Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is heavily contaminated with mines, cluster munition remnants (CMR) and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), as a result of the 1992-1995 war. Most minefields are in the zone of separation between two main political entities: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Republic of Srpska (RS). As per Mine Action Review 2021 reports, the heavily mine-contaminated area is 50 km2 and the CMR-contaminated area is 2.05 km2.
264,011 households in 1,421 affected communities, with 845,163 persons are in need (92,817 boys, 87,990 girls, 328,842 men and 335,514 women), and 132,803 persons are directly endangered (14,611 boys, 13,772 girls, 49,073 men and 55,347 women). In the post-war period (1996-2021) 1,774 people were victims of mines/ERW in BiH, of which 620 people died. 249 victims or 14% are children.
NPA BiH was established in 1996 in response to grave humanitarian need following the three-year conflict. NPA response evolved beyond the original mandate to having a more development-focused impact, as well as supporting BiH to fulfil its CCM Article 4 and MBT Article 5 obligations.
NPA BiH aims to protect civilians from explosive weapons, enable access, safe livelihoods, and sustainable development through land release of areas contaminated with mines, CMR and ERW. NPA’s mine action activities include non-technical survey (NTS), technical survey (TS), clearance, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), risk assessment/explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), marking of affected areas, and capacity development of national stakeholders: BH Mine Action Centre, Armed Forces, and Civil Protection.
- released 10,589,073 m2 of mine-contaminated land and 679,127 m2 of CMR-contaminated land released back to the communities;
- located and safely destroyed 247 anti-personnel mines, 29 anti-tank mines, 873 UXO and 358 CMR found and safely destroyed;
- reached 2,710 direct beneficiaries (1,025 women, 1,223 men, 226 girls and 236 boys), and 12,595 indirect beneficiaries (4,873 women, 5,018 men, 1,322 girls and 1,382 boys) as a result of NPA BiH land release operations;
- educated 2,834 Explosive Ordnance Risk Education beneficiaries (1,044 women, 1,266 men, 249 girls and 275 boys);
- provided a Digger D-250 soil preparation machine to the Demining Battalion of the BiH Armed Forces; 86,900 m2 of land was mechanically prepared;
- conducted gender and diversity training for all NPA BiH staff;
- developed a programme statement of commitment for improved environmental management approaches.
