Countries of similar challenges may fasten demining in Karabakh: Ukrainian pundit

April 4 is marked worldwide as the International Day for Mine Awareness & Assistance in Mine Action. The Azerbaijani nation, which has experienced the fatal consequences of landmines first-hand, being one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world, does not take the issue lightly.

Throughout the long bloody 30 years of occupation and even after Azerbaijan’s historic liberation of its lands, Armenia heavily mined Azerbaijan’s Karabakh and continuously failed to provide accurate mine maps. As a result of Armenia’s deliberate mine contamination, the number of mine victims in the last 30 years stands at 3,368 with 501 killed and 238 wounded since November 10, 2020, when the conflict ended.

In its fight with mines, Azerbaijan has focused all its resources on demining activities, as they remain the biggest pullback in terms of the safe return of internally displaced people to their native lands. In this vein, Azerbaijan plans to declare a national sustainable development goal on humanitarian demining and proposed to form a Like-Minded Group of Mine-Affected countries.

In a comment to Azernews, Ukrainian political analyst Vitaly Yarmolenko talking about the future of the contaminated lands shared an opinion that the territories will be almost completely unsuitable for agricultural activities, construction, or the establishment of transport communications, and energy networks.

“This is an extreme risk to the life and health of internally displaced persons who would like to return to their native lands. This excludes any serious investment in the post-conflict revival and development of the region,” the pundit emphasized.

Taking in mind Armenia’s disregard for Azerbaijan’s repetitive calls to provide complete mine maps, Yarmolenko noted that most likely, the total area of the contaminated lands to the full extent is only known to the competent representatives of Armenia.

“The absence of such information in Azerbaijan will most likely delay the demining process at times, especially given the peculiarity of the mountainous terrain,” he added.

The political analyst also underlined that the general tension in the region suggests that it will be difficult to reach an agreement on providing information from the Armenian side on the mined territories. Yerevan is unlikely to take this issue out of the general track of the negotiation process, he added.

Azerbaijan consistently collaborates with international organizations on the mining issue. This way, in February, the European Union and the United Nations Development Program launched a new demining project in collaboration with Azerbaijan’s Mine Action Agency.

Talking about the international collaborations on the mining agenda, the Ukrainian pundit underlined that in addition to the initiatives of international organizations, it would be useful to cooperate directly with states on a bilateral basis that has experienced similar challenges before.

“For example, Ukraine has imposed similar cooperation with Cambodia. The specialists of this country are now sharing their experience with their Ukrainian colleagues in clearing large areas of mines,” he finalized.