The guns may stop firing and the soldiers return to base, but for many civilians the legacy of war will haunt them long after the conflict has ended. Millions of unexploded munitions in all shapes and sizes are left behind and all too often these Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) claim the lives or the limbs of innocent civilians.This film highlights the recent developments which have been made by the international community to reduce this suffering. It provides a detailed explanation of both the ERW issue and the new Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War adopted by States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

In order to overcome one of the most serious problems of our times, the international community signed a treaty in Ottawa outlawing an invisible enemy that strikes blindly: anti-personnel mines. This informative documentary reviews the prohibitions – on the use, development, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel mines – and the obligations instituted by the treaty: the destruction of existing stockpiles, the clearance of mine-infested areas and the setting up of preventions and assistance programmes. It serves to remind us that the treaty's provisions represent a complete plan of action eradicating this scourge – an objective that can only be reached if the treaty is actually applied on the ground.

A war surgeon relates his experiences and makes a plea on the victims' behalf. He recounts how most people who survive blast of an anti-personnel landmine blast suffer atrociously, and often alone. More than half die shortly thereafter or on the way to hospital; others receive inadequate medical care. Low-tech and relatively low-cost prostheses exist, but are often unavailable. This film reflects on how efforts to prevent mine accidents from happening in the first place – through mine-clearing, education and ultimately a ban –are important but that, even after mined have been banned, there will continue to be victims.

Omer Khan, the hero of this film, is a 13-year-old Afghan boy who was wounded in the war and now lives as a refugee in Pakistan. He has known war all his life. The powerful pull of family ties led Omer and his father to slip back into their country one night to travel to the village of their birth. On the way, Omer had one of his legs blown off when he stepped on a mine.