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Landmines
Antipersonnel landmines are
explosive devices designed to injure or kill people. They lie dormant for
years and even decades under, on or near the ground until a person or animal
triggers their detonating mechanism. Antipersonnel mines cannot be aimed:
they indiscriminately kill or injure civilians, soldiers, peacekeepers
and aid workers alike.
Made of plastic, metal or other materials, they contain explosives and some
contain pieces of shrapnel. They can be activated by direct pressure from
above, by pressure put on a wire or filament attached to a pull switch, by a
radio signal or other remote firing method, or even simply by the proximity
of a person within a predetermined distance.
When triggered, a landmine unleashes unspeakable destruction. The
blast causes injuries like blindness, burns, destroyed limbs and shrapnel
wounds. Sometimes the victim dies from the blast, due to loss of blood or
because they don't get to medical care in time. Those who survive and
receive medical treatment often require amputations, long hospital stays and
extensive rehabilitation.
Stepping on a blast antipersonnel mine will invariably cause foot and
leg injuries, and secondary infections usually resulting in amputation.
Fragmentation mines project hundreds of metal fragments, showering the
victim with deep wounds. Bounding fragmentation mines are more
powerful versions: they spring up about 1 meter and then explode, firing
metal fragments to a large radius.
The
Mine Ban Treaty defines an antipersonnel mine as: "a mine designed
to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that
will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons." (Article 2.1)
Landmines are everywhere. According to
Landmine Monitor,
over 75 countries and territories in all regions of the world are affected
by landmines and/or explosive remnants of war. Nobody knows how many mines
are in the ground. But the actual number is less important than their
impact: it can take only two or three mines or the mere suspicion of their
presence to render a patch of land unusable.
The Human Costs
Antipersonnel landmines still maim and
kill ordinary people every day. They blow off their victims' legs, feet,
toes and hands. They fire shrapnel into their faces and bodies. They kill.
Civilians
Bear the Brunt
The vast majority of victims are civilians
and not soldiers. Year after year,
Landmine Monitor has
reported that civilians account for 70 to 85 percent of casualties. This is
not just during a conflict – most of the countries where casualties are
reported are at peace.
Humanitarian Law
Antipersonnel mines are indiscriminate and
inhumane weapons and therefore go against international humanitarian law.
The law of war imposes certain restrictions on how combatants operate. It
says that they have to distinguish between civilian and military targets and
that the injuries inflicted should be proportionate with military
objectives. Antipersonnel landmines fail both the discrimination and the
proportionality tests. Landmines are indiscriminate because a landmine is
triggered by its victim, whether military or civilian. Landmines are
inhumane because they inflict brutal injuries and have disastrous long-term
consequences.
Long-term Effects
Once planted, landmines don't go away unless they are cleared
away. Landmines sown during the First World War
are still causing death and destruction in parts of Europe and North Africa.
Landmines don’t obey peace agreements or ceasefires. The only way to
prevent long-term damage is to stop any landmine use altogether and devote
resources to clearing minefields and helping mine victims.
Lethal Obstacles to Economic
Growth
* Landmines slow repatriation of refugees and displaced people, or even
prevent it altogether.
* They hamper the provision of aid and relief services and threaten, injure
and kill aid workers.
* Medical treatment for landmine victims, where available, is costly,
burdening an already overstretched health-care system.
* Communities are deprived of their productive land: farm land, orchards,
irrigation canals and water points may be no longer accessible.
* Mines also cut off access to economically important areas, such as roads,
electricity pylons and dams.
* A landmine incident may cost a family their breadwinner.
* Vocational training and support are often not available so many survivors
struggle to make a living after their accident.
* On the flipside, a mine-affected country stands to gain international
assistance for mine clearance and victim assistance once they ban landmines
and join the Mine Ban Treaty. Donor governments are understandably reluctant
to fund demining in countries until they have given up landmines altogether.
Children are Victimised
A child who is injured by a landmine will face
months of recovery… if they don't die and if they get treated in time. Many
are killed on the spot due to blood loss, shock or damage to vital organs. A
growing child with a prosthetic limb will need it refitted and worn in each
year. Some never return to school after their accident. Many face social
exclusion, for example, they are not seen as fit to marry. Like adult
victims, they will face enormous practical, economic, social and
psychological challenges in their rehabilitation and reintegration process.
Military Arguments Don’t Hold
Up
The military arguments for using antipersonnel landmines are flawed. The
International Committee of the Red Cross' 1996 study
Antipersonnel Landmines - Friend or Foe? concluded that antipersonnel
mines are not indispensable weapons of high military value and they
don’t necessarily offer any military advantage. In fact "their use in
accordance with military doctrine is time-consuming, expensive and dangerous
and has seldom occurred under combat conditions", the group of military
experts concluded. Landmines are not needed by a modern army. While
in the past they may have protected borders and slowed advancing troops, now
most armies are mobile and can get through a minefield in less than 30
minutes. Modern motion detection equipment, night detection technology and
strategically placed guns can protect military installations, borders and
other areas better than landmines. Also, landmines injure and kill
soldiers - the very people they are meant to protect. For example, in
the 1991 Gulf War, landmines caused 34% of USA casualties. In any case, the
long-term humanitarian costs of mines far outweigh any limited military
utility. This is why many former military personnel support a ban on
antipersonnel mines and reject mine use, such as in this
letter to the White House from U.S. military veterans and in this
article by Lt. General Robert G. Gard Jr. (USA, Ret.), published in the
Huffington Post in 2009. If a country’s military insists that antipersonnel
landmines are still essential from a military point of view, suggest they
look at the ICRC’s study mentioned above. Also, encourage them to do
their own study to review their mine policy and its impact, including on
their own soldiers.
The Ban Works!
Banning landmines makes a difference. We have made a great deal of
headway since the Mine Ban Treaty came into force in March 1999. The
global stigma attached to these weapons has led to a virtual halt in the
global trade in antipersonnel mines, a sharp drop in the number of producers
and a startling reduction in the number of governments laying mines, even
among states that still refuse to officially join the treaty. Vast tracts of
land have been cleared and put back into productive use; there has been
widespread and extensive destruction of stockpiled mines; and most
importantly, there are now fewer new mine victims each year.
Peace and
Security
Banning landmines increases peace and security and can be a valuable
peace-building tool. For example, Greece and Turkey, both long-term
rivals with border disputes used their shared commitment to joining the Mine
Ban Treaty as a confidence building measure. Some states have joined the
Mine Ban Treaty despite ongoing internal conflict e.g. Colombia and
the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the case of Cyprus, the government
joined the treaty although they are not in full control of the territory.
Border Protection:
There are Alternatives
Mines are largely ineffective in
protecting border regions, for example from smugglers, illegal
immigrants or non-state armed groups. Ask your target government to provide
information on whether and how landmines have been an effective deterrent
for a specific stated purpose e.g. to stop smuggling. (Usually they cannot
prove effectiveness.) Instead of offering protection, minefields terrorise
and impoverish the communities living in the area. Alternatives exist
and include: engaging in dialogue with a neighbour, mobile and fixed border
patrol and motion detection equipments and barriers.
Every Country Has a Duty
Everyone’s support is needed along the road
to a mine-free world -- no matter whether the country is mine-affected or
not or whether they are large or small. Joining the Mine Ban Treaty is in
the interests of mine-affected countries because it will spur
international support for their landmine problem. For countries with no
mines in stockpile or in the ground, joining the Mine Ban Treaty is also
in their interests as they will gain a higher moral standing within the
diplomatic world. As Kenya’s Ambassador Peter O. Ole Nkuraiyia,
Secretary-General of the 2004 Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World observed:
“We are hosting this landmark Summit as an act of solidarity with
mine-affected countries in our sub-region, in Africa as a whole, and
throughout the world, with a view to addressing the plight of mine victims.”
All governments should listen to their citizens and the international
community who demand that they take a stand, otherwise they risk becoming
moral outcasts. Even interim steps that fall short of joining the
Mine Ban Treaty are valuable e.g. the provision of information on landmine
stockpiles, or voting in favour of a resolution on the treaty.
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