Hollywood star visits Afghanistan to shine light on UN de-mining campaign

The actor Jeremy Renner, who shot to fame playing a bomb disposal expert in the Academy Award-winning film The Hurt Locker, has wrapped up a five-day visit to Afghanistan to highlight the real-life efforts of the United Nations to remove landmines from the war-scarred country.

Mr. Renner, whose Afghan trip ended earlier this week, toured UN de-mining projects in Kabul, Bamyan and Bagram, took part in an education session with high school students, spoke with survivors of explosions and even ventured on to a minefield.

Afghanistan remains plagued by mines, despite the ongoing efforts of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA), as a result of decades of conflict.

Nearly 7,000 separate mines or other hazards are estimated to still exist, and last year and average of 40 people were killed or injured by landmines or other explosive remnants of war – a figure that represents a significant decrease on the numbers of previous years.

So far this year UN de-miners have cleared or cancelled 63 minefields and three battle areas, destroying more than 11,000 anti-personnel mines, over 400 anti-tank mines and nearly 400,000 explosive remnants of war in the process. Yet new hazards continue to be found each year.

The so-called Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty requires total clearance by a target date of 2013, but at this stage only 39 per cent of the hazards have been removed.

Mr. Renner said he saw first-hand the benefits of the UN’s activities, particularly in former minefields where farmers are now growing wheat, potatoes or other crops.

“I’m a man of action and that’s why I like what the United Nations is doing here, action – mine action. We are not just talking about it, but taking action to solve this problem,” he said. “I’m here to be educated and then educate people about an issue that can be solved with the proper levels of funding.”