Iraq

Fleeing to safety but finding landmines - The situation for Syrian Refugees
Posted by MAG | March 13, 2013

In late January I attended a briefing from the UN’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on the humanitarian crisis in Syria.  At the time there were nearly 700,000 Syrian refugees who had fled their homes to escape the violence and brutality occurring in their country.  Now, just over a month later, that number has grown to over 1 million.  According to a recent CNN report, the number of Syrian refugees could double, and possibly triple, but the end of the year if the situation does not change.

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"We were not thinking about anything other than being free"
Posted by MAG | February 27, 2013

Niem, Khaild, Ramadan and their families fled Syria for the Domiz Refugee Camp in northern Iraq in January 2013. Their path from the border to the registration point took them past a known minefield.

MAG Community Liaison teams have been working at the crossing to ensure that the 600 men, women and children arriving every day stay safe.

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Linkages Between Landmine and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Contamination and Development
Posted by MAG | November 14, 2012

The harmful effects of landmines and UXO on populations in terms of accidents, injuries, and death are relatively well known, the impact of landmine and UXO contamination on development is often overlooked.

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Visiting a Refugee camp in Dohuk, Iraq
Posted by MAG | May 29, 2012

In April 2012, I went on my trip to the field – visiting MAG’s programs in Iraq and Lebanon. MAG Iraq is our biggest program: we clear land for agriculture and development needs, deploy emergency response Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams to destroy dangerous items, provide Mine Risk Education (MRE) to reduce the threat to the community, and the Community Liaison (CL) teams work with communities and partners to make sure our work is addressing the most urgent needs.

On our first day in the field, I traveled with MAG’s Community Liaison Manager (CLM) and other program staff to a refugee camp.  While driving on the dusty roads of Dohuk, we saw droves of students walking to school. I asked MAG’s CLM if the children in the refugee camps were able to attend school, and he told me the kids will join the schools when the semester begins again.

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