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What are landmines?
Landmines are small, buried explosives that are designed to maim both machinery and people. Although there are approximately 600 different types of landmines, they can be divided into two main categories-anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. While it takes the heavy pressure of a vehicle passing over to trigger anti-tank mines, anti-personnel mines are activated when an animal or person steps on them. Anti-personnel mines cannot, therefore, discriminate between soldiers and civilians and many in the military, governmental, and non-profit world believe they should be made illegal.
What types of landmines are there?
Blast mines are the most common type of anti-personnel mines. Blast mines produce massive explosions that are often fatal. Because of their nature, these blast mines have killed more people than any other type of mine. If they are not killed, the victims of these mines sustain horrible injuries to their lower limbs. The blast generally rips off the lower part of a person's leg and drives dirt, bone, and pieces of shoe up into the remaining portion of the limb. Needless to say, this is very painful, and in poor areas of the world, victims of these landmine blasts are sentenced to a life of horrible pain without proper medical relief. Since landmines leave them as amputees, with no legs, the victims are also usually doomed to a life of economic insecurity and often social disgrace. Butterfly mines, another type of anti-personnel mines, are those that are dropped from planes and float to the ground without exploding. These have a shape and color that appeals to children, who very often mistake them for toys. The explosion from these mines is comparatively small, yet still strong enough to remove a hand and still strong enough to create great pain and hardship for the victims.
Where are landmines located?
There are currently 110 million active landmines in 83 countries around the world. Active landmines exist on every continent and there are 250 million more stockpiled and ready to be used. Three countries-Afghanistan, Angola, and Cambodia-account for 85% of the world's landmine victims.
Afghanistan: In Afghanistan, there are more mines than there are people. Mines were planted in Afghanistan beginning in 1973 as part of the Cold War, and have been arriving ever since. Only recently has the rate of mines being planted finally decreased.
- One out of every 10 adult males living in Afghanistan today is a landmine victim.
- Only 35 per cent of the country's land is usable because of these mines.
- In Afghanistan's largest city, children account for nearly 85 per cent of the victims of all explosives.
- Landmines kill four Afghani children under the age of 16 each day. Another four are injured.
Angola: In Angola, there are approximately 12 million landmines today. This is the equivalent of one landmine for every person living in the country! Landmines have been used by various groups over the past three decades.
- There are 100,000 amputees in Angola today.
- 8,000 of these amputees are children under the age of 15.
- Since mines are planted along roads, under bridges, on airport runways and in and around villages, development in Angola has become nearly impossible.
Cambodia: In Cambodia, there are approximately 10 million active landmines today. Most of these were planted between 1979 and 1984, though even today new mines are planted.
- Today, landmines claim between 200 and 300 lives in Cambodia each month.
- There are currently two active mines in Cambodia for every one child.
- Even the smallest of these mines can be deadly to a small child. No five year old who has stepped on a mine in Cambodia has ever survived.
How are children affected by landmines?
Children's small size makes them particularly vulnerable to landmines. A blast that might remove a leg or an arm of an adult is likely to be fatal to a young child. In addition, children are drawn to mines because of their often colourful and attractive nature. Since many children are illiterate, they also often cannot read signs that are meant to warn them of mines and minefields. Whereas adults can keep artificial limbs for 3-5 years, since children are constantly growing they must replace theirs every 6-12 months. Young victims also often need a series of amputations as their bones grow. In some cases, children may not even be able to wear artificial limbs at all.
- Only 15 per cent of children who step on landmines survive the initial blast.
- 85 per cent of children who step on landmines will die before they reach the hospital.
What are some solutions to the landmine problem?
The Ottawa Treaty of 1997, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, prohibits any future production or use of anti-personnel landmines. It requires that any existing stockpiles be destroyed, and that all minefields be cleared within ten years. It also ensures that countries assist landmine victims, many of whom are children whose families cannot fully provide for their needs.
Many of the world's nations have signed on to the Mine Ban Treaty, the most important legislative effort to make landmine use illegal. However, several key countries have yet to sign on to this treaty. One of those is the United States, which has come up against great pressure from the international community for not being a leader on this issue. On the positive side, the United States has not produced any type of antipersonnel mine since 1997. However, in August 2005, Human Rights Watch reported that the "Bush Administration appears poised to resume the production of antipersonnel mines," including victim-activated mines which are the most dangerous and illegal mines of all.
De-mining, the process of removing mines from the ground once they are planted, is a dangerous and expensive process. However, the world has been moving steadfastly toward de-mining for the past decade.
- Mines cost only $3 to produce, but they can cost up to $1,000 to remove.
- Landmines can remain active for 50 years or more and are still being laid faster than they are being removed.
- The cost of removing all the landmines in the world today would be upwards of $33 billion. With today's de-mining rates, it would take over 1,000 years to complete the removal of all mines.
- In addition, the removal of landmines is an incredibly dangerous job-accidents occur at an exceptionally high rate and thus slow down the de-mining process.
What can be done about landmines and how can I help?
Ultimately, what needs to be done is:
- All countries need to stop producing new landmines.
- All countries need immediately to stop using landmines in current and future wars.
- All countries need to sign on to the Mine Ban Treaty.
- All countries need to contribute to a fund to significantly speed up the removal of those mines that are currently planted and active all over the world.
You can help by supporting legislation geared at realizing the above goals. You can also support the work of Free The Children, and particularly our Schoolbuilding and Adopt a Village projects that work to provide education and economic empowerment in some of the world's poorest villages.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CHOCOLATE AND SLAVERY:
ORGANIZATIONS:
Adopt-a-Minefield
International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Canadian Landmine Foundation
War Child: Stop Landmines!
Physicians for Human Rights
US Campaign to Ban Landmines
http://www.banminesusa.org/
Roots of Peace
Online Video and Audio
Landmines: Jody Williams
Ban Against Landmines: Princess Diana
Children Victims of Landmines: Colombia
Landmines Video List
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