Albania

(various bilateral donors, multilateral funding through UNDP HQs and UNDP CO)

Support national and local capacity building to ensure the elimination of the obstacle the mines and UXO contamination pose to the resumption of normal economic activity, reconstruction and development in NE Albania.

General Background:

The landmine problem in Albania originates from the 1999 Kosovo conflict when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) military forces laid mines on both sides of the border of Albania and Kosovo and fired cluster munitions (KB1) inside the Albanian territory; also NATO cluster strikes left unexploded ordnance (UXO) scattered along the same area.

The mines and UXO contamination indirectly affects all of the population of the Kukes prefecture, which includes almost 120,000 people - of whom 75% are rural - and is one of the poorest regions in Albania. Thirty-nine villages with a population of more than 25,000 are directly affected. The main activities for income generation of these communities are grazing, farming, gathering firewood and other subsistence livelihoods. Poverty and the pressure on land are further exacerbated by 75% mountainous terrain in the North, as well as the mines and UXO contamination.

The Albanian Government commitment to address the mine problem is evident in their signing and ratification of the Ottawa APM Ban Treaty and the Amended Protocol II to the CCW Convention. All of the Government stockpiles of AP mines were destroyed by April 2002, two years ahead of the obligatory deadline.

In addition, towards the end of 1999 the Albanian Government decided to adopt International Mine Action Standards and established a structure to implement humanitarian mine action. In order to adequately coordinate mine action, an inter-ministerial body - the Albanian Mine Action Committee (AMAC) - was formed in October 1999. This body is the overall executive and policy - making body for mine action. At the same time, an operational body - the Albanian Mine Action Executive (AMAE) - was established to carry out the mine action programme under direction of the AMAC.

Support to Mine Action Project

In March 2003, UNDP Albania embarked the programme in support of mine action, and building the capacity of the AMAC and the AMAE. Within these years the Albanian Mine Action Executive with the support of UNDP and funding from various international donors as Canada, DfID, Switzerland, Turkey, Czech Republic, SIDA, EC and US State Department through the International Trust Fund (ITF), has developed the capacities to fully run the Mine Action Programme including an Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) Cell, a Support Cell (administrative, logistics and finance) and Operations Cell incorporating an integrated Quality Management (QM) section based at the Regional Office in the Northeast Albania. With these structures in place, mine action in Albania is being coordinated and executed in accordance with the national policy and priorities.

In framework of this project, technical assistance continues to be provided by UNDP in supporting AMAE to deal with the mine/UXO problem.

Starting from September 2008, the Support to Mine Action Project has been funded from EC through UNDP CO Albania.

The Albanian society in the affected region. The primary beneficiaries will be the communities, the border police, and individuals - the men, women and children most affected by landmines and UXOs.

AMAC , UNICEF, ICRC, ITF, UN Mine Action Service, GICHD, DCA, Local NGO-s VMA, ARC, NPOC Tirana Hospital, Kukes Hospital, Institute of Rehabilitation Slovenia, Handicap International and Kukes Prefecture.

Three districts comprising the Prefecture of Kukes in North-Eastern Albania: Kukes, Has and Tropoja.

The Project is being implemented by UNDP, in accordance with UNDP’s Direct Execution (DEX) modality and in close partnership with AMAC and AMAE which is the National Authority for Mine Action. AMAE is responsible for monitoring and coordination of all Mine Action Activities in the country.

Arben Braha
AMAE Director
amaealbania@amae.org.al
AMAE Office Tel/Fax 00355 4 2269 280

Vladimir Malkaj
UNDP Cluster Manager
vladimir.malkaj@undp.org
UNDP Albania Country Office, Tel: 00355 4 276600