July 28, 2002

According to one estimate 15,000-20,000 people are maimed or killed by landmines every year and yet 53 countries (including India and Pakistan) have not signed the Mine Ban Treaty, observes a Worldwatch report

Anti-personnel landmines have taken a heavy toll for decades. Not only do they kill and maim indiscriminately, they make fertile land unusable, inhibit travel, prevent farmers from getting their produce to markets, discourage repatriation of refugees, and hinder reconstruction efforts after wars end.

Since the passage of the international mine ban treaty in 1999, however, significant headway has been made in recent years in battling this problem. A growing number of governments are joining the treaty. And the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), an international coalition of nongovernmental organizations, concludes that there is reduced use of anti- personnel mines, a dramatic drop in their production, a near- complete halt to exports, destruction of stockpiled mines at a rapid pace, growing amounts of land that has been cleared of mines, and fewer victims in affected countries.

The Mine Ban Treaty was hammered out in just 14 months, opened for signature in December 1997, and entered into force in March 1999 — lightning speed compared with the usual process of international negotiating and treaty-making. Its adoption capped a highly successful campaign by the ICBL, which started in 1992.

As of October 2001, 142 countries had signed or ratified the treaty. Almost all African countries, heavily affected by mines, have signed on. In the western hemisphere, only the United States and Cuba have not joined in; in the European Union, only Finland has not. Most of the Middle East and many Asian nations have so far declined to join the treaty. Unfortunately, the 53 holdouts around the world include three of the five permanent members of the Security Council (the United States, Russia, and China) and some other major producers, including India and Pakistan.

In its 2001 Landmine Monitor report, the ICBL puts the number of countries still producing anti-personnel mines at 14, among them Russia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and South Korea. The United States is included in this category as well; although it has not manufactured any mines since 1996, it has refused to adopt an official moratorium or ban. Encouragingly, 41 nations have now ended production, including eight of the twelve major past producers, all of them in Europe.

The ICBL estimates that about 230-245 million anti-personnel mines remain stockpiled in 100 countries. Non-signatories to the treaty hold the vast majority — some 215-225 million. China alone is believed to have 110 million mines, followed by Russia with 60-70 million, and the United States with 11 million. Ukraine, Pakistan, India, and Belarus each hold about 4-6 million. The treaty requires that stockpiles be eliminated, and some 27 million anti-personnel mines have been destroyed in recent years in as many as 50 countries. By late 2001, 28 countries had destroyed their arsenals, and another 19 are well along in this task.

The US State Department estimates that there are 45-50 million landmines buried in nearly 60 countries. But Landmine Monitor 2001 reports that 90 countries and 11 non-sovereign territories (such as Chechnya, Iraqi Kurdistan, Palestine, and Somaliland) are affected. Only about one third of them have undertaken surveys or undergone a systematic assessment. During 2000 and early 2001, mine clearance operations were carried out in 76 countries and territories.

No one knows how many people fall victim to mines each year. The tally from reported incidents in 2000 was somewhat less than 10,000 casualties. But a significant number of incidents are believed to go unreported. The ICBL estimates that mine explosions kill or maim 15,000-20,000 persons annually. While this is still a very large number, it is down from earlier estimates of 26,000-30,000 casualties. Landmines continue to be a danger long after a conflict comes to an end; most casualties occurred in countries no longer at war.

More than $1 billion has been made available for demining activities during the past decade. Though tracking available money is difficult, the ICBL puts spending in 2000 at $224 million. The amounts available have increased, but the United Nations judges available resources still too limited to meet the needs of affected countries. The leading funders are the United States, Norway, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, and Japan. By the end of 2001, the United States had provided more than $500 million in demining assistance to 40 countries. The bulk of funds went to Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, and Mozambique.

Afghanistan has been heavily mined since the late 1970s. The upsurge in fighting that accompanied the US air campaign against the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda forces in late 2001 added unknown quantities of unexploded ammunitions to the demining challenge. Just how many mines are scattered was unknown even before the most recent turn of events. The US State Department estimates them at four million, down from its 1998 estimate of 10 million. Some observers insist the number is one million or less, whereas the US Campaign to Ban Landmines uses an estimate of 8-10 million.

In Afghanistan, some 723 square kilometres have been found to be mine-infested, but additional mined areas are being detected at the rate of 12-14 square kilometres a year. Mines have severely reduced the amount of Afghan agricultural and grazing land safely accessible. The UN Development Programme and the World Bank estimate that at current funding levels, it will take 7-10 years to clear roughly half of the contaminated areas, some 344 square kilometres of the most productive land, which would allow most Afghans to resume a more normal life.

In 2000, there were more than 1,000 recorded mine casualties in Afghanistan, down from more than 7,200 in 1993. But the real number could easily be 50-100 per cent larger. Indeed, a State Department estimate uses a figure of 2,400. And the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation, a UN-sponsored agency, believes annual casualties to be as high as 4,000.

The populations of many mine-affected countries will likely confront the dangers and uncertainties of mines for decades, if not centuries. A recent assessment of Cambodia’s situation concluded that landmine clearance may take 200-300 years at current removal rates.

Excerpted with permission from
Vital signs 2002: the trends that are shaping our future
Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC-20036-1094,
USA. Tel: (202) 452 1999
Email: wwpub@worldwatch.org
ISBN 0-393-32315-3
215pp. $14.95

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