The Safer Sinjar programme is now entering its 12th month of implementation, thanks to the continued support of the Crisis and Support Centre of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
Since October 2022 the HAMAP-Humanitaire and SHO teams have been working together to make Sinjar safer, for the benefit of the people who stayed, those who have returned and those still displaced by the conflicts. Since August 2022 an important step has been taken with the start of clearance activities. In one year, three plots have been completely cleared of explosive contamination. Our two mixed teams first cleared the cemetery in the village of Al-Mawalih, then went on to clear a neighbouring farming area. The third plot was completed on 7 June, and consisted of farmland and a secondary road near the village of Adnaniyah, which was hit hard by the conflict.
Operations were halted for a few weeks to run training courses and allow the teams to build their skills. The content was developed by HAMAP-Humanitaire's technical advisers in collaboration with our local partner SHO over the preceding months. This work on training is part of our partner's capacity-building process. Its aim is, on the one hand, to support SHO in capturing and showcasing its expertise and, on the other, to develop the materials needed to train the teams.
Practical exercise during the Senior EOD Searcher training, using inert replicas (July 2023)
For the resumption of operations on 25 July, we selected a contaminated plot near a secondary school in the small town of Qabusiya, on the basis of our assessment of priorities. For this we assess the impact of contamination on communities, including in terms of hindering the use of basic services, using a points system. Qabusiya lies 8 km south of the town of Sinjar. Before 2014 Qabusiya had around 7,000 inhabitants (1,300 families); today nearly half the houses are in ruins and only around 20% of the population has returned. Returns continue, but at a very slow pace of around 2 to 3 families a month.
HAMAP-Humanitaire's technical adviser and one of SHO's clearance team leaders at the administrative site of the Qabusiya clearance operation (August 2023)
Despite the extreme heat of the Iraqi summer, the women and men who make up the clearance teams carry on their work in the field. As long as the temperature stays below 45 degrees Celsius, they tirelessly continue the painstaking work of detection, watched over by the team's nurses. This means the teams have to deploy before dawn to start their working day while temperatures are still relatively mild. Almost every morning, the villagers living nearby bring them snacks for breakfast as a sign of gratitude for their precious, life-saving work.
The plot at the northern edge of the town of Qabusiya consists of farmland left unused because of explosions that occurred during stubble burning in 2017 (with no casualties). Nearby, two children from the town were killed last year while handling an explosive remnant of war. Northern Qabusiya was a forward base for Daesh in 2015 and 2016, in the fighting against Kurdish forces backed by the international coalition. After being liberated for the first time in May 2016 by Kurdish forces, Qabusiya became a shifting front line again before being liberated once more on 25 May 2017 by Iraqi forces.
The secondary school right beside the plot is no longer in use because of damage caused by explosions and suspected explosive contamination. It has capacity for more than 300 pupils. At present there are around 70 children in Qabusiya of secondary school age, who attend school in the town of Sinjar. This example reflects a general problem across the Sinjar district: many school buildings have been destroyed, and those still usable are consequently overcrowded. In Qabusiya it is the primary school that is currently overcrowded. In the coming weeks our teams will seek to confirm or rule out the presence of contamination and determine its nature. If the school is booby-trapped, a « building search » intervention will be needed. That requires specific procedures, and we plan to develop and deliver this training during 2024.
In parallel, work to strengthen our Iraqi partner's organisational capacity is under way. It has taken the form of a full reassessment of the quality system, which has made it possible to measure how far they have come since 2019 and also the gaps that remain. Through audits, training and daily follow-up, the consultants from Localised Consulting are guiding our partner towards ever more efficient management of the organisation.
Every day the awareness teams make sure that people living near contaminated places and clearance sites know and adopt safe behaviour around explosives.
Qabusiya secondary school, damage caused by the conflict (August 2023)
Through this awareness and community liaison work, they identify new contaminated areas through residents (this is known as non-technical survey). Testimonies and key data are recorded and passed on to the national mine action authorities so that they can be included in their database.
Organisational capacity assessment session with Localised Consulting (May 2023)
To date, since the Safer Sinjar programme began, HAMAP-Humanitaire and SHO have made possible:
- awareness sessions for 12,479 residents of Sinjar;
- the clearance of 307,067 m² of land;
- the neutralisation of 21 explosive devices.
But much remains to be done in Sinjar: more than 2 million m² of contaminated land has already been recorded by the awareness and non-technical survey teams. The pace of clearance is picking up as the teams gain expertise and confidence, while the cost is falling since the main investments have already been made. Clearing explosives is nonetheless a long process, especially in a country as badly affected as Iraq. Achieving a mine-free Iraq will demand sustained effort from dedicated people and organisations over many years. It is because of this long-term horizon that capacity-building and localisation are essential in mine action.
This project is funded by the Crisis and Support Centre of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
