broken down by country. [100010]

    For details relating to the period 1997 to 2000, I refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave her on 29 March 2001 (Official Report, column 721W). The figures for 2000 to 2003 are given in the table below:

    Country2000–01 (£)2001–02 (£)2002–03 (£ estimated)
    Afghanistan3,150,0001,800,000
    Albania369,648
    Chad369,648
    Croatia150,000
    Eritrea544,151694,540
    Guinea Bissau120,000
    Lebanon387,296
    Nicaragua283,000189,000378,000
    Cambodia1,430,5711,000,000500,000
    Northern Iraq616,100500,000500,000
    Jordan270,000197,402
    Laos616,689300,000
    Georgia438,616500,000325,000
    Kosovo8,700,0002,000,000
    Thailand300,000
    Bosnia500,000
    Croatia326,529
    The balance of the DFID spend on Humanitarian Mine Action is via the UN and not ring fenced for specific countries.