Nepal has become only the second country in Asia, after China, to be declared minefield-free. The Prime Minister and the Chief of Army Staff each pressed a switch to detonate the remaining landmines. Afterwards the Nepal Army was given a ‘Handover Certificate’ by the UN Mine Action Team (UNMAT) confirming that the land has been cleared according to international standards.

A total of 12,070 landmines were planted by the Nepal Army throughout the country during the decade-long armed conflict, to protect military installations and infrastructure. The minefield in Phulchowki was laid around one of the critical telecommunication masts.

As part of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord, the Government and the Maoists had committed to identify and clear the landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other explosive remnants of war. Battling hostile terrain and inclement weather, the men and women in blue scoured the minefields inch by inch, down on their knees, measuring, prodding, digging, snipping, and using metal detectors to clear every single every mine.

UNMAT has supported the Nepal Army in the humanitarian de-mining process. In the last four years, the Nepal Army has been able to clear more than 200,000 square metres of minefields and release over 5,300,000 square metres of safe land back to communities. UNICEF's focus has been on establishing an ongoing national victim information system and implementing mine risk education. Post-conflict, UNICEF provided the Nepal Army with 14,000 hazard signs and trained 25,000 security personnel from the police and army.

Although Nepal is ‘minefield free’, incidents involving IED explosions continue to occur, in part because numerous armed groups are still using IEDs as their main weapon.  UN officials at the minefield-free event urged the government to become the 157th country to sign to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, by which it would also agree to destroy any such stockpiled weapons.

More information about UNICEF's work in Nepal