During the annual Ukraine Mine Action Conference 2024 (UMAC-2024), partner countries announced additional commitments to support humanitarian demining worth almost 70 million in dollar terms. Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada announced additional pledges. The total contribution of partners to humanitarian demining since 2022 has amounted to USD 1 billion 70 million.

“We greatly appreciate the contribution our partners are making to humanitarian demining in Ukraine. This is not just about machines, equipment or money for project implementation – it is about saving lives in Ukraine and restoring global food security. Thanks to this systematic support, we have already made significant progress in demining. A year ago, we met with our partners at a mine action forum in Zagreb, Croatia. Back then, we had 18 operators, some 3,000 deminers and 32 demining vehicles. Today, 58 operators have been certified, the number of deminers has increased to more than 4,000, and 98 demining machines are working in the fields,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

Luxembourg has allocated USD 13 million for humanitarian demining projects in Ukraine. These funds will be used for projects to be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (USD 10.8 million), the international organisation HALO Trust (USD 1.08 million) and through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (USD 1.08 million).

Norway has announced additional funding for humanitarian demining in Ukraine. The country is allocating USD 20 million for 2025, increasing its contribution to USD 70 million. Norway’s focus in humanitarian demining is on funding field work, supporting affected communities and strengthening mine action capacity.

The Netherlands, which has already allocated more than USD 40 million to humanitarian demining in Ukraine, has announced an additional USD 10.8 million for projects in 2025.

Canada is providing USD 24.5 million for humanitarian demining in Ukraine, bringing its total contribution to the sector to more than USD 50 million.

The Government of Latvia has allocated more than EUR 270,000 for humanitarian demining in Ukraine. This money will go to the international organisation HALO Trust, whose experts are working to clear land in several regions of Ukraine affected by the fighting.

Switzerland, this year’s host of UMAC-2024, has announced the transfer of three GCS-200 heavy demining vehicles to Ukraine for the country’s State Emergency Service demining units. The first of these vehicles was symbolically handed over during the Conference. Switzerland also decided to allocate CHF 30 million to one of the projects of the FSD (Fondation suisse de déminage), which is active in Ukraine. The funds are part of the previously announced CHF 100 million aid package.

The governments of Switzerland and the United Kingdom are ready to allocate funds for a pilot project on prioritisation of humanitarian demining. The system, built on the platform of the tech company Palantir, will allow to identify priority areas for demining based on a large data set. The pilot project in Kharkiv region will last three months.

The United States, which pledged USD 102 million in aid for humanitarian demining in September, announced an initiative at the Conference to build the capacity of private humanitarian demining operators. They plan to conduct a needs assessment of Ukrainian operators and improve their knowledge of how international donor organisations work. This will enable the operators to attract international support in the future. The first step in this direction could be to strengthen cooperation between Ukrainian and international operators.

The final document committing to support humanitarian demining in Ukraine was signed by 42 countries. One of its key points is that mine action should remain on the international agenda. And the signatories should make efforts to minimise the impact of mines and remnants of war on people’s lives, including through demining and the development of innovative technologies.