Jordan is contaminated by antipersonnel and anti-vehicle mines as well as explosive remnants of war (ERW), including grenades, artillery shells, and aircraft bombs. Contamination results from the 1948 partition of Palestine, the 1967–1969 Arab-Israeli conflict, the 1970 civil war, and the 1975 confrontation with Syria. There are also believed to be cluster munition remnants in remote areas, the result of the armed forces testing cluster munitions on firing ranges. The NCDR has no data on the extent of contamination, but believes that it is not extensive. A NATO-funded ERW survey initiated in September 2008 had recorded no cluster munition remnants as of end June 2009.
A Landmine Retrofit Survey (LRS) completed in September 2007 concluded that 10.5km2 of suspected mined areas remained, concentrated in well-defined and mapped military minefields along the border between Jordan and Syria. The LRS also identified six affected communities in the Jordan Valley, which have since been cleared of mines. However, a sampling and verification project in the Jordan Valley in August 2008 has identified 108 suspected hazardous areas. These areas will need to be surveyed and, if mines are confirmed, cleared as part of Jordan’s fulfillment of its obligations under the Ottawa Land Mine Ban Treaty.
ERW contamination, mostly from the 1970 civil war, is concentrated around Ajloun and North Shunah in the Jordan Valley, particularly near former Palestine Liberation Organization bases, where munitions were hidden in caves and buried underground. ERW are said to pose a greater risk than mines, causing a higher number of incidents. The NATO-funded ERW survey found more contamination than expected and by May 2009 had identified 264 affected communities.
Jordan has also had to deal with ERW that entered from Iraq through the scrap metal trade. Under a plan drawn up by the National Center for Demining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) and various government ministries and departments, army engineers have been positioned at the border to check scrap metal entering the country for unexploded ordnance, and ex-military personnel have been contracted to work at factories inspecting the scrap metal. The Jordanian government has a plan to establish a central market for all scrap metal, which can then be regulated.
Casualties
In 2008, the NCDR recorded at least 18 new mine/ERW casualties, including six killed and 12 injured, in 11 incidents. The majority of casualties were civilians, and two were military on a routine patrol. All were Jordanian nationals. Children were the biggest casualty group (nine boys and one girl). The remaining casualties were men. ERW caused 10 casualties and landmines eight. The most common activity at the time of the incidents was collecting scrap metal.
In 2009, the NCDR recorded just one new casualty as of 21 June 2009: a 22 year-old shepherd was injured by ERW.
The NCDR identified at least 779 mine/ERW casualties (125 killed and 654 injured) between 1949 and 22 June 2009. Of these, 673 verified mine/ERW casualties (19 killed and 654 injured) had been entered in the National Victim Database. The remaining 106 fatalities occurring prior to 2005 were not entered, as verification was not possible. The large majority of verified casualties occurred before 2000. Of all verified casualties entered in the database, 294 were civilians, 279 military, 21 deminers, and the status of 79 was unknown. Only 45 casualties were women, 18 were boys, one was a girl, and the rest were men.
From 2000 to December 2008, 88 verified mine/ERW casualties were recorded by the NCDR (13 killed and 75 injured); 60 were civilians, 23 military, three deminers, and two of unknown status. Most casualties were men, and only 18 boys, five women, and one girl became casualties.
Socio-economic impact
Mine clearance in the Jordan Valley and around Aqaba has opened up land to development of infrastructure, including dams, pipelines, airfield expansion, and housing, as well as for commercial farming and large-scale tourist developments. The LRS found that 34 communities with a total population of 69,000 claimed to be affected by mines, 17 of them in northern Mafraq governorate. Mined areas exacerbate already acute shortages of land and deny access to agricultural land and pasture and to scarce supplies of water, particularly in the northeast. Northern border clearance was expected to open access to at least 33 wells, assisting 7,000 people, and interviews with local residents found they expected household incomes to rise by a quarter as a result of the clearance.
Program Management and Coordination
Mine Action
Jordan established the NCDR under Law No. 34, passed in 2000, and an April 2002 royal decree, which appointed its board of directors. It includes representatives of the Jordanian Armed Forces, the government, NGOs, landmine survivors, and the media. It became fully operational in 2004 when Prince Mired Raad Zeid Al-Hussein, a cousin of King Abdullah, became the NCDR’s chair.
The NCDR was established as “the primary national mine action authority” responsible for preparing and overseeing implementation of a national mine action plan, including mine clearance, mine/ERW risk education (RE), and victim assistance (VA), and ensuring that mine action is integrated into the country’s wider development strategies. It is also responsible for coordinating, accrediting, and regulating all organizations involved in mine action as well as for fundraising.
The NCDR also conducts quality management of demining operations and in 2007 increased its staff to 18 to cope with the increased level of clearance.
Risk education
The NCDR is responsible for coordination and monitoring of RE activities. In November 2008, an RE steering committee and working group were established among RE operators, and they meet at least quarterly.
Victim assistance
The NCDR has a VA steering committee, including governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, to ensure mainstreaming of victim assistance into other relevant strategies. However, in November 2008 it delegated actual coordination of VA and appointed the Higher Council on the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities (HCAPD) as Jordan’s VA focal point. The HCAPD was established in 2007 and monitors the implementation of the National Strategy on Disabilities, ensures quality standards for services, provides training, advocacy, and networking services, and supports the cost of rehabilitation and education services for poor persons with disabilities as well as the development of disability programs in rural areas.
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