Handicap International, which has an office in Luxembourg, has started up demining operations in the Iraqi provinces of Diyala and Kirkuk, with three teams deployed to identify and destroy explosive remnants of the conflicts that over the last 30 years have left Iraq one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world. 

These remnants present a lethal threat to civilians, preventing them from returning and taking up their lives in their homes.

Since January 2014, more than 4.5 million Iraqis have fled their homes, of whom nearly 1.5 million have sought to return to their areas of origin, many of them unaware of the risks lying under the soil, said Fanny Mraz, head of emergency operations at Handicap International in Iraq.

"Whole families who live with relatives in formal or informal camps rush to find their towns and homes as soon as the fighting is over, even though the presence of remnants of war makes these returns very dangerous. And most are not aware of the risk that this represents,” she said. 

In addition to its demining activities, Handicap International engages in awareness activities and has so far reached 100,000 people for mine risk and conventional weapons education sessions that aim to raise awareness among the public about the risks they face, and how to reduce them.