SGS took part in the event "A path without obstacles: The Future of Mine Action in Ukraine"

Yesterday, a representative of SGS took part in the presentation of the White Paper on the renewal of the institutional architecture of mine action in Ukraine, created by the Tony Blair Institute.

Ukraine is facing an unprecedented task in the field of demining in terms of scale and complexity. Given the large-scale contamination of the territories with explosive remnants of war, Ukraine's recovery is directly linked to the ability to quickly bring these lands back into economic activity. All this while the country continues to defend itself against a full-scale Russian invasion.

Nevertheless, despite a significant increase in the scale and severity of the mine threat since February 2022, the Institute believes that the mine action management sector in Ukraine has not been adapted to the new realities and requires an updated institutional model of mine action.

To this end, and in order to achieve the government's goal of returning 80% of potentially hazardous areas to productive use by 2033, in September 2024, the Ukrainian government commissioned the Tony Blair Institute to analyze the institutional architecture of mine action in Ukraine to develop recommendations on potential improvements that could be made to the current system.

One of the key problems the Institute sees is the duplication of functions and responsibilities between branches of government and the lack of an effective mine action policy-making body.

Based on these findings, the Institute, together with partners from across the government of Ukraine, has developed a recommendation to update the system. The recommendation is to move to a simplified architecture led by a new mine action agency that has the capacity, authority and political capital to lead the mine action sector.

The Institute believes that this agency should be given a full and exclusive mandate to lead the formulation and implementation of state policy in all aspects of mine action.