Colombo, Feb. 11 -- 30 year long civil conflict in Sri Lanka left many areas of the Northern and Eastern part of the country contaminated by anti-personnel mines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). The International Meeting on Mine Action for National Directors and UN Advisors was held from 5th to 8th February 2019 in Geneva at the UN office.

This meeting was aimed at discussing the lesson learnt, best practices and emerging issues of the mine affected countries.

It is noted that the Suspected Hazardous Area was initially 1302 Sq. Km mostly in the 8 districts of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The mines clearance programme enabled the release of large area of 1277 sq.km for safe settlement and as a result, directly and indirectly c...