Anti-personnel landmines : the challenges for the twenty-first century

Abstract

'Anti-personnel mine' means a means of combat designed to be placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and designed to detonate or explode by the presence, proximity or contact of persons. Anti-personnel mines are first and foremost a humanitarian concern. Over 100 million mines are buried in over 70 countries. Effective mine action requires a broad range of activities such as mine awareness, mine field surveys and markings, training and minefield clearance. In conflict and post-ceasefire situations it is particularly important that mine action activities are persued by non-partisan, humanitarian agencies. There is a growing awareness of the impact of landmines and their cost to civilians. Let us just take one story: Rahmat Hussein who lives in Peshawar, Afghanistan and is age 10. A thin, dirty green blanket covers his' bandaged wound .... All the skin has been torn from Rahmat's inner thighs and groin to his stomach, and the pink raw flesh takes the form of a vast inverted horseshoe two inches deep-as if he had mounted a burning saddle that seared deep into his body. 'Pain, pain, pain is all I feel. .. ' He calls for his mother in a muted, passive, lament.' Countries, which still export mines to the Third World, are Russia, China, Vietnam, and East Germany. Yugoslavia, U.S., Portugal, Romania, France and Italy export a small percentage. Today these countries have ratified the Total Ban Treaty which entered into force, in March 1999 except the U.S. which plans to do so in 2006 since it still needs weapons along the border between North and South Korea, China which stated that the weapons should remain a legitimate instrument of self-defence until alternatives are developed and Russia which stated that the signing of a Total Ban would cause security and financial problems.