According to the United Nations (UN), each year, landmines kill thousands of people – most of them children, women and the elderly – and severely maim countless victims. Scattered in approximately 59 countries, minefields are a constant reminder of conflicts that occurred in the past, maintaining their harmful effects also in peacetime. The presence of mines makes the economic use of the affected areas unviable, making them inaccessible to the population and the established government, further restricting the economic and social development of the affected countries.
The Inter-American Defense Board has accumulated experience in mine clearance through the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (MARMINCA), the Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in South America (MARMINAS) and currently in Colombia with the Group of Inter-American Monitors (GMI-CO), and with the Group of Inter-American Technical Advisors (GATI-CO).
About GMI-CO, The Group was created within the framework of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) in 2006, its main mission being to support the Comprehensive Action Against Antipersonnel Mines (AICMA-CO) program of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Colombia, providing military personnel from IADB member countries to carry out the following tasks: participate as an external monitoring component of AICMA-CO, in the evaluation of documents, evaluation of training, operational evaluation and monitoring of the activities of the Demining Organizations Humanitarian Demining (ODH), all in accordance with international standards, national standards and approved operational procedures of Humanitarian Demining. In this context of military diplomacy, the Group constitutes an important multilateral action in Latin America to overcome conflicts and their effects. The GMI-CO has been demonstrating the importance of its work in supporting the efforts of the Colombian authorities to remove mines and, consequently, reduce the effects of these devices that have been affecting the country's population for more than five decades.
