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Syria

IMPACT

 

UNMAS Syria Response Programme’s (SRP) aim is to ensure that “the Syrian population benefits from safe access to basic services and livelihood opportunities;” by enabling the “humanitarian and early recovery partners to deliver free from the risk of explosive ordnance contamination.” Under this vision, UNMAS SRP operates as an enabler of the humanitarian and early recovery response in the country. Since launching this approach in Aug 2023, UNMAS was able to make these achievements:

August 2023- January  2025

 

 

Over 83 million square metres surveyed and 1,102 explosive ordnance (EO) items removed - UNMAS SRP deployed two non-technical survey (NTS) teams, a multi-tasking team (MTT) and banksman support to priority locations in Rural Damascus, Aleppo and Lattakia. Between August 2023 and December 2024, the two NTS teams completed 111 NTS tasks, identified 1,410 EO spot tasks and marked 90 hazardous areas (HAs); covering over 70 million square metres of land. Meanwhile, the MTT completed 1,337 spot tasks, removed 1,291 EO items and cleared a total area of 281,855 square metres. Two banksmen were deployed to Aleppo in support of the UNDP’s debris removal project, where they  identified and removed 89 EO items, allowing the UNDP teams to continue working safely.

 

63,765 people and over 400 humanitarian workers received risk education - UNMAS SRP reached 53,173 people in Rural Damascus, 7,876  in Aleppo and 615 in Lattakia and 1,705  in Hama with explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) sessions. UNMAS SRP trained 150  humanitarian workers as EORE facilitators to deliver direct sessions to communities and 99 others as focal points to deliver risk awareness to their colleagues. Meanwhile, 211  humanitarian workers were provided with risk awareness to enhance their safety in the field. In support of UNDP’s debris removal project in Aleppo, UNMAS SRP provided 140 rubble removal workers with EO safety briefings. UNMAS SRP further distributed 183,451  EO risk awareness materials to humanitarian partners (UN, INGOs, NGOs) in all 14 governorates in the country to mainstream EORE in their activities. 

 

 


 

14,135 victims and people with disability provided services - UNMAS SRP collects data on victims of EO incidents, and has provided victim assistance (VA) services to 14,135 victims and people with disability, out of whom 1,342 were EO incident survivors. The delivered services included 557 medical treatments and prosthetics, 777 socio-economic insertion services, and 1,972 cash assistance grants to improve access to services and reduce vulnerabilities. A pilot inclusive initiative was implemented by recruiting and training six EO incident survivors to deliver EORE sessions to the community, as part of a joint EORE/VA project in Rural Damascus. UNMAS maintained leadership of the VA working group, including updating the VA service mapping, activating and expanding the VA referral system and sharing recent VA standards and guidance. During the Brussels VIII Conference on Syria in May 2024, UNMAS SRP supported UNDP in advocating for disability inclusion. UNMAS updates and manages service mapping for EO Victims, to better coordinate humanitarian responses and strengthen referral mechanisms, by having a complete overview of the services offered by the various facilities.


Mine Action Center - Under its role as the de facto Mine Action Center (MAC) in the country, UNMAS continued to provide technical and operational support to the humanitarian mine action actors and the wider humanitarian and early recovery community; including through coordinating the Mine Action Area of Responsibility (MA AoR), structured data and analysis, training, quality assurance and accreditation to mine action operators. The OPS team provided desk accreditation to Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and renewed the desk accreditation for Global Clearance Solutions (GCS), and Social Humanitarian Economic Intervention for Local Development (SHEILD).

ABOUT

 

Mine action is a critical humanitarian need in Syria. The scale, severity, and complexity of the EO threat in the country remains a major protection concern, compounding the humanitarian crisis and the vulnerability of civilians in affected areas. UNMAS estimates that since 2013, an average of six people per day have been killed or injured by explosive ordnance.


According to the 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview draft, 14.4 million men, women, and children are at risk from EO contamination. Approximately one third of communities are estimated to be potentially contaminated. The destruction and contamination of residential areas and critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools and roads, hinders civilian access to basic services and the safe return of displaced persons. Explosive ordnance is a lethal barrier to movement and the delivery of humanitarian aid, and

endangers those seeking refuge from violence. In July 2018, UNMAS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Syrian Arab Republic. With its deployment in October 2018, UNMAS SRP started advocating for the expansion of humanitarian mine action activities across the country, and prioritising the communities most in need. 


UNMAS aims to enable humanitarian and early recovery partners to deliver free from the risk of EO contamination. As a result , affected civilians will benefit from safe access to basic services and livelihood opportunities. In the absence of a national MAC, UNMAS SRP acts as one, providing technical and operational support to the humanitarian mine action actors, including through quality assurance and accreditation. UNMAS SRP leads and coordinates the MA Area of Responsibility as well, ensuring the integration of MA needs into the UN strategic plans and advocacy documents, and disseminating relevant data and analysis. In line with the Humanitarian Response Plan, UNMAS provides financial and technical support for survey, risk education and victim assistance activities and projects.

Activities
 

1. Coordination and Quality Management

As the lead agency and coordinator for the Mine Action (MA) Area of Responsibility within the Global Cluster system, and the de facto MAC in the country, UNMAS SRP ensures that MA is integrated within the humanitarian coordination mechanisms, and that the EO threat is understood and taken into consideration in UN strategic planning. Central to its role, UNMAS SRP has established and manages the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) for Syria. The data is collated in IMSMA to generate custom-made information products and analysis to enable needs-based prioritisation and decision-making for the MA partners and wider humanitarian and early recovery response. Since establishment, UNMAS SRP has been providing accreditation and quality assurance to MA actors.

2. Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) 

Risk education is a life-saving component of the humanitarian and early recovery response, as it helps communities and humanitarian and early recovery actors adapt their behaviour to minimise EO risks to their safety. Through direct sessions, UNMAS SRP provides people in EO contaminated areas with life-saving information to reduce the likelihood of incidents. UNMAS SRP trains EORE facilitators and develops EORE materials and messages that are tailored to age, gender, profession, social responsibility and localised threats. To maximise reach, a risk education mobile phone application and online training platform will be launched soon. 

 

 

3. Survey, Marking and Clearance 

 

With UNMAS SRP’s advocacy, survey, marking and clearance are identified as priorities in the 2023-24 Humanitarian Response Plan. Survey and clearance are the only way to define the extent of contamination, identify, mark and fully remove the EO threat. The non-technical survey (NTS) includes desk assessments, analysis of historical records, and community liaison to collect and verify information about contamination, as a precursor to technical survey and clearance. Through technical surveys (TS), UNMAS physically confirms the absence/presence of EO, marks and records the areas where contamination is found. Clearance is the only way to fully eliminate the EO threat, as it ensures its removal and/or destruction in a specified area, and releases the land safely back to the community.

4. Victim Assistance (VA)

To ensure sustainability of VA interventions and that no one is left behind, UNMAS SRP connects between the relevant national institutions and humanitarian actors to map VA services for persons with disabilities, establish specialised referral pathways, and promote VA and disability concepts and standards. In 2020, UNMAS SRP developed a VA framework as a foundation to initiate VA in Syria; including: 1) collection and analysis of data on EO incidents and victims, 2) analysis and release of reports and factsheets, 3) establishment of a referral system in coordination with the health, protection and other sectors, and 4) establishment of the Victim Assistance Working Group.

FUNDING

 

UNMAS SRP currently seeks 26 million USD in 2024 to fulfil its role as the de-facto MAC and coordinator and to deliver EORE, survey and clearance and VA activities. Notably, including through the deployment of integrated and multitasking teams in each of the UN Hubs of Damascus, As-Sweida, Aleppo, Homs, Tartous, Al-Qamishli and Deir Ez-Zor, working to enable humanitarian and early recovery actors. Sustained multi-year funding is critical to maintain UNMAS SRP's operational capabilities to reduce the impact of EO on civilians throughout Syria, as well as to ensure continued coordination, advocacy, oversight, quality assurance and accreditation of mine action operations in Syria. 

 

 

Data as of January 2025