To Walk the Earth in Safety 14th Edition (FY2013)

The 13th edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety describes the programs and partnerships that comprise the U.S. Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) Program. Since 1993, the U.S. has led the international donor community in reducing the harmful effects of poorly secured, unstable or illegally traded conventional weapons of war. We have contributed over $2.3 billion to more than 90 countries around the world. This mission resonates with my own experience. I started my career in Afghanistan, where explosive remnants of war had already claimed thousands of lives. I am proud to be in a position to oversee U.S. efforts to address this threat. Our work, combined with contributions from the rest of the donor community, has significantly reduced the impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance. The worldwide annual casualty rate from these threats has plummeted. Communities are safer. Citizens are better able to rebuild their homes and livelihoods, fostering regional stability and international security. Collaboration with host nation governments has been critical to this progress, as have significant contributions from the private sector and civil society. Our programs are part of a broader U.S. framework on conventional weapons destruction. For example, at the Third Review Conference of States Parties to the Ottawa Convention in Maputo, Mozambique in June 2014, the United States announced that the United States will not produce or otherwise acquire any anti-personnel munitions that are not compliant with the Ottawa Convention, including to replace stockpiles as they expire over the coming years. Meanwhile, we are diligently pursuing other solutions that would ultimately allow us to accede to the Convention. In fiscal year 2013, the Department of State provided over$142 million in CWD assistance to 49 countries. Our program helped post-conflict communities and countries recover and rebuild by clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war, providing victim assistance and mine/unexploded ordnance risk education, and destroying or securing conventional weapons. This report details the significant accomplishments and milestones we achieved in fiscal year 2013

To Walk the Earth in Safety 12th Edition (FY2012)

In 2013, we celebrate 20 years of U.S. Government agencies working together to lead the international donor community in supporting the clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), as well as the destruction of at-risk and unsecured weapons and munitions. The United States first became involved in humanitarian demining in 1988 by sending a team to assess the landmine situation in Afghanistan. In 1993, U.S. assistance took an important step forward when the Department of State (DOS), Department of Defense (DOD), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) formed an interagency partnership to coordinate U.S. humanitarian demining programs globally. U.S. efforts have helped numerous countries reduce the impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), contributed to a dramatic reduction in the worldwide annual casualty rate from these threats, allowed refugees and internally displaced persons to return safely to their homes, enhanced the political and economic stability of nations affected by landmines, and increased international security. This edition of our annual report, To Walk the Earth in Safety, examines how far we have come in two decades of sustained support for humanitarian mine action (HMA) and details the programs and partnerships that comprise the U.S. Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) Program, which includes HMA. Since 1993, the U.S. has contributed over $2 billion to more than 90 countries around the world to reduce the harmful worldwide effects of at-risk, illicitly proliferated, and indiscriminately used conventional weapons of war

To Walk the Earth in Safety 16th edition (CY2016)

Even after a conflict ends and the fighters have gone home, the threats from landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and at-risk weapons and munitions remain. These threats foment instability; as long as men, women, and children fear to move about their communities due to the lingering threat of landmines and UXO, a society can never fully heal and rebuild. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) works with foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations to deliver programs and services aimed at reducing the harmful effects of at-risk, illicitly proliferated, and indiscriminately used conventional weapons of war worldwide. These programs help remove landmines and UXO from former battlefields, keep weapons and ammunition out of the wrong hands, and aid countries to invest in proper stockpile management and security—including destruction of conventional weapons no longer needed. These programs play a key role in advancing the U.S. State Department’s core mission of shaping and sustaining a peaceful, prosperous, just, and democratic world and fostering the conditions for stability and progress for the benefit of all people. Since 1993, the United States has provided more than $2.6 billion in assistance in more than 95 countries for CWD programs, delivering the expertise and equipment to secure and destroy at-risk and excess conventional weapons and safely clear mines and UXO. These funds also support mine risk education to prevent accidents, and provide prosthetics, physical rehabilitation services, and vocational training for the injured

Report to Congress on Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021

The United States anticipates receiving more than 300,000 new asylum claimants and refugees in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. Pursuant to Section 207(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the President proposes resettling up to 15,000 refugees under the FY 2021 refugee admissions ceiling, and anticipates receiving new asylum claims that include more than 290,000 individuals. This proposed refugee admissions ceiling reflects the continuing backlog of over 1.1 million asylum-seekers who are awaiting adjudication of their claims inside the United States, and it accounts for the arrival of refugees whose resettlement in the United States was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

2002 Trafficking in Persons Report

Over the past year, at least 700,000, and possibly as many as four million men women and children worldwide were bought, sold, transported and held against their will in slave-like conditions. In this modern form of slavery, known as “trafficking in persons,” traffickers use threats, intimidation and violence to force victims to engage in sex acts or to labor under conditions comparable to slavery for the traffickers’ financial gain. Women, children and men are trafficked into the international sex trade for the purposes of prostitution, sex tourism and other commercial sexual services and into forced labor situations in sweatshops, construction sites and agricultural settings. The practice may take other forms as well, including the abduction of children and their conscription into government forces or rebel armies, the sale of women and children into domestic servitude, and the use of children as street beggars and camel jockeys

To Walk the Earth in Safety 6th Edition (FY2004 and 2005)

This sixth edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety summarizes the accomplishments of the inter-agency U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program for fiscal years 2004 and 2005. In a strict sense, it is a combined annual report for two years on what was then and still is the world’s largest such program. But it is also a chapter in a real-life story that has a beginning, middle, and, we now know because of more than fifteen years of practical experience, an end. Public safety and regional stability can be endangered by illegally traffi cked small arms and light weapons, abandoned ordnance, and poorly secured munitions as well as by persistent landmines left from past conflicts. Some countries are affected by several of these often-interrelated problems. Therefore, this edition also chronicles the efforts of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs’ Offi ce of Weapons Removal and Abatement to address the adverse effects in all these areas. The U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program envisions assisting mine-affected countries in becoming “mine impact-free,” or having the indigenous national capacity to achieve such a condition with little to no further outside assistance. A country that is mine impact-free is one where there is no economic or humanitarian justification for large-scale humanitarian mine clearance. Achieving that goal entails more than mine clearance alone. For example, one facet of the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program described in this report is training indigenous senior and mid-level national mine action managers so that they may “take ownership” of their countries’ programs, run them efficiently, and rationally direct resources to mine-affected areas that have an immediate impact on safety and well-being. This edition also refl ects progress by its omissions. The previous edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, published in 2004, no longer included an entry for Costa Rica. This is because Costa Rica was finally rendered mine impact free, thanks in large part to the United States. We are also delighted to omit Djibouti, Guatemala and Honduras from this edition for the same reason. Again, thanks largely to the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program, Djibouti became the fi rst mine-affected country in all of Africa to attain mine impact-free status in January 2004. Honduras followed in October 2004 and Guatemala completed demining in December 2005. Country by country, the United States’ humanitarian mine action and small arms/light weapons abatement programs are helping to remove dangerous threats and enabling more people everywhere to be able “to walk the earth in safety.

Department of State - Global Affairs

The Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP) is pleased to announce a two-stage competitive process for 2010 funding of projects that will improve the response to trafficking in persons outside the United States. The first stage is submission and competitive panel review of two-page Statements of Interest (SOI) from organizations interested in submitting proposals for projects that combat human trafficking. In the second stage, G/TIP will invite applicants whose Statements of Interest are reviewed favorably to submit proposals that expand on their SOI. These proposals will also be reviewed by a panel for consideration of funding. This announcement initiates the first stage, and G/TIP is now requesting applicants to submit a Statement of Interest, as described in this solicitation. U.S.-based non-profit and nongovernmental organizations (NGO), public international organizations (PIO), foreign NGOs, and institutions of higher education are encouraged to apply by submitting a Statement of Interest. Pending appropriations, G/TIP anticipates awarding grants of up to $750,000 per project

To Walk the Earth in Safety 3rd Edition (FY2001)

The United States first became involved in humanitarian demining in 1988 when it sent a team to assess the landmine situation in Afghanistan. Five years later, U.S. demining-related programs were underway in Afghanistan and seven other countries. By the end of 2001, we will have provided more than $500 million to 38 countries, as well as the Province of Kosovo and northwest Somalia, for various humanitarian demining efforts such as deminer training, mine awareness and mine clearance, as well as orthopedic assistance to, and socioeconomic reintegration programs for, landmine accident survivors and their families. Almost$100 million of this amount will be spent in Fiscal Year (FY) 01, the largest commitment of any nation involved in financing humanitarian demining activities. The list of recipients of U.S. humanitarian demining assistance is expected to grow in 2002. As a result of our assistance, and that of other donor nations, the world is seeing positive results in many mine-affected countries\u27 reduced casualties, restored agricultural and pastoral land, the return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) to their homes, reopened roads, schools, and markets, and other visible evidence of a return to a productive life. The goals of the U.S. humanitarian demining program are simple and direct: to reduce the loss of life and limb of innocents; to create conditions for the safe return of refugees and IDP; and to afford opportunity for economic and social reconstruction. Our principal means of achieving these objectives is to assist mine-afflicted countries worldwide in establishing a sustainable, indigenous demining capacity with the appropriate resources and skills needed to sustain progress toward a country declaring itself mine-safe. This, the 3rd edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety: The United States Commitment to Humanitarian Demining, tells the U.S. story, but not the whole story. Foreign governments, the United Nations, other international and nongovernmental organizations (NGO), and mine-affected countries also play a critical role in supporting humanitarian demining programs. The impact of these collective contributions is felt in many mine-affected countries. Moldova declared itself mine-safe in March 2001. In the near future, several other countries likely will also declare themselves mine-safe. The success stories in this publication attest to the United States Government\u27s belief that when we assist other countries in meeting needs such as clearing landmines, we are serving America\u27s long-term interest and staying true to America\u27s permanent values. The U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program, like our other assistance efforts, is more than foreign aid; these programs aid America, too. Our assistance helps define America\u27s role in the world, often contributing to the economic well-being of our own citizens and those of other countries, and advances our interest in peace, stability, and freedom abroad

To Walk the Earth in Safety 17th Edition (CY2017)

This 17th Edition of To Walk the Earth In Safety summarizes the United States’ CWD programs in 2017. CWD assistance provides the United States with a powerful and flexible tool to help partner countries manage their stockpiles of munitions, destroy excess small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) and clear explosive hazards such as landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and UXO. Our assistance also helps countries destroy or enhance security of their man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and their threat to civilian aviation, in addition to other weapons and munitions. The United States is committed to reducing these threats worldwide and is the leading financial supporter of CWD, providing more than $3.2 billion in assistance to more than 100 countries since 1993. This makes the United States the world’s single largest financial supporter of CWD. The Department of State, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) work together with foreign governments, private companies, and international and nongovernmental organizations to reduce excess SA/LW and conventional munitions stockpiles (including MANPADS), implement physical security and stockpile management (PSSM) best practices at conventional weapons storage sites, and carry out humanitarian mine action programs. The Department of State, through the Political-Military Affairs Bureau’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA), manages CWD assistance and oversees programs in 47 countries in 2017. It also leads the U.S. Interagency MANPADS Task Force, which coordinates counter-MANPADS efforts by the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and other relevant stakeholders, and helps partner nations eliminate or better secure their MANPADS. The Department of Defense Humanitarian Demining Training Center (HDTC) trains deminers, ammunition handlers, and stockpile managers from partner countries. The Department of Defense Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program (HD R&D) improves CWD technologies, enhancing the efficiency and safety of humanitarian demining operations around the world. USAID assists mine and UXO survivors, providing medical and rehabilitative care, through its Leahy War Victims Fund

To Walk the Earth in Safety 20th Edition (CY2020)

2020 was a year of exceptional challenges for the Department of State due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the United States remains the world’s largest international donor to CWD, providing more than $4 billion to support humanitarian mine action (HMA), physical security and stockpile management (PSSM), and associated activities in over 100 countries since 1993. Despite the pandemic, the United States was able to provide significant cooperation on a range of programs around the world. Here are a few highlights from 2020: • The Department provided PSSM assessments in Lebanon following the Port of Beirut explosion on August 4. This led to U.S.-funded upgrades to the Lebanese Armed Forces’ First Artillery Regiment ammunition depot to reduce the risk of a catastrophic explosion there. • In Colombia, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Leahy War Victims Fund (LWVF) supported the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Arcangeles to increase access to quality rehabilitation services and promote social inclusion and reconciliation through sporting activities for survivors of the armed conflict and others with disabilities. The Fund also supported International Organization for Migration efforts to strengthen physical rehabilitation services and improve provider networks for these survivors. • In Cambodia, U.S. Marine Corp Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) in partnership with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces conducted two HMA train-the-trainer (TTT) engagements for national capacity building. • The Interagency Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) Task Force supported MANPADS Recognition Training seminars, using virtual training to assist foreign security officials in their advanced weapons systems counterproliferation efforts. Adapting the course curriculum to this new medium enabled the training of 51 officials from three countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, including security professionals at airports, border crossings, seaports, national police, and customs. In many places, our implementers have unmatched logistics capabilities that can enhance life-saving efforts. In 2020, several partner states and implementing partners requested use of these U.S.-funded CWD assets to assist with their COVID-19 response. While U.S. laws and regulations require that CWD activities remain the priority for our assets, we permitted their use for certain health and safety-related activities. For example, in Zimbabwe we authorized explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) and community liaison teams to simultaneously deliver COVID-19 pandemic related messaging while they conducted their normal work, and we permitted the temporary use of U.S.-funded CWD drivers and vehicles to help deliver medical supplies, such as the use of an ambulance in Guinea Bissau. The U.S. taxpayers can be proud of the progress we have made globally during this challenging time. We remain committed to CWD and look forward to reinvigorating our efforts in 2021 so that all may “walk the earth in safety.