Originaly delivered in Arabic:
Statement by Mona K. Hider
UNDP Resident Representative, a.i.
International Day for Mine Awareness
7 April 2008
Mafraq-Jordan
Your Royal Highness Prince Mired Bin Raad
Your Excellency Zaid Zreiqat, Governor of Mafraq
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the United Nations Development Program, I would like firstly to express our pride and pleasure to be among you today to celebrate the International Day for Mine Awareness.
I would like to extend our thanks to the National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) led by H.R.H Prince Mired Bin Raad for inviting us to participate in this celebration. I seize this opportunity to congratulate NCDR, the Jordanian government represented by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC), all partners and donor countries working in the area of demining for the great achievement made by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan over the last few years. We undoubtedly believe that given to these distinguished efforts which succeeded and surpassed all expectations, Jordan will soon declare its lands completely landmine-free, making it a model to be followed by other countries which still in the beginning of the track.
It goes without saying that landmines do not constitute threat to human life only, but they represent also a serious obstacle to realizing sustainable development. The continuous danger caused by millions of landmines planted over wide areas in the world signifies a realistic symbol of ongoing destruction which continues even after wars and conflicts end.
In addition to the human and social dimensions due to loss of souls and injuries, the problem of landmines hinder making use of all available resources in the areas where they exist, whether by non use of lands or hampering the natural human activity in case of handicap incurred as a result of landmines. From this perspective, we in the UNDP are committed to make demining an effective process with real development outcomes.
We have already achieved this in Jordan through the capacity development project for the NCDR which was launched in 2004. The NCDR was provided with the necessary technical assistance through appropriate training programs and capacity building. This project led to developing the national anti-landmines strategy and its work program, conducting surveys and putting mechanisms in place to coordinate subsidies among donors. Due to the enormous efforts exerted by the NCDR under the pioneer leadership of H.R.H Prince Mired Bin Raad, the Chairman of NCDR, this project managed to achieve results beyond planned targets.
Thanks to the wise leadership of your Royal Highness, efforts united and Jordan managed in cooperation with the UNDP to attract a number of donor countries which provided funding to demining projects in Wadi Araba and Jordan Valley. Currently, landmines are being removed in the northern boundaries in the Kingdom which is few kilometers away from our site.
In this occasion, I would like to extend thanks and appreciation to the governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, ‘United Kingdom, South Korea, Norway and the European Union, which contributed through their funding of these projects to reducing financial difficulties that would have stood as obstacles in the way of our successes in this domain.
As the northern boundaries represent the major and the last challenge, I have the pleasure today to announce that an agreement will be shortly signed for a project to be funded by the European Union and implemented by UNDP that aims at making this region a completely landmine-free in the next few years.
Our celebration today came to stress the proven fact that the Jordanian government is determined to realize sustainable human development for all citizens in social, economic and environmental dimensions. Through these projects, the number of human injuries was decreased and lands with agricultural or touristic significance were reutilized. The success and outstanding reputation of Jordan at the international level in this field is highly evident in holding the Eighth Meeting of the States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in the Dead Sea at the end of the last year, which was the first of its kind in the Arab region and which yielded a distinguished success.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that we in the UNDP are determined to continue work and double our efforts in cooperation with the NCDR, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and all concerned institutions to achieve sustainable human development in Jordan where citizens can enjoy well-being and security.
Thank you