Rosamund Pike visits Sri Lanka as landmine clearance reaches 1 m

Monday, 10 August 2026 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Rosamund Pike

Golden Globe, Emmy and Olivier Award-winning actor and Mines Advisory Group (MAG) Ambassador Rosamund Pike is visiting Sri Lanka this week as the country marks the clearance of one million landmines over the past 17 years.

The visit comes as Sri Lanka works towards becoming landmine-free, with mine clearance enabling around one million displaced people to return to their homes and annual casualties declining from around 250 to three in 2024.

During her visit, Pike is meeting Sri Lankan deminers and visiting two minefields in the Mannar and Mullaitivu districts. She will also meet Tamil and Sinhala families affected by landmine contamination, including a landmine accident survivor, and attend a risk-education session for schoolchildren on landmines and unexploded ordnance.

Pike is also expected to meet Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, the Housing, Construction and Water Supply Minister and Mine Action Centre officials to discuss progress in humanitarian mine action and the remaining work towards making the country landmine-free.

The UK Government and international partners have supported humanitarian mine action in Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict. Clearance has allowed communities to regain access to land for housing, agriculture and infrastructure, while creating opportunities for livelihoods.

“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 program 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,” Pike said.

“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,” Pike added.

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Andrew Patrick said Sri Lanka’s progress had been driven by Sri Lankan deminers, Government leadership and international support.

“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.”

MAG began operations in Sri Lanka in 2002 and currently works in Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts. Its teams have made around 103 sq. km of land safe for families and communities since operations began.