In 2021, U.S. conventional weapons destruction (CWD) support in Europe continued to improve regional security and build national capacity in Eastern Europe by investing in efforts to prevent accidental explosions at munitions depots storing older, unstable ammunition; clear landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the Balkans left from the Yugoslav Wars; clear landmines and ERW resulting from Russia’s ongoing aggression in eastern Ukraine; and provide explosive ordnance risk education to prevent civilian casualties. The U.S. CWD program in Bosnia and Herzegovina marked a significant milestone in 2021 with the completion of the Mine Free Sarajevo project, which declared four municipalities, including the city of Sarajevo, mine free.
Since 1993, the U.S. CWD program has invested more than $511 million in CWD assistance in Europe, freeing much of Southeast Europe from the impact of landmines and ERW, while also making significant progress in reducing the region’s stockpiles of aging and excess munitions.
Through U.S. support, our implementing partners accomplished the following in 2021:
9,098,374 square meters (2,248 acres) of land were released for safe and productive use in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, and Ukraine
32,480 individuals received explosive ordnance risk education in Bosnia and Herzegovina and over 675 explosive ordnance risk education sessions were conducted in Ukraine
1,913 metric tons of excess and aging munitions were destroyed across the region
17 survivors of conflict received prosthetics in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The United States is the world’s single largest financial supporter of efforts to clear landmines and explosive remnants of war. Since 1993, the United States has invested more than $4.2 billion in more than 100 countries around the world to reduce the harmful worldwide effects of at-risk, illicitly-proliferated, and indiscriminately-used conventional weapons of war. For more information on U.S. humanitarian demining and CWD programs, see the latest edition of our annual report, To Walk the Earth in Safety.
For additional information or to request a printed copy of To Walk the Earth in Safety, please contact the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, at pm-cpa@state.gov, and follow us on Twitter @StateDeptPM. The report is also available on the Department of State website at https://www.state.gov/to-walk-the-earth-in-safety/.
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