Land Mine Removal Project

Between 1961 and 2003 more than 7 million land mines were laid throughout the Kurdish region of Iraq. These landmines were spread across approximately 776 km² of Kurdistan. Most of the mines were placed by Iraq and Iran when they fought each other on these mountains. About 2 million landmines are still spread across 260 km² of the Kurdish region 176 km² of agricultural land is still in assessable.

Over 15,000 civilians have been killed or injured by landmines. In Kurdistan each year 10 to 15 villagers and farmers are killed or wounded by remaining lands. Much of the flatter areas of Kurdistan have been cleared, but in the mountains, the work is much more difficult. The deminer must hike with their equipment through steep, terrain and work by hand, clearing one centimeter of land at a time to a depth of 18 cm

In the Soran region, only one of the nine active de-mining teams is able to operate at a time. They have everything they need: trained staff, equipment, and infrastructure. The primary reason that these teams are not able to operate at full capacity is because of a lack of suitable vehicles to get to the areas where they need to work.

Our initial start to this project involves getting those teams back to work. FAI will purchase two vehicles which are specifically designed for demining work. This will put another team of de-miners on the field. As we receive funds we will purchase two vehicles at a time until the exiting demining teams are operating effectively. Each vehicle is between $15K-$20K.