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Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA)

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Description: A warning sign of a minefield from Angola. © Photo by Deborah Netland, PM/WRA Description: A road roller runs over more than 1,000 confiscated rifles and handguns in a ceremony observing Small Arms Destruction Day. © AP Image Description: Political-Military Affairs teams with non-profit and private sector partners to help post-conflict countries safeguard communities from abandoned landmines and unexploded munitions. © AP Image

The United States is proud to be the world’s single largest financial supporter of humanitarian mine action and we share common cause with those working to address the harmful effects of indiscriminately used landmines on civilians. Our efforts have enabled many countries around the world to become free of the humanitarian impact of landmines (“impact free”) and have dramatically helped reduce the world’s annual mine casualty rate.

 

Date: 2012 Description: Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA) logo. - State Dept Image

The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) works to reduce the harmful worldwide effects of at-risk, illicitly proliferated, and indiscriminately used conventional weapons of war. PM/WRA develops, implements, and monitors policy and programs regarding the threat that conventional weapons such as landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), abandoned ordnance, stockpiled conventional munitions, man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) and other small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) pose to civilians, economic stability, and U.S. national security.

PM/WRA supports conventional weapons destruction (CWD) programs around the world, funding ground surveys and clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), and assisting governments to secure or destroy abandoned and/or stockpiled munitions. Since 1993, PM/WRA has provided over $2.2 billion in support and remains the world’s largest supporter of CWD programs. The CWD program objective is three-fold:

  1. to enhance regional security by curbing illicit trafficking and the availability of weapons (including MANPADS) to terrorists and criminals;
  2. to increase civilian security through the clearance of ERW and the return of land to productive use; and
  3. to promote U.S. foreign policy interests by broadening support for U.S. CWD efforts.
     

By simultaneously addressing humanitarian needs and increasing international security, PM/WRA demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a set of values that respect human life. PM/WRA works closely with other U.S. Government agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private sector partners. More than half of PM/WRA’s humanitarian assistance is in the form of grants to international NGOs.