Safe Futures Start Here – the motto of this year’s International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action encapsulates our work in this sphere. Together with affected states, we need to ensure that mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) are cleared as quickly as possible, with survivors receiving immediate support. This cannot work without dovetailed cooperation between all actors.

According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people around the world are at risk from landmines and ERW, such as unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices – in Ukraine, Syria, Gaza and many other places. They kill civilians, block essential humanitarian assistance and have a long-term social and economic impact – often long after a conflict has ended. The figures are shocking: more than 80 percent of victims of mines and ERW are civilians, including a horrifying number of children. Schools remain closed, displaced persons cannot return home and reconstruction is hampered.

Humanitarian mine clearance is therefore always about protecting human rights, too: the right to life, to security, to freedom of movement. It is about education, healthcare and livelihoods. For survivors of mine accidents, the focus is on their right to participate fully in public life.

As the second-largest bilateral donor, we have in recent years invested 70 million euro annually to provide significant support for humanitarian mine clearance. With our Humanitarian Mine Action Strategy, we are setting clear priorities for the future, such as the involvement of women in all spheres and the implementation of innovative approaches for more successful clearance, so assistance can be provided as quickly and efficiently as possible. The affected states also have to play their part here. After all, we have a shared responsibility for the safe future of people in war zones.