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
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- Yemen: Children tormented by landmines and unexploded ordnance
July 30, 2013
Unexploded remnants of Yemen’s conflicts have killed and injured dozens of children and threaten the country’s fragile return to peace. Thirteen-year-old Nakhlah Ramadhan was tending sheep with her younger sister Fatima on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, when she stepped on a landmine. She was killed instantly; Fatima was seriously injured. Read more… Source: United Nations ...