Landmines: more victims and a weakened ban treaty
Keystone-SDA
Last year, 6,279 people worldwide were injured or killed by anti-personnel mines and ammunition remnants, says the Geneva-based International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC).
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The number of victims has risen to its highest level since 2020, according to the annual report by the organisation, which is made up of NGOs from around the world.
The report was presented in Geneva, where the parties to the Ottawa Convention against anti-personnel mines are meeting this week. The current wave of withdrawals from this international treaty poses a threat, warned the ICBL-CMC.
Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland officially initiated their withdrawal last summer. These states border Russia. They justified their move with Moscow’s military aggression and the resulting threat. Ukraine has also declared its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, but belligerent countries are not permitted to do so under the agreement.
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ICBL-CMC Director Tamar Gabelnick called on other states to prevent further withdrawals and to ensure that landmines are no longer produced, procured and used. “Withdrawal is not an option. We have already achieved too much and the human cost is simply too high,” she said about the fight against these weapons.
Military powers and conflict states left out of the mine ban
A total of 166 countries have joined the landmine ban so far, including Germany. Around 30 countries, including the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel, have not joined.
Landmines are laid to stop the advance of enemy forces. They explode on contact. Last year, around 90% of victims were civilians, many of them children.
Of the 6,279 victims last year, almost half were killed or injured in Myanmar and Syria. These two countries have not yet signed the landmine ban.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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