Government EU: Keep demining in Ukraine permanently on the agenda

The Lausanne Ministerial Conference on Humanitarian Demining in Ukraine led to commitments from more than 40 countries to help the war-torn country. However, these efforts must be sustained, says the head of the EU delegation at the conference.

"The challenges are immense," says Peter Wagner, Director of the European Commission's Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) Service, in an interview with the Keystone-ATS news agency. "It is time to take stock and avoid doing anything in the next 18 months that should not be done".

Above all, "attention to the problem must be maintained" now that "budgets are under pressure in some countries", explains the EU official. "It is easy to say that Ukraine is one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world", but it is important to ensure that this situation changes. And there must also be further discussion about which areas of work should be pursued first.

The Lausanne Ministerial Conference had shown that the international community had made progress within a year in terms of its expertise on new financing options and technological innovations. Another positive component was that Ukraine, "together with its partners - Switzerland played a key role here - was able to activate enormous support", which was "more than usual", said Wagner.

Almost all countries are now involved in humanitarian demining. For its part, the EU will continue its support in the area of governance. The legal framework and organization in Ukraine "are not always fully adapted to the situation, even if the situation is gradually improving," said the FPI director.

Risk of corruption as a concern

The continuing risk of corruption must also be kept in mind. This is a concern because the EU and its member states have invested around a third of the 1 billion euros in international aid for Ukraine in demining. "That's a lot of money," the German clarifies.

Duplication must be avoided and it must be ensured that Ukrainian facilities can work. Within two years, the EU has spent almost 70 million euros and its 27 member states another 250 million euros individually.

In addition to supporting governance, Brussels also supplied equipment that was unusual for them, promoted technological innovations and helped non-governmental organizations. "Our legal framework is more flexible than that of quite a few member states," explained the FPI Director.

The EU funded the assistance of the International Center for Humanitarian Demining in Geneva and other actors to establish the new Ukrainian policy on this issue by 2033. Like Switzerland and most other states, Ukraine makes demining a basic requirement for the country's post-war reconstruction.

SDA