Working as a deminer means putting your life on the line every single day. The work is grueling and dangerous, requiring a high level of concentration to ensure personal safety and to make mine suspected areas safe for public use. However, deminers are under constant pressure, largely due to the mandatory daily quotas of square meters they must cover.
These quotas are already very high, forcing deminers to move quickly across the field just to meet their targets. According to the Ordinance on the Method of Demining, Quality Control, General and Technical Reconnaissance, and the Marking of Mine Suspected Areas (Art. 29, Para. 1), the maximum daily output is set at 400 square meters per deminer when operations are performed using only manual mine detection.
However, Novi sindikat recently received alarming information from our members in the field including deminers, support staff, and engineers. It appears that the Civil Protection Directorate (RCZ), a sector within the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) responsible for demining operations, intends to double the daily quota from 400 to 800 square meters. Such a decision would drastically reduce the safety of deminers and compromise the quality of the work performed.
Novi sindikat reacted immediately, sending a formal request for a meeting with the Ministry of the Interior. In the request, we clearly stated that we would hold the Ministry responsible for any injuries if the daily demining quotas were increased.
At the meeting held on July 21, 2023, representatives of the Civil Protection Directorate denied having such intentions. However, we are convinced that the firm stance of our deminers and the clear possibility of a strike forced them to abandon the planned increase.
We also used the meeting to address a topic we have been trying to discuss with the authorities for a long time: the retirement of demining personnel, with a focus on support staff. We had previously requested a meeting on this subject in early March 2023; however, a response was only received now, following our repeated request sparked by safety concerns.
We pointed out that in recent years, auxiliary workers—who are currently excluded from the pension rights regulated by special legislation—have suffered the most in minefields. Specifically, according to the Act on Special Pension Insurance Rights for Employees in Demining Operations, deminers are entitled to an old-age pension regardless of age if they have completed at least 25 years of service, with at least 8 years spent on search, demining, supervision, or technical reconnaissance. Support workers are currently denied this right.
Neven Karas, the Coordinator for Civil Protection Affairs at the RCZ, stated that the Directorate supports this change and will prepare legal amendments in line with our proposal. While we are satisfied with this information, we will continue to closely monitor the development of the situation.
