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Anti-personnel mines
29-10-2010 Overview
Wars should end when the fighting stops. Yet anti-personnel mines kill and maim long after conflicts are over. This is why the international community adopted the 1997 Mine Ban treaty completely banning these weapons. Despite progress great challenges remain especially removing remaining mines and relieving the suffering of the injured.
Anti-personnel mines cannot distinguish between civilians and soldiers. They continue to kill and maim civilians long after the fighting has ceased. Vast areas of valuable land are put out of use, destroying livelihoods. Communities can be affected for decades after the end of an armed conflict.
Of all continents, Africa is the most severely affected by landmines. Twenty-two countries face this problem. All but one in sub-Saharan Africa have ratified the Convention and use of anti-personnel mines has become rare. But the legacy of the past still means many casualties each year, especially in the more seriously affected areas such as Angola and Mozambique.
Other continents have not escaped. Fifteen countries in Asia are affected by landmines, 11 in Europe and 8 in the Americas.
The campaign to ban anti-personnel mines was one of the major humanitarian initiatives of the last three decades. The ICRC along with governments and many other organizations argued for a comprehensive prohibition on their use, stockpiling, production and transfer. In 1997 the international community responded by adopting the Mine Ban Treaty. But that was just the beginning. The Convention needed to be implemented.
Under this convention, each State Party has 4 years to destroy its stocks of anti-personnel mines. Until recently, compliance with this obligation had been nearly perfect. In the last eleven years, States reported the destruction of more than 42 million anti-personnel mines. Before the Mine Ban Convention was adopted, more than 130 states possessed anti-personnel mines. Today, it is estimated that only about 40 States still stockpile anti-personnel mines. At present, compliance with the stockpile destruction obligation is one of the key challenges facing the treaty. The four States that still have stockpiles that must be destroyed, have all missed their non-extendable deadlines (Belarus, Greece and Turkey since 2008 and the Ukraine since 2010). Together, these 4 States hold more than 12 million anti-personel mines.
Mine clearance presented a particular problem because the task was so vast. Nevertheless the Convention set clear targets, giving each country 10 years to demine its territory. 16 States Parties have completed their clearance obligation on time. However, a very large proportion of States have had to seek an extension of their clearance deadline. It is clear that compliance with this obligation is a key challenge for this convention.
The Convention also committed States to help the hundreds of thousands of mine victims – most in countries with very limited heath and rehabilitation facilities. While the inclusion of a requirement to provide victims with assistance was a major achievement of the Mine Ban convention, this is an area of implementation where progress has been difficult to achieve and measure. Most survivors have yet to see a substantial improvement in their lives and in access to medical care, physical rehabilitation, psychological support, social services, education and employment.
Despite the remaining challenges, the Second Review Conference, held in Cartagena, Colombia in December 2009 demonstrated the dynamic and results-oriented culture of the Mine Ban convention. The Conference seriously addressed the key challenges now being faced by the Convention and adopted the Cartagena Action Plan, which contains strong commitments to improve work in the fields of victim assistance, stockpile destruction and mine clearance.
More than three-quarters of the world's countries have so far joined the Mine Ban Convention and its positive impact has been remarkable in terms of destruction of stockpiles, mine clearance and reduction of casualties. The success of the Convention has also focused attention on the post-conflict consequences of other weapons, in particular on explosive remnants of war, including cluster munitions.
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