Ukrainian MPs and representatives of the Ministry for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine held a meeting with representatives of the Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC) in the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday, December 7, according to Verkhovna Rada First Deputy Speaker Iryna Gerashchenko, who represents Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group.
“The Minsk platform in the Verkhovna Rada. It was a very informative and practical meeting with Croatian colleagues who represent the Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC). The mines are one of the key threats and humanitarian challenges in Donbas. In the liberated villages our soldiers find mines banned by the Ottawa conventions that were left on Ukrainian soil by ‘brothers’ and their puppets. This is a problem for many years and decades, so the Croatian experience is so important to us,” Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page on December 7.
She noted that laws on humanitarian mine clearance and mine action had been adopted in Croatia, reducing the area of problem territories after the war from 22% of the country’s area to less than 1% and installing more than 13,000 warning signs.
“They have a national mine clearance program. The center reports in parliament every year on its implementation and spending. The interior and defense ministries are key (agencies) in mine clearance programs. The state provides serious social guarantees for fireworkers and mine clearance experts… This is a very interesting and important experience, and it is fundamental for us,” she wrote.
According to Gerashchenko, the Verkhovna Rada committee on national security and defense has currently set up a working group headed by deputy head of the People’s Front faction Andriy Teteruk, who is drafting bills on humanitarian mine clearance and mine action.
