Today, the first “Meeting of Technologies for Humanitarian Demining” #TecnoDesminado, an event organized by the UN and the Directorate for Comprehensive Action Against Antipersonnel Mines (Daicma), takes place in the San Agustín Cloister of the National University in Bogotá. .
The meeting, which is held within the framework of the Innovation Route, seeks to publicize advances in the matter, in addition to promoting the exchange of experiences and possible future collaborations of research groups that are developing support technologies for the humanitarian demining.
Likewise, this day aims to highlight the investigative processes carried out by the country's scientific and academic community in the fight against antipersonnel mines, which allow the development and implementation of the necessary processes to advance the issue safely.
For his part, Diego Torres, coordinator of the event, comments that tools from the First and Second World Wars are still used for detection: “many of the mines in Colombia do not have metal, so the detectors cannot locate them. The issue for the country is particularly difficult and it is necessary to move forward in finding a way out,” said Torres, a doctor in Nuclear Physics from the UN.
All this academic and technical effort seeks to ensure that there are no new victims of mines, that rural communities have freedoms and their citizen rights are restored; Likewise, that they can have true rural development, with infrastructure, returns, land restitution and guarantees of non-repetition.
It should be added that during the meeting the advances of different academic groups will be presented in an attempt to consolidate an effective demining process, such as nuclear detection techniques or the emission of high-power electromagnetic waves for the destruction of commonly used mines, among other emerging technologies.
The National Center Against Explosive Artifacts and Mines, and the Colombian Military Industry (Indumil), as well as developers and research groups from the universities of Delaware (United States), Javeriana, La Salle, Eafit and Antioquia, among others, will participate in the event. other organizations and academic institutions that, according to Diego Torres, have worked silently and that now seek to share and strengthen their research and advances.
Statistics in the country.
According to the international organization Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, Colombia is the third most mined country in the world, after Cambodia and Afghanistan.
According to official figures from the Information Management System on Antipersonnel Mine Activities (IMSMA), between 1990 and September 29, 2015, 11,203 victims were registered in Colombia; Of these, 8,969 were injured and 2,234 died, 4,283 are civilians, 6,920 belong to the Public Force and 1,140 minors were affected.
To date, in Colombia there are four municipalities in three departments that are free of suspected mines and humanitarian demining operations are underway in 15 municipalities in four departments. With this, more than two million square meters (m2) have been released and more than 1,500 artifacts have been destroyed. However, there are still more than 600 municipalities to intervene.
Source: Press team of the scientific and technological committee for humanitarian demining in Colombia.
