The war between Iraq and Iran during the 1980s, the Gulf War in 1991, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the more recent conflict to liberate Iraq from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have littered Iraq with millions of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), including cluster munition remnants (CMR), landmines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IED)/landmines of an improvised nature.
There is a total contaminated area of 1,716km2 mines and IED/Improvised mines and 260 km2 of CMR. Federal Iraq accounts for 1,503 km2 of landmines/IEDs and 190 km2 CMR. The presence of mines and ERW continues to hamper the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs), economic recovery, and development.
Iraq is a signatory to both the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) and the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CMC). According to Mine Action Review’s latest report, Iraq will not meet the MBT Article 5 deadline of February 2028 and the CCM Article 4 deadline of November 2028. This is due to the extensive scale of remaining contamination and the limited resources available to mine action.
Norwegian People's Aid in Iraq
NPA MAD Programme in Iraq is one of the longest-standing humanitarian mine action operators inside Iraq, with a presence since 1995. NPA MAD operates in southern Iraq (Basra and Muthanna governorates), northern Iraq (Ninewa Governorate) and central Iraq (Anbar Governorate). The representation office in Baghdad allows for closer coordination with national authorities, donors, and other mine action stakeholders in Iraq.
NPA’s mine action activities include non-technical survey (NTS), technical survey (TS), clearance, risk assessment/explosive ordnance risk education (EORE), marking of affected areas, and capacity development of national authorities: Directorate of Mine Action/ Regional Mine Action Centers. NPA currently has 9 NTS teams, 2 EORE teams, 37 multi-task teams, 11 mechanical teams, 3 mine detection dog teams, and 4 Quality Control (QC) teams across its operational areas in the country.
NPA’s work to protect civilians from explosive weapons in Iraq is enabled by generous support from several donors. They include the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA), the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO), the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA), the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) Canada, French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense (USDoD).
- 17,840,284m2 of land released.
- 29,609,299m2 cancelled land through NTS.
- 2,617 mines, 3,364 CM and 691 UXO/AXO found and safely destroyed.
- 43,143 people received EORE including 30,218 children and 12,925 adults.
