[6] Between 1998 and 2002, FSD launched additional mine action projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina,[7] Croatia, Kosovo,[8] Pakistan, Albania,[9] Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka.

In the aftermath of the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad, several FSD staff members helped to evacuate survivors from the bombed building and provided first aid to the injured, putting themselves at considerable risk.

FSD is also involved in research projects to continuously search for new technologies to enhance and improve safety and efficiency in mine action, including the use of specialised drones and satellite imagery.

[13] In addition to the clearance of explosive hazards, FSD also extends its mandate to include decontaminating soils of toxic and polluting substances and support to ongoing peace processes in post-conflict areas through reconstruction, rehabilitation and socio-economic development for vulnerable communities and displaced people.

In 2003, the government ratified the Ottawa Treaty, and the National Council for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) and signed the Geneva Call commitment in the presence of an FSD delegation.

[16] Due to a partnership between UNDP, UNICEF, FSD and MAG, with funding from Swiss cooperation and the Government of Burundi, humanitarian mine clearance projects began.

[23] Since 2019, FSD has run a programme in support of demilitarisation, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants as part of the Khartoum Peace Agreement,[24] including through the rehabilitation of infrastructure.

[27] From 2017 to 2022, FSD was part of the PRODECO clearance project, launched in 2017 by the European Union, in consortium with three other organisations: Humanity and Inclusivity, MAG and Secours Catholique Développement (SECADEV), a local victim support NGO.

FSD's involvement in the country dates back to November 2003, at the request of UNMAS,[31] and aimed to set up two emergency demining teams benefitting local communities and humanitarian aid organisations in Bunia.

[32] The deployment and mission orders of the teams were placed under the responsibility of the Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) established by the UN in Kinshasa within its peacekeeping force, MONUSCO.

[34] The USA-funded FSD's programme to locate and destroy explosive remnants of war in Libya's ex-combat zones to prevent possible weapons, such as anti-aircraft missiles, from falling into the hands of terrorists.

[37] From 2013 to 2018, FSD conducted its humanitarian clearance activities from Tripoli and ammunition management and storage disposal and training in Hun and Waddan for a mixture of Libyan police and military engineer personnel.

[48] With the support of FSD in 2007, SIMAS employed, trained, and deployed its first demining team after receiving accreditation from the United Nations Mine Action Office (UNMAS).

[50] FSD operations in Afghanistan began in 2001 with the dispatch of clearance teams to support the deployment of the World Food Programme and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Kandahar and later in Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Kabul.

[53] From 2004 to 2010, FSD supported WFP's food security programme and carried out clearance and rehabilitation of rice fields, irrigation systems and fish farms, as well as road improvements in the eastern districts of Savannakhet.

The programme began after a formal request for assistance from UNDP, which in turn mandated FSD to build national capacity for future District Mine Action Office (DMAO) operations.

[69] The clearance of wells from explosive ordnance by specific FSD teams also had a major impact, as it required them to be cleaned out completely, thus ensuring access to drinking water for the local population.

[76] FSD deployed a demining programme in the country in October 2000 at the initiative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and with the support of the Swiss Department of Defence (DDPS),[77] and began by conducting a contamination assessment.

In recent years, FSD has focused on supporting the Tajik authorities in the safe destruction of stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, including man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS)[94] and in 2023 will once again return to demining.

[98] After obtaining its accreditation for humanitarian demining in the country in 2017,[99] FSD launched a mine and explosive remnants disposal programme in the eastern part of Ukraine, in areas under Ukrainian government control.

[100] In 2022 following the Russian invasion, fighting intensified and spread throughout the country and FSD's activities were initially reoriented to provide emergency humanitarian aid (food, shelter, medicine, fuel, etc.).

[101] As soon as the security situation allowed, large scale survey, demining and risk education operations resumed with increased staffing and resources in the provinces of Chernihiv[102] and Kharkiv.

[103] FSD's teams in Ukraine also developed significant capacity to survey and clear agricultural land in partnership with WFP and the clearance of urban areas with armoured rubble removal machines and specialist personnel.

[104] Ukraine produces food for 400 million people in peacetime, so this project aims to enable the small farms in Kharkiv province to return to cultivating their land sustainably.

[106][107] In 2016, following the occupation of part of Iraq by the Islamic State group, FSD launched a humanitarian clearance project focusing on artisanal landmines and improvised explosive devices.

[108][109][110] FSD also ran an explosive ordnance risk education project with over 500 sessions delivered to approximately 16,000 men, women, boys and girls in Mosul district that year.

On the 5th of May 2010, the two former belligerents signed a peace agreement providing for the implementation of a joint demining project, proposed by FSD and the local NGO Philippines Campaign to Ban Landmines.

[117][118][119] In the Central African Republic, FSD offered vocational training to help former rebel combatants reintegrate into society and to assist vulnerable communities to recover with improvement to basic facilities and socio-economic development opportunities.

[125] Since 2016, FSD has been working in partnership with the Urs Endress Foundation on the FindMine project, aimed at developing a drone capable of locating mines and explosive remnants of war.

Major donors include the European Union, the European Commission (EC), EuropeAid, UNOPS, the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), UNICEF, the US Department of State PM/WRA, the governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Swiss cantons and cities, foundations and private donors.