The United States (US) is the largest donor for mine action, having contributed more than US$2.4 billion since 1993 to more than 90 countries.[1]

In 2014, the US contributed more than $118 million to 28 countries and one area through several organizations, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), UNDP, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the ITF (International Trust Fund) Enhancing Human Security.[2]

Afghanistan, Iraq, Lao PDR, and Vietnam received the largest contributions, and constituted more than half of the US funding in 2014, while two additional recipients received at least $7 million each (Cambodia and Colombia).

US support to mine action was distributed among the following regions: East and South Asia and the Pacific (51%), the Middle East and North Africa (24%), Sub-Saharan Africa (11%), Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (8%), and the Americas (6%).

Priorities for US humanitarian mine action assistance in 2014 included battle area clearance in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as increased support to clear US-origin unexploded ordnance in Southeast Asia and Oceania.[3] Consequently, the US provided more than $30 million to address the threat of unexploded ordinance (UXO) in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands, including a 33% increase of its assistance to Lao PDR (from $9 million to $12 million).

US support to countries in southeastern Europe for mine action amounted to $4.8 million, including $2.8 million for clearance in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). All US funding for southeastern Europe was provided through the ITF.[4]

The US allocates the majority of its mine action funding through the State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA). Additional funding is allocated through the Patrick Leahy War Victims Fund within the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID.

The US also reported providing $10 million through USAID to two projects that focus on wheelchair users (some of which are explosive remnants of war survivors) in more than 30 countries and territories including Georgia, Iraq, Iraq, Jordan, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, and Zimbabwe, as well as Kosovo.[5]

In addition to the $118.2 million in mine action funding, the US also provided mine action training and demining equipment through its Department of Defense Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program. In 2014, the Department of Defense contributed more than $10 million to mine action globally through its humanitarian mine action training program.[6]

Contributions by recipient: 2014[7]

From 2010–2014, the US contribution for mine action totaled approximately $627 million, with an annual contribution averaging $125 million. It is the sixth consecutive year that the US support has totaled more than $100 million.

Summary of contributions: 2010–2014[8]