International conventions and International Mine Action Standard (IMAS) attribute responsibility to affected States the responsibility of addressing risks from explosive ordnance. Ensuring such national ownership requires setting up an institutional architecture that is clear about who is in charge of developing and implementing mine action programmes.
To build this institutional architecture requires policy decisions and legal acts on the allocation of mine action responsibilities between ministries and agencies. In conflict and post-conflict contexts, these decisions are often sensitive because they have an impact on political power, resources and operational capacities. Therefore, it is important that advice is not only based on IMAS, but also on guidance and expertise from the security sector reform (SSR), which applies the principles of good governance (accountability, transparency, and rule of law) to the broader security sector.
The GICHD has addressed this topic through collaboration with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), an expert organisation in SSR, also located at the Maison de la Paix. Activities have been conducted in Ukraine where, in partnership with the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (OSCE PCU), advice and training have been provided and led to the development and adoption of mine action legislation.
As in the case of Ukraine, other countries are confronted with the need to develop or reform their mine action institutional architecture. In the framework of the Strategy 2019-2022, the GICHD intends to broaden the support on this matter to other countries and to facilitate the exchange of expertise between mine action organisations and the SSR community of practice.