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:
- UNICEF: 6 children killed by mines in February in Iraq
March 15, 2022
A total of six Iraqi children, all boys, have lost their lives due to explosive remnants of war (ERW) in February, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement on Monday. Moreover, UNICEF said explosive remnants had maimed ten children (nine boys, one girl). “ERWs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) remain one of the leading ...
- Cambodia: Boy killed by landmine in Battambang
March 9, 2022
A 13-year-old was killed yesterday in a landmine explosion in Kas Kralor district’s Prey Toteoung Village of Battambang. The boy, identified as Seung Vansing, was tending his family’s cattle yesterday evening when one of the cows stepped on an anti-vehicle mine. Both the boy and the cow were killed in the incident. A big portion of the ...
- Banned Butterfly Mines Dropped In Ukraine That Children Can Mistake For Toys
March 9, 2022
A former war correspondent has shared chilling insight to the so-called ‘butterfly’ mines reportedly being used by Russian troops in Ukraine. After Vladimir Putin sent Russian forces across the border on February 24, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova shared the news that Ukrainian troops had found the anti-personnel mines in the Kharkiv region; home to Ukraine’s second-biggest ...
- Japan donates around US$1.2 million to Angola’s mine clearance projects
March 5, 2022
The Government of Japan on Thursday made available around 1.2 million U. S. dollars to support demining projects in Angola’s provinces of Cuanza Sul and Moxico. Two non-governmental organizations are entitled to implement the projects namely the Association of Angolan Professionals in Action Against Mines (Apacominas) and the international NGO Mine Advisory Group (MAG). During the donation ...
- Yemen: 2,364 Cluster Bombs, Mines Left by Coalition Forces
March 5, 2022
The non-technical survey teams in the Executive Center for Mine Action managed during February 2022 to discover 2,364 cluster bombs and mines left behind by Saudi-led coalition forces. According to a statistic issued by the center, the non-technical teams of the center were able to survey areas contaminated with mines, cluster bombs and war remnants in ...
- Philippines: Security Forces seize IEDs and anti-personnel mines in Lanao del Sur
March 3, 2022
Military officials said Thursday a possible terror plot has been averted with the fall of the Dawlah Islamiya – Maute Group (DI-MG) lair in Lanao del Sur. Lt. Gen. Alfredo Rosario Jr., Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, said the troops have recovered a total of 22 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and several anti-personnel mines that could ...
- Laos destroys 1.7M UXO devices during 1996-2021
March 3, 2022
Nearly 1.7 million unexploded ordnance (UXO) items had been destroyed by clearance teams in Laos from 1996 to December 31, 2021, while over 71,000 hectares of land were cleared of munitions. The figures were released at a consultation meeting on the Draft Unexploded Ordnance National Strategic Plan in Laos “Safe Path Forward III” for 2021-2030 in ...
- Azerbaijan: One killed, five wounded in mine blasts in January-February
March 2, 2022
One person was killed and five were wounded in mine explosions in Azerbaijan from January to February, Trend has reported. “One person was killed and five people were injured as a result of explosions of mines and unexploded ordnance from January through February 2022,” a statement from the Azerbaijani public association Campaign to Ban Landmines said. The ...
- Cambodia: Japan set to fund $41M of mine clearance and water supply systems
March 1, 2022
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn and Japanese ambassador Masahiro Mikami are set to sign an exchange of letters and related documents on Japanese aid for two projects with a total budget of $41 million on March 2. A February 28 press release from the ministry’s information department said: “The first project is ...
- Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kep becomes first AP mine free zones
February 28, 2022
Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kep was declared to be the first anti-personnel (AP) mine free zones in the country and four more provinces are on the way to joining the three AP mine free zones by the end of this year. Director General of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), Heng Ratana confirmed that CMAC professionals ...
- Cambodia: Government set to achieve mine-free status in three years.
February 25, 2022
Under a National Mine Action Strategy 2018-2025, the government is all set to achieve a mine-free Cambodia to the fullest extent possible in another three years. CMAC director-general Heng Ratana said the Kingdom has another 794 square kilometres of landmines and explosive remnants of war, including an additional 1,240 square kilometres of cluster munitions to be ...
- Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority launches information dissemination campaign in Preah Vihear
February 24, 2022
The Mine authority erected billboards to raise awareness of the dangers of mine and UXOs, which is part of the information campaign and part of efforts to keep injury and deaths caused by the war relics down. The installation took place on the afternoon of February 23 in Choam Ksan District, Preah Vihear according to the ...
- How landmines prevent Iraq’s displaced people from returning home
February 22, 2022
With several million pieces of mines and explosives lying under the rubble and soil across Iraq, many internally displaced people prefer living in camps to returning home. “It happened to one of my uncles two years ago. As a shepherd, he used to take his flock out in the field. One day, he stepped on a ...
- Mexico sends anti-mine squads to cartel turf
February 19, 2022
Special squads of Mexican army troops equipped with metal detectors and bomb suits have deployed to the western state of Michoacan, where warring drug cartels have planted land mines or improvised explosive devices. The squads apparently have found dozens of such devices along rural roads and fields in the area around the township of Aguililla. The mines ...
- Cambodia: Deminers remove 50-year-old bomb in K Chhnang
February 18, 2022
CMAC deminers today removed an unexploded bomb, dropped by American warplanes during the civil war era, weighing more than 200 kilogrammes and which was buried underground for nearly 50 years in Kampong Chhnang province’s Kampong Tralach district. District police Deputy Chief Lieutenant Colonel Chuon Sitha told Khmer Times that at about 2pm yesterday, a construction worker, ...