The first of Sri Lanka’s mine-affected districts has been declared safe from landmines thanks to the work of demining teams from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). MAG has been working along side the Humanitarian Demining Unit of the Sri Lankan Army and coordinated by the Sri Lankan Government. In the wake of the country’s devastating civil war, which ended in 2009, Batticaloa District is the first to be classified as “residual risk”.

The occasion was marked by a ceremony overlooking Batticaloa Fort attended by representatives from the Government of Sri Lanka including D.M. Swaminathan, Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs, the US Embassy, the British High Commission, the Canadian High Commission, the Australian High Commission and the Japanese Embassy is an important step on the road to achieving a Landmine Free 2025.

Since 2009, MAG has removed and destroyed more than 40,000 mines and unexploded bombs in Sri Lanka, directly helping over 50,000 people and made a total of more than 34 square kilometres of land in the northern and eastern provinces safe for civilian use.

However, more work still needs to be done. With the right level of support Sri Lanka’s landmine contamination could be cleared in the next three years. Making areas of Sri Lanka safe from landmines is an important part of the post-war reconciliation efforts and essential to cementing sustainable peace. Government expect to clear all mine fields within the next three years.