Why Iraq ?
By the end of 2017, the war against the Islamic State was officially over; the jihadist group had been driven out of all the areas it had occupied since 2014. For the Iraqi population however, this did not imply an immediate return to anormal life.
Many villages were, and still are, littered with homemade explosive devices laid by ISIS on roads, in fields, homes and schools. Inside buildings, these so-called “improvised mines" are sometimes hidden under furniture, in televisions or refrigerators, in doorways and windows. In addition to these deadly devices, dangerous items of unexploded or abandoned explosive ordnance are scattered across the former battlefields.
To enable people to return to their homes, cultivate their land and to send their children to school safely, it is essential to clear these contaminated villages and agricultural areas as soon as possible.