Rosamund Pike visits Sri Lanka as mine clearance reaches one-million milestone
Golden Globe, Emmy, and Olivier Award-winning actor Rosamund Pike, ambassador to the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), is visiting Sri Lanka this week as the country marks the clearance of one million landmines over the past 17 years.
Her visit highlights the remarkable progress made by Sri Lanka’s mine-action sector and the importance of maintaining momentum towards the country’s goal of becoming landmine-free.
During the visit, Ms Pike is spending time with Sri Lankan deminers and visiting two minefields in the Mannar and Mullaitivu districts in the north of the country. She will meet families from both Tamil and Sinhala communities whose lives have been affected by landmine contamination, including a survivor of a landmine accident. She will attend a risk-education session at a local school, where children are learning how to avoid the dangers posed by landmines and unexploded ordnance.
Ms Pike is also expected to meet Prime Minister, Dr Harini Amarasuriya, Minister of Housing Construction and Water Supply, and officials of the Mine Action Centre to discuss the country’s progress in humanitarian mine action and the work still needed to achieve a landmine-free future.
The UK Government, along with our international partners, has supported humanitarian mine action in Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict. Mine clearance helps communities recovering from conflict to safely regain access to their homes and land and creates opportunities for farming, housing, infrastructure and new livelihoods.
Rosamund Pike said:
“Having seen MAG’s work all over the world, I am always struck when the necessity for mine clearance and risk education follows civil war. There is a sense of reconciliation in restoring the land to safety. MAG’s programme in Sri Lanka inspires me for its courageous teamwork and moral integrity, providing superb training for deminers to do this dangerous work, with strict safety protocols and building a sense of family within the organisation.
When MAG releases decontaminated land to people, communities can trust that their land is now safe to farm, to walk through and to harvest necessities from. The work to get to this stage is painstaking and essential. The danger, even seventeen years after conflict, is real. Unexploded ordnance is violent and deadly. No one is safe to tread while these items are in the ground.
As a mother, I fear that children who have never experienced war might experience it second-hand through a step in the wrong direction. Seeing MAG’s work in Sri Lanka gives me confidence that the end to such tragedies is in sight.”
British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick said:
“Sri Lanka’s progress towards becoming landmine-free is a remarkable achievement, made possible by the courage and dedication of Sri Lankan deminers, the leadership of the Government of Sri Lanka, and the support of international partners.
The United Kingdom is proud to have supported this important work. Rosamund Pike’s visit highlights both how far Sri Lanka has come and the need to maintain momentum until all affected communities are safe.
Over the past 17 years, one million landmines have been cleared in Sri Lanka, while annual casualties have fallen from approximately 250 to three in 2024. Mine clearance has also enabled around one million displaced people to return to their homes.
MAG began working in Sri Lanka in 2002 and currently operates in Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts. Since it began operating in the country, MAG’s teams have made approximately 103 km² of land safe for families and communities.