Serbia
Problem statement
Cluster Munitions
During the 1999 bombing campaign cluster bombs were dropped on targets in 16 municipalities in the Republic of Serbia. Throughout and immediately following the bombing campaign, initial removal of unexploded cluster munitions from the surface was implemented by the members of the armed and police forces in order to provide basic security to local inhabitants from danger of cluster bombs and UXO, thus, substantially reducing occurrence of injuries and deadly accidents of civilian population. Today, removal of cluster munitions and UXO is still being implemented in Serbia in order to completely eliminate the related threat.
Cluster munitions can currently still be found in the vicinity of the target areas on approximately 2.4 million square meters.
Mines
Demining of minefields in the Municipality of Šid (villages of Jamena, Morović and Batrovci - border area with Croatia), in the area of over 5.9 million square meters, was completed in the period 2003 - 2009, on 44 project locations, removing 5,139 items of various types of mines and unexploded ordnance.
In 2009, the Mine Action Centre of Serbia (MACS) obtained information that there are mine suspected areas remaining also in Municipalities of Bujanovac and Preševo, containing various types of mines (groups of mines). After survey of these areas, 10 locations were confirmed as mine hazardous areas in Bujanovac Municipality in the extent of 3.5 million square meters.
By the end of 2019 operational season, 1.2 million square meters of mine suspected/contaminated remain to be technically treated and demined.
What we do
Clearance of landmines and ERW
In 2019 operational year in Serbia (Municipalites of Bujanovac and Niš), in total 707,144 square meters of land was released on 3 project locations, removing 20 mines,15 items of unexploded ordnance and 4 cluster munitions.
Mine clearance was performed in Bujanovac Municlipality on two projects - Turijska Brda (389,200 square meters) and Končulj-Singerit (198,600 square meters), while one cluster munition clearance project was implemented in Niš Municipality - Medoševac (119,344 square meters).
Capacity Building
ITF assists the Mine Action Centre of Serbia through the enhancement of their capacities. This included provision of GPS devices, and office equipment and vehicle purchases, trainings and similar assistance that will allow employees to implement their everyday tasks on the field, and prepare detailed projects for demining and cluster munitions clearance in the future.
For more information on ITF’s past activities in Serbia, we welcome you to consult our Annual Reports.