INTRODUCTION
An improvised explosive device (IED) is “a device placed or fabricated in an improvised manner incorporating explosive material, destructive, lethal, noxious, incendiary, pyrotechnic materials or chemicals designed to destroy, disfigure, distract or harass. They may incorporate military stores but are normally devised from non-military components.” 1
ׁ NOTE. When IEDs meet the definition of anti-personnel (AP) mines, this must be recorded and reported, as they are also subject to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC).
Over the last decade a clear trend has been witnessed in the increased use of IEDs by armed groups. This increase has been simultaneous to a worldwide decline in the production, storage and use of commercially manufactured anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines. These two factors working together have magnified the impact that IEDs as a category of explosive ordnance (EO) has on post-conflict settings. In many post-conflict environments, such as Afghanistan or Iraq, IEDs now cause more civilian casualties than commercially manufactured landmines. 2 Enduring post-conflict IED contamination creates an environment of sustained insecurity and hinders recovery. The use of IEDs against civilians affects the entire spectrum of their human rights, including the right to life, physical security, education and health. Moreover, the socio-economic impact on goals for sustainable development can be significant given that IEDs impede commerce, contribute to internal displacement and refugee flows, obstruct humanitarian responses and civil society activity, and the practice of good governance and reconstruction. Reducing the impact of IEDs involves close cooperation and coordination between the diplomatic, rule of law, economic and information levers of power to restrict or undermine their use, protect the population, enhance their security freedoms, and restore confidence. Mine action (MA) therefore plays a significant part in facilitating the recovery of communities experiencing IED contamination in the wake of conflict. The GICHD has developed this IED Clearance Good Practice Guide with the aim of sharing information across the MA sector to assist in safe, effective and efficient IED search and disposal activities as part of a broader MA IED clearance process. The guide provides technical content related to specific techniques and procedures but is not intended to replace training or technical publications supplied by equipment providers.
1 IMAS 04.10 February 2019. Glossary of mine action terms, definitions and abbreviations. 2 In Afghanistan, mines of an improvised nature were responsible for more than 17 times the casualties as conventionally manufactured mines in 2019 (62 antipersonnel mines; 21 antivehicle mine; 1,093 improvised mines). http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2020/afghanistan/ casualties.aspx In Iraq during 2019, improvised mines cause almost 6 times the casualties of the conventionally manufactured mines, where a large number of mines are of unknown nature (of 242 casualties from mines in 2020, 28 were caused by antipersonnel mines; 161 by improvised mines; and 53 as a result of unspecified mines). http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2020/iraq/casualties.aspx
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