Five States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention have recently submitted instruments of withdrawal, citing national security and military necessity, while at least one other has taken steps to “suspend” the Convention.
These developments raise important questions about whether anti-personnel mines retain any meaningful military utility in contemporary conflict. In this post, Erik Tollefsen, Head of the ICRC Weapon Contamination Unit and Pete Evans, Head of the ICRC Unit for Arms Carriers and Prevention examine this question from an operational perspective. They argue that advances in technology and the realities of modern warfare have significantly reduced the military relevance of anti-personnel mines, while their humanitarian consequences remain severe.
Read more…
Source: ICRC Blog
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine – Update 168
June 30, 2023
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts have so far found no visible indications of mines or other explosives currently planted at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), but they still need additional access to carry out further such checks at the site, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today. The team of IAEA experts were today ...
- Estonia should consider using anti-personnel mines – Kunnas
June 27, 2023
Estonia should consider introducing anti-personnel mines in its national defense program, said Leo Kunnas (EKRE), deputy chairman of the Riigikogu’s National Defense Committee, on Monday. Anti-personnel mines are banned in all European countries. “While during the previous Riigikogu session, we argued about participation in the Ottawa Convention , there is still no ...
- 50 years since US troops left Vietnam, bombs continue to kill
June 26, 2023
Ho Sy Bay, 62, was rummaging around in his garden in central Vietnam when he struck something harder than sand or soil. Cautiously, he brushed aside the surrounding dirt and realised he was staring at an unexploded missile. Although Sy was unsure if the fuse was still intact, he picked up the bomb and placed it ...
- Afghanistan: Security forces seize weapons and ammunition in Paktika
June 26, 2023
According to a statement released by the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) on Monday, Afghan security forces in the country’s eastern Paktika province have confiscated significant weapons and ammunition. The confiscated weapons and ammunition, according to the statement, include thousands of bullets and explosive devices, 35 rocket shells, four mines, 14 hand grenades, and some other ...
- Addressing mine ban treaty challenges: New contamination and compliance
June 23, 2023
The annual Intersessional Meetings of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpile, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (aka Ottawa Convention, AP Mine Ban Convention, or Mine Ban Treaty) closed on 21 June in Geneva with more than 450 delegates representing 91 States and 60 international and non-governmental organisations ...
- Iraq launches strategy for mine action
June 22, 2023
According to international and local statistics and reports, Iraq is classified as the most contaminated country with mines and unexploded ordnance, which claim many Iraqi lives or cause them permanent disabilities and are spread as a result of the wars Iraq has gone through over the past decades. To address the issues, the Supreme National Committee ...
- Ukraine: Agencies join forces with deminers to reclaim agricultural land
June 22, 2023
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have designed a new joint programme for smallholder farmers and rural families most affected by the conflict. The goal is to clear farmland impacted by the fighting of mines and other explosive remnants of war, safely allowing it to produce crops once again. Read more… Source: ...
- IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine – Update 167
June 21, 2023
The IAEA is aware of reports of mines having been placed near the cooling pond. No mines were observed at the site during the Director General’s visit, including the cooling pond. However, the IAEA is aware of previous placement of mines outside the plant perimeter, which the Agency has previously reported, and also at particular ...
- Azerbaijan: ICRC reveals number of mine victims over past 30 years
June 20, 2023
About 3,350 people have become victims of mines in Azerbaijan over the past 30 years, Trend reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) revealed the above figures in its Facebook publication. The ICRC also said that together with the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA), and the Office ...
- Afghanistan: Mine explosion kills 1 in Wardak province
June 18, 2023
A provincial police officer in Wardak province said one person was killed in a mine explosion on Sunday. According to the official, an explosive device concealed amid rubbish exploded on Saturday afternoon while an Afghan street worker was collecting trash on the streets of Maidan Shar, the provincial capital of Wardak, killing the man. Earlier, a ...
- Cambodian war mines removed from Thai border
June 17, 2023
Mines dating back to the Cambodian Civil War five decades ago were successfully removed from Thai territory along the border with Cambodia on Friday. The Thailand Mine Action Centre (TMAC) of the Royal Thai Army was alerted via social media to three reported mines in Ta Phraya district of Sa Kaeo province. Read more… Source: Bangkok Post
- Ukraine: Sweden sending 250 mine detectors to search for landmines scattered after Kakhovka dam flooding
June 15, 2023
Sweden has sent 250 mine detectors to Ukraine to eliminate the consequences of Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka dam, Sweden’s Ministry of Defense reported on June 14. The equipment sent by Stockholm was intended for civilian mine clearance, said Swedish Minister for Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin. Read more… Source: The New Voice of Ukraine
- Iraq: Demining agency clears a minefield in Soran independent administration
June 14, 2023
The General Directorate of the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (MAA) in Erbil on Wednesday announced in a statement that they had defused a number of mines in the Sidekan district of the Soran independent administration. The statement added that 10 VS-50 mines were defused in the minefield of Spindarok in the Sidekan district. Read more… Source: Kurdistan24 ...
- Pakistan: Barkhan landmine blast claims two lives
June 14, 2023
At least two people were killed in a landmine explosion in Balochistan’s Barkhan district on Tuesday morning. The landmine explosion took place near the Barkhan border with the troubled Kohlu district. Levies sources said two pedestrians were hit by the landmine in the Hun Nadi area of Barkhan. Read more… Source: The Express Tribune
- Landmine Use in Ukraine
June 13, 2023
This background briefing surveys the types of landmines used in Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022. Antipersonnel mines explode by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person, and can kill and injure people long after armed conflicts end. The 1997 Mine Ban Treaty prohibits antipersonnel mines, but not antivehicle mines ...