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Since 2006, Handicap International has cleared more than 25,000 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos, the most heavily bombed country per capita on earth. Leonard Kaminski, the New Zealand-born chief of operations for Handicap International’s demining program in Laos, answers questions about Laos' UXO problem and the organization’s efforts to clear these weapons.

More than 50,000 people in Laos have been killed or injured by explosive remnants of war leftover from the Vietnam War. Millions of bombs still litter the land. Handicap International mine risk education teams educate children and adults about how to protect themselves and reduce the risk of accidents from these deadly weapons.

Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped millions of bombs on Laos as part of secret campaign to cut off North Vietnamese supply routes through the country. Today, Laotians like Nang, a mother of five, are still being injured and killed by explosive remnants of war. Handicap International helps victims to regain their economic independence. In 2015, the organization gave Nang two goats so she could start her own business.
 

In early 2016, Handicap International launched weapons clearance actions in the governorates of Kirkuk and Diyala, in Iraq. After several months of preliminary non-technical surveys and the marking of contaminated areas, clearance operations will soon start in these regions.

Two years ago, we met Nouay Phonesomxay, a Lao cluster bomb victim and Handicap International deminer. In May 2016, we caught up with Nouay as he and his team cleared land around Ponntong village, which was located near the former Ho Chi Minh Trail. During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese used the Ho Chi Minh Trail to bring supplies through Laos to support troops in Southern Vietnam. This route was heavily bombed by the U.S., and a high level of UXO pollution remains in the area today.

Handicap International provides risk education in Jammu and Kashmir about the explosive remnants of war that contaminate the ground in villages close to border with Pakistan. The organization also provides rehabilitation care to the most vulnerable people.

The conflict that tore through Gaza in summer 2014 not only caused extensive material damage, it left nearly 10,000 unexploded devices behind, including rockets, missile warheads and bombs. Since March 2015, Handicap International’s teams have been raising the awareness of people living in the worst-affected neighborhoods to prevent potentially deadly accidents. One such session, in Deir Al-Balah, led to the four unexploded devices being defused.

Handicap International’s demining expert, Simon Elmont, coordinates the organization’s efforts in Iraq to protect civilians from explosive remnants of war. These actions aim at clearing areas contaminated in previous wars and zones affected more recently by conflicts, such as territories occupied by the Islamic State group.

Since March 2016, Handicap International has worked with almost 20,000 people in northern Mali, raising awareness of small arms and light weapons and explosive remnants of war.   This awareness-raising campaign will continue for another year. The objective is to reduce the very high number of accidents in this region of the country, where weapons are commonplace following the intense fighting that took place in 2012-2013.
 

Since the beginning of its emergency response in Iraq in 2014, Handicap International has conducted mine risk education activities in several of the country’s governorates. Improving the safety of internally displaced people, returnees and local populations is one of the organization’s main goals in the region.  

British photographer Giles Duley knows the importance of physical rehabilitation all too well, both through the people with disabilities he has met in conflict zones around the world, and his own personal experience. Whilst working in Afghanistan in 2011, Giles was severely injured in an explosion, losing both his legs and an arm. But after more than a year of surgery and rehabilitation, he was back at work and more determined than ever to document the lives of people affected by conflict.

We asked Giles to tell us what rehabilitation means to him...

Handicap International has started up mine clearance operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Starting in June 2016, the organization and its local partner AFRILAM will clear a 50,000 meter squared plot of land, the equivalent of eight football pitches, located around 15 kilometers from Kinsagani, the main city in the province of Tshopo in the north-east of the country.
 

Eloquent, determined and mature beyond his 14 years, Qusay is coping with losing both his legs in an air strike in Syria. His progress is an inspiration to everyone he meets.

Five-year-old Malak is a curious and independent child who likes nothing more than walking round the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan with her father Houdey. But in December 2015 she was at home in Syria with her brother and sisters when the room they were in took a direct hit during an air strike.

Handicap International, with UNICEF's support, led a vast awareness-raising campaign in schools on the risks of mines and explosive remnants of war. The campaign took place near the front line where the Ukrainian army is fighting the pro-Russian militia, between October 2015 and February 2016. Over 5,600 children aged from 6 to 18 received risk education.