Geneva-Sana
Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations Office and international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Husam al-Din Ala, affirmed that fulfilling the humanitarian goals envisaged by the Landmines Convention requires respecting the basic pillars on which the Convention was based, foremost of which is national ownership of mine clearance operations, strengthening international assistance and cooperation, and providing financial resources. And technology is far from political conditionality, once again demanding the immediate and unconditional lifting of unilateral Western coercive measures, and supporting Syria's efforts to cleanse all of its lands from the evils of mines, terrorism and foreign occupation.
In a statement he delivered before the twentieth meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines held at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Ambassador Alla stated that the participation of the Syrian Arab Republic in this meeting confirms the priority it attaches to saving the lives of its citizens from the dangers of mines and explosive ordnance left behind by groups. Armed terrorist organizations in the areas of their former control during the terrorist war launched by these groups against Syria, and their keenness to purify those areas to launch the economic and development life cycle and enable the displaced to return safely to their areas and lands and to restore their means of livelihood there.
Ambassador Alla praised the role of the Syrian Arab Army in implementing plans to clear mine-contaminated areas with the available capabilities and its contribution to removing more than 50,000 explosive devices, 84,000 unexploded ordnance and 45,000 various mines, and clearing more than 55,000 hectares of mines and ammunition, in parallel with the continuation of sounding And reconnaissance of mine-contaminated areas as a prelude to clearing them.
In the context of reviewing the efforts made by the Syrian government, he referred to cooperation with the United Nations Mine Action Service, in the areas of awareness of the dangers of mines, mitigation of incidents of exposure to them, field work to remove them and provide assistance to their victims, and the establishment of the National Committee for Mine Action headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, and the development of Technical standards and guidelines that define the operational framework for mine action in Syria in line with international standards.
Ambassador Alla stressed that expanding the field work area to clear Syrian lands of mines and explosive ordnance quickly and efficiently faces the scarcity of available financial and technical resources as a result of unilateral coercive measures and political conditionality on providing those resources, while the illegal foreign occupation and presence in some Syrian regions, and the use of armed terrorist groups cause of mines and improvised explosive devices in those areas, by blocking access to and clearing all contaminated areas.
At the end of his speech, Ambassador Alla warned of the dangers of mines planted by the Israeli occupation between homes and around fields and villages in the occupied Syrian Golan, on the lives of Syrian citizens there and on their sources of livelihood.
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