(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait has stressed the importance of limiting the hazards of war remnants including unexploded ordnances, Kuwait's Permanent Representative at the UN and International Organizations Ambassador Jamal Al-Ghunaim said.
The official's remarks were made during the ninth meeting of the UN's Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War (Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons) held in Geneva on Thursday.
Explosives left by war pose great danger on the ecological system around them, said Al-Ghunaim, calling on all countries to thoroughly study the effects on the environment to limit the hazards.
Kuwait, which has joined the convention on 24 May 2013, had started removing the remnants of the Iraqi invasion directly upon the war's end in 1991, said the ambassador, adding that the mines were planted along Kuwait's coast and around its economic bodies and oil facilities.
Meanwhile, he noted that the country faced many challenges in removing these explosives, including the high temperatures in summer that caused many mines to self-explode, the nature of the dessert environment that led the explosives to sink deeper into the sands and the lack of thorough maps on the affected areas.
He also added that the cleaning process cost Kuwait between USD 31,000 to 67,000 per one square klm.
Al-Ghunaim went on to warn against the dangers these remnants pose on the lives and wellbeing of people, as mines had killed or dismembered civilians including children.
Kuwait is providing special care to survivors of unexploded ordnance, including free medical services and physiotherapy, financial aid, social and residency services, education, transportation and specialized workshop for prosthesis, said the ambassador.
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