Author(s):
Chayer Amelie <amelie@icbl.org> .
Tuesday 01 December 2009
Landmine Monitor Report 2009 shows that since the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty entered into force in 1999, casualties have declined steadily along with use, production, trade, and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines, and 3,200km2 has been made safe from mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW).
Progress has been made not only in the 156 states that have ratified the treaty, but also in the 39 countries that have yet signed on. Three-quarters of the world’s states have joined the treaty, effectively stigmatizing the use of antipersonnel mines worldwide.
In 1999, 15 states used antipersonnel mines, compared to only two in 2008–2009, Myanmar and Russia. Use of antipersonnel mines by non-state armed groups decreased from a high of 19 countries in 2001 to seven countries in 2008.
Thirty-eight countries have stopped producing mines, leaving only 13 on the list of countries that retain the right to produce antipersonnel mines. Eighty-six States Parties have destroyed 44 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines, potentially saving 44 million lives.
Since 1999, more than 2.2 million emplaced antipersonnel mines, 250,000 antivehicle mines, and 17 million ERW have been cleared from an area twice the size of London (3,200km2) in over 90 countries and areas. In 2008, mine action programs cleared an area the size of Brussels (160km2), the highest annual clearance total ever recorded by Landmine Monitor.
Casualty rates have decreased steadily over the past decade. Previous estimates of 26,000 recorded and unrecorded casualties per year worldwide have declined to under 5,200 casualties recorded in 2008.
Roughly 3,000km2 in over seventy countries and areas remains affected by mines and ERW, impeding livelihood activities and access to shelter, food, water, healthcare, and education for millions. Fifteen countries were granted more time to complete clearance of mined areas, and four more states have requests for deadline extensions pending.
Three states—Belarus, Greece, and Turkey—missed their stockpile destruction deadlines in 2008 and remain in serious violation of the treaty.
Over the past decade Landmine Monitor identified 73,576 casualties in 119 countries/areas. The total number of mine and ERW survivors worldwide is not known, due to difficulties in casualty data collection, but is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. In the last ten years at least 51,711 people have been injured by mines and ERW.
Landmine Monitor Report 2009 is the eleventh annual report by the ICBL and is available at lm.icbl.org/lm/2009. Contact lm@icbl.org for more information.
Jackie Hansen,
Landmine Monitor
