Research and Publications

Land matters for mine action. Mine/ERW contamination has great implications for land rights and land access. Yet, despite the importance of land, mine action organisations rarely address land rights issues within their programming, claiming they are beyond their mandate, too complex and politically sensitive.  Nevertheless, land rights can affect mine action programmes at several important stages, including priority-setting, survey, marking, clearance and handover.

With this in mind, the GICHD is dedicated to assist mine action organizations by conducting useful research and tools that can provide practical guidance for mine action organisations on how to ensure their operations are conflict-sensitive and do not result in or aggravate land-related conflict. To launch this effort, in 2010, the GICHD commissioned research on seven country cases to examine what mine action organisations can do to better address land issues as part of their response to humanitarian emergencies and post-conflict recovery. The case studies are available below.

Based on the findings of the country case studies and the workshop discussions, GICHD published the following documents :

• A policy brief which provides mine action practitioners with guidance on how to mainstream land rights issues into their operations
  GICHD Publications & Tools | Landmines and Land Rights in Conflict Affected Contexts - Policy Brief, case studies, workshop presentations, etc.
  
• Two sets of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Land Rights and Mine Action developed in partnership with UN-HABITAT - one version that can be used by all mine action organisations, and another specific to the Afghanistan context
  • GICHD Publications & Tools | Land Rights and Mine Action: Frequently Asked Questions for Mine Action Organisations
  • LIMA | Land Rights and Mine Action in Afghanistan : Frequently Asked Questions (available in Dari, English and Pashto)
• Land Rights and Mine Action in Afghanistan : Analysis and Programming Entry-points for Mine Action Organisations - Final Report PDF 1.6MB
• List of organisations to contact PDF 81KB

Additional research and tools on land rights issues :

• LIMA | Mine Action, Security & and Development Resources | Landmines and Land Rights