A round table on the topic “Humanitarian demining is the state duty” was held in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
The meeting was organized by the inter-faction association “Euro-Atlantic Space for Ukraine”. The meeting was opened by Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oksana Syroid. Representatives of ministries of defense, internal and foreign affairs, emergency situations, health care, as well as experts from international organizations took part in the round table. The Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine noted that the discussion would not affect any specific law or sustainable approach. “We understand that the problem of demining is for years, Oksana Syroid emphasized. - There are no surviving witnesses of the First World War but we still find the mines of those times. There is a large demining experience in the world and our duty is to understand all the prospects and consequences of our decisions. After all, they will concern many future generations”.
The Committee on National Security and Defence is currently working on a basic law relating to the demining of the territory. The working group, which is in charge of the topic, is headed by People's Deputy A.Teteruk. According to him, the committee held an absolutely open discussion of a number of bills, which received a lot of comments. They concerned the monopolization of such activities as demining of the territory. It was also a question of the threat of certain corruption risks. “Understanding the issues, we will prepare a bill that will remove all the painful issues,” said the parliamentarian. “The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine would not become one of the parties,” he emphasized, “but it is capable of defending the rights of people and the state”.
Ukraine is one of the most polluted countries in the world, along with Afhanistan and Syriia, international experts say. Such information was made public during the round table by representatives of the non-governmental organization “The Hallo Trust”, which is attached to the work related to the demining of our east. The development of maps with the location of minefields has already begun within the organization.
A representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, colonel Maksym Komisarov, said that demining works in the east of our country are being carried out by state emergency services and special transport unit. International organizations working with donor funds are also involved. From the beginning of the antiterrorist operation in the ATO zone, 290 thousand explosive objects were discovered and 25 thousand hectares of the territory were cleared. According to preliminary UN estimates, one year of military conflict leads to a decade of demining.