Explosive remnants of war and international humanitarian law
When an armed conflict ends, the battlefields are often littered with explosive debris. Much of this debris is still dangerous, in particular stocks of weapons left behind by combatants and explosive munitions that were fired but failed to go off as intended.
For civilians and communities in war-affected countries, the presence of these weapons represents an ongoing threat. Many innocent civilians have lost life or limb by disturbing or inadvertently coming into contact with explosive remnants of war. These weapons can also hinder reconstruction efforts and threaten people’s livelihoods. Homes, hospitals and schools cannot be rebuilt – and contaminated land cannot be farmed – until such weapons are cleared.
Local communities often have no means of dealing with the problem themselves. Most do not have the technical capacity or the resources to clear explosive remnants of war safely, and few have the resources needed to deal with the victims’ psychological, medical and rehabilitation needs.
Globally, there are millions of explosive remnants of war on the ground today affecting more than 80 countries. Some countries have been dealing with this problem for decades. Poland, for example, has cleared some 100 million explosive objects from the two World Wars. In Laos, tens of millions of explosive remnants of war remain to be cleared following the end of the Indochina Wars in 1975. More recent conflicts, such as those in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, have also left behind significant amounts of explosive remnants of war.
States have taken significant steps towards reducing the human suffering caused by explosive remnants of war and providing assistance to affected communities. The Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War, adopted in November 2003 by the states party to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, is a major advance in the effort to end the suffering caused by unexploded and abandoned munitions.
The Protocol requires each party to a conflict to clear explosive remnants of war from the territory it controls once the hostilities are over. It also obliges them to provide technical, material and financial assistance to clear explosive remnants of war in areas not under its control that resulted from its own operations.
As clearing a country of these weapons may take years, measures such as marking, fencing and risk education for local communities must be taken to help protect civilians. States must also provide assistance for the care and rehabilitation of victims if they are in a position to do so.
To facilitate these measures, the Protocol requires the parties to a conflict to record information on the explosives they used during a conflict and share that information with other parties and weapon clearance organizations once the fighting has ended. A lack of information has often slowed past efforts to deal with explosive remnants of war.
The Protocol is a significant development and provides an important framework to facilitate a rapid response where explosive remnants of war remain. The safety of civilians will be greatly enhanced if all states adhere to the Protocol and fully implement its provisions.
