LANDMINES
land mine n.
An explosive device laid usually just below the surface of the ground.
A land mine is an explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the proximity of a vehicle, person or animal. The name originates from the practice of sapping, where tunnels were dug (much like mining) under enemy fortifications or forces. These tunnels ("mines") were first collapsed to destroy fortifications above, and later filled with explosives and detonated. Landmines generally refer to devices specifically manufactured for this purpose, as distinguished from improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Landmines are explosive devices that are designed to explode when triggered by pressure or a tripwire. The purpose of mines when used by armed forces is to disable any person or vehicle that comes into contact with it by an explosion of fragments released at high speeds.
The exact number of landmines is unknown. However, it is estimated that approximately 70 million landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) are buried in more than 80 countries worldwide.
Landmines can remain active more than 50 years after they are planted in the ground. For this reason, there is a continuing worldwide effort to rid the world of landmines.
SURVIVORS
The social and medical costs associated with landmines are astronomical. Landmines are found along roads, in fields and forests, beside power pylons, near wells and riverbanks, in homes and public buildings. As a result they can cause economic paralysis by restricting movement in what are usually agriculture-based economies.
Without landmines agricultural production could more than double in both Afghanistan and Cambodia. In Libya 27% of the total arable land is unusable due to mines left behind from World War Two, over 50 years ago.
Landmines are indiscriminate weapons by nature: they do not distinguish between a soldier's footstep and a child's footstep. Landmines maim and kill approximately 15,000 - 20,000 people every year, a third of which are children. 80% of them are civilians. They impact every aspect of human life including the ability for refugees to return to their homes.
Humanitarian organizations and peacekeepers have raced against time to stabilize former war zones but instead have found themselves penned in and logistically paralyzed by millions of hidden killers. The terrible irony of modern day peacekeeping for United States troops is that their lives are sometimes threatened by landmines manufactured, sold and shipped out from their own nation a generation ago.
U.S. mines have been identified during clearance operations in old and new global hot spots like Rwanda, Lebanon, Iraq, Nicaragua, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mozambique, Somalia and Angola.
A landmine incident can cause various injuries to an individual including the loss of limbs, abdominal, chest and spinal injuries, blindness, deafness, severe burns, and less visible, psychological trauma not only to the person injured in the incident, but to the families of those killed or injured.
Children are particularly vulnerable to landmines in a number of ways. If they are too young to read or are illiterate, signs posted to warn them of the presence of mines are useless. Also, children are far more likely to die from their mine injuries than are adults. Of those maimed children who survive, few will receive prostheses that keep up with the continued growth of their stunted limbs.
THE MINE BAN TREATY
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (“Mine Ban Treaty”) was devised in 1997. It prohibits all use, production, stockpiling and trade of anti-personnel mines.
After achieving the required 40 ratifications in September 1998, the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force on March 1, 1999, becoming binding international law. This is believed to be the fastest entry-into-force of any major multilateral treaty ever. Since entry into force, states must accede and cannot simply sign the treaty with intent to ratify later.
The treaty to ban landmines is a classic example of what can be achieved when non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments work together with determination to achieve a goal. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a network of more than 1200 non-governmental organizations in 60 countries, working for a global ban on landmines and cluster munitions.
Landmine Monitor Report 2007 reveals that the Mine Ban Treaty and the mine ban movement continue to make good progress toward eradicating antipersonnel landmines and saving lives and limbs in every region of the world. Significant challenges remain, however.
As of 15 August 2007, the Mine Ban Treaty had 155 States Parties. A total of 40 states remain outside the treaty, including two that have signed but not yet ratified.
The United States is still the only NATO state not to have signed the treaty. Despite the dangers posed by antipersonnel mines to U.S. troops in combat and on peacekeeping missions, the Pentagon clings to its assumptions about the military benefits of the weapon. Armed with the knowledge of the danger and suffering that these killers inflict upon society, the boys in Washington still refuse to sign the Mine Ban Treaty.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) considers the Mine Ban Treaty the only viable comprehensive framework for achieving a mine-free world. The treaty and the global effort to eradicate antipersonnel mines have yielded impressive results. A new international norm is emerging, as many governments not party to the Mine Ban Treaty are taking steps consistent with the treaty, and an increasing number of non-state armed groups are also embracing a ban.
Further progress towards elimination of antipersonnel mines was made in 2006-2007. Four more states (Iraq, Kuwait, Montenegro and Indonesia) have joined the treaty, and others have moved closer to joining. Over three-quarters of the world’s states are now members of the Mine Ban Treaty.
The ninth edition of the Landmine Monitor Report also found that:
• New use of antipersonnel mines continues to decline. Ongoing use by only two states (Myanmar/Burma and Russia) was confirmed since May 2006.
• Six more States Parties completed destruction of their stockpiled antipersonnel mines. Only 10 other States Parties still have stocks to destroy.
• Over 450 square kilometers of contaminated land was cleared in 2006, and several mine action programs adopted new methods to increase future productivity.
• Mine risk education reached 7.3 million people to protect them from the danger of mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW).
• Recorded casualties continued to fall to 5,751 last year (16 percent less than in 2005).
• Funding for mine action increased to a record level of $475 million.
However, in some important respects little progress has been made in the global effort to eradicate antipersonnel mines:
• Forty countries outside the Mine Ban Treaty possess together 160 million antipersonnel mines.
• Thirteen countries still produce or retain the right to produce antipersonnel mines.
• At least 13 countries are in urgent need of new or additional mine risk education programs.
• Although casualties declined in 2006, the number of mine survivors in the world continued to grow, to at least 473,000. Many need life-long care.
Major challenges still facing States Parties in implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty include:
• Ten States Parties have some 14 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines remaining to be destroyed.
• Fourteen States Parties are not on track to meet their treaty deadlines for clearance of mined areas; therefore, the Nairobi Action Plan’s aim that “few, if any” would miss the deadline is likely to be met instead with many requests for extensions.
• Few States Parties have solid survivor assistance plans with SMART objectives adjusted to the needs of survivors, families, communities and the country-context.
• Basic data collection on clearance, casualties and survivors has shown little improvement overall, which is an obstacle for effective mine action planning, optimal use of resources and adequate provision for survivors.
• Funding remains mostly short-term instead of multi-year, limiting the sustainability and effectiveness of mine action programs; much of the very impressive increase in 2006 funding was in response to crisis situations in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Landmines stand guard long after the conflicts have ended and kill and maim without mercy or discrimination. As long as nations continue to use landmines, these devices will be a danger for civilians as well as soldiers.
"You don't have to live with nothing to be a good person, but once you've seen people suffering, how can you not remember it all the time and do something toward making things better? How can you not do something?"
- Angelina Jolie
Facts About Landmines
landmine
unexploded ordnance (UXO)
landmine survivors
Landmine Monitor Report
2007
Landmines Blow!® is a proud member of the ICBL
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