Safe Ground Inc and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (Forum Secretariat) with the financial support of Australia/AusAID hosted a regional workshop in Brisbane Australia from 27 – 28 June 2013. The Workshop followed on from the 2012 Regional UXO Strategy Implementation meeting held in Koror, Palau and aimed to advance the outcomes from the Palau meeting. It also aimed to explore additional areas to enhance the capacity of Pacific Islands Forum members in developing responses to manage the domestic threat of Unexploded Ordinance (UXO/ERW).

The regional workshop was attended by representatives from the following countries, development partners, and organisations:

• Australia
• Cook Islands
• Kiribati
• Nauru
• New Zealand
• Palau
• Republic of Marshall Islands
• Solomon Islands
• Tonga
• Tuvalu
• Vanuatu
• USA (US State Department Weapons Removal and Abatement)
• Japan
• AusAID
• Australia Defence Force
• Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)
• Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Implementation Support Unit (APMBCISU)
• Norwegian People’s Aid
• Cleared Ground Demining (CGD)
• Milsearch Pty Ltd
• BOZ Technical Services
• the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)
• SafeGround Inc
• the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
• Independent Consultants/Contractors Sheree Bailey and Dave Lyes

The key focus areas included:

• providing support to affected Pacific Island Countries in developing national coordinating policies and mechanisms;
• reviewing initial steps required for the drafting of national action plans;
• identifying focal points and exploring the creation of national UXO coordinating committees;
• identifying specific national needs; and (e) exploring possible avenues for meeting these needs

During the workshop the participants identified existing issues currently impacting their ability to develop effective national ERW responses; identified several common challenges shared amongst Members that could benefit from regional support initiatives; engaged with development partners on how to better coordinate national efforts to assist activities of development partners and mine action service providers; workshopped a number of key issues in areas such as planning, resource mobilisation and coordination.

Participants were briefed on the humanitarian demining international legal framework in areas such as the ratification and implementation of the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Convention on Cluster Munitions and areas for victim assistance. The workshop proposed possible next steps to enhance the capacity of their countries to manage UXO appropriate to their domestic circumstances.