Elisabeth Schreinemacher
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 23 2005 (IPS) – While deaths from landmines have fallen steadily since most nations agreed to stop manufacturing and using them under a 1997 treaty, these indiscriminate weapons still kill or mutilate an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people each year.
New incidents are reported almost daily. On Nov. 16, three people were killed and four seriously wounded when they accidentally detonated a landmine in Burao, Somaliland. The same day, 14 Cambodians were killed when the truck they were in hit an anti-tank mine left over from the country s civil war.
While many mines are remnants from previous conflicts, the International Committee to Ban Landmines says that rebel forces rather than government soldiers are now the main users of antipersonnel mines. Rebel forces were reported to have used antipersonnel mines (or mine-like improvised explosive devices) in 13 countries.
At the same time, the international community has stepped up efforts to address the problem funding for mine action grew to 399 million dollars in 2004, and 135 square kilometres of mine-affected land were cleared.
However, more than 200,000 square kilometres of the world are likely contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), and the number of landmine survivors needing assistance continues to grow.
Landmines and other explosives continue to kill thousands of people every year, noted Dermot Carty, coordinator for Landmines and Small Arms Team at the U.N. children s agency UNICEF.
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Although the number of families who lose loved ones to landmines and explosive remnants of war remains unacceptably high, the number of new victims has been actually steadily decreasing since the antipersonnel Mine Ban Treaty went into effect six years ago, he added.
A new report by UNICEF, the U.N. Development Programme and the U.N. Mine Action Service notes that further progress toward de-mining is being hindered by a funding shortfall of 391 million dollars. Asia and Africa are in especially dire need.
The battle against landmines can be won, Carty said. The goal of achieving a world free from landmines and explosive remnants of war can be achieved in a matter of years.
To resolve this problem once and for all will require sustained effort by mine-affected countries themselves, non-governmental organisations and the 14 U.N. agencies, programmes, departments and funds that are involved with mine action, he said.
In 1997, 19 countries were believed to be using mines. In 2004, that number fell to just three.
The use of landmines around the world has decreased this year, said Steve Goose, director of Human Rights Watch s Arms Division. But Burma, Nepal and Russia deserve strong condemnation as the governments that continued to lay antipersonnel mines in 2005.
On Tuesday, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 also released its 1,053-page Landmine Monitor Report 2005: Toward a Mine-Free World . The seventh in an annual series, it documents compliance with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, as well as efforts to eradicate antipersonnel mines in all countries.
Afghanistan reported clearance of the largest amount of mined land (33.3 square kilometres), followed by Cambodia (32 square kilometres). At least 140,000 antipersonnel mines, 50,000 anti-vehicle mines, and some three million items of UXO were destroyed during clearance operations in 2004.
On the issue of the safety of de-mining personnel, a member of U.N. Mine Action Service (UNMAS) says, It is an ongoing concern for us. In 2005, there have been some serious incidents involving de-mining personnel.. They may well have been targets, but we certainly hope not.
In the Congo, the deminers try to work with members of the local community to make sure that the local population understands the importance of the work. We are putting people out into the field and rely on the goodwill they create with the local communities to be some sort of protection, because we can t provide security for all the demining personnel.
In 1999, 20 governments had enacted legislation to implement the terms of the Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottowa Convention . As of September 2005, 147 countries have ratified or acceded to the treaty.
From the date a country ratifies the treaty, it has 10 years to clear all mined areas under its control.
Forty countries remain outside the treaty, including China, Russia and the United States. Although the U.S. has not produced antipersonnel mines since 1997, activists say it has been developing new mines that appear to be incompatible with the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Pentagon is due to make a production decision on one such type, called the Spider , next month, and is seeking 1.7 billion dollars for research and production of new landmine systems over the next five years.
