A memorandum of understanding on demining – Government hopes to complete all the demining operations by 2022
Format
The memorandums of understanding for 2020 and 2021 were signed on this occasion.
Secretary to the State Ministry of Rural Housing and Construction and Building Industry Promotion, Keerthi Ranjith Abeygunawardena on behalf of the Government and representatives of international and local NGOs such as MAG, HALO Trust, Dash, and PARP signed the MOU.
The demining operations are carried out under the guidance of the Sri Lankan President, Prime Minister, and State Minister of Rural Housing and Construction and Building Industry Promotion. State Minister Indika Anuruddha who is directly involved in this, recently paid a visit to observe the demining operations in Muhamale, Kilinochchi.
TUESDAY 21 JUNE
Co-Chairs of the Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socio-Economic Reintegration (Australia and Uganda)
FOCUS ON ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility is about enabling landmine and other ERW survivors to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life by ensuring equal access to the physical environment, services, communications and information, and identifying and eliminating obstacles and barriers to accessibility.
In the Cartagena Action Plan, the States Parties committed to “increase availability of and accessibility to appropriate services for female and male mine victims, by removing physical, social, cultural, economic, political and other barriers, including by expanding quality services in rural and remote areas and paying particular attention to vulnerable groups” (Action #31). In addition, in the Cartagena Action Plan, the States Parties note the importance of disseminating and applying inter alia “accessibility guidelines (…)