Poland and the Baltic states said on Tuesday that they want to withdraw from an international treaty banning anti-personnel mines, citing Russia’s growing military threat. In a joint statement, the defence ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said they “unanimously recommend withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention”.
The 1997 treaty — which prohibits the use, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines — has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 countries. Russia has not joined the agreement, and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has turned the war-torn country into the most mine-laden nation in the world, according to reports.
Read more…
Source: Euronews
Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter
Related:
- Myanmar: Routes linking Yangon and Mandalay hit by mine attacks
May 2, 2024
A bridge on the old Yangon-Mandalay highway and a section of railway linking the two cities were both significantly damaged by mine attacks carried out by resistance forces on Wednesday, according to state media reports. The incidents occurred in Bago Region’s Pyu Township, in territory controlled by Brigade 3 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). ...
- Pakistan: One person killed, 20 injured in twin blasts in Duki
May 2, 2024
One person was killed, and 20 others injured, including two officials of Balochistan police’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), in two explosions that took place in the coal field area of Duki district in northern Balochistan on Thursday. Officials said that the explosions, in which improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were used, took place with an interval when ...
- Azerbaijan: Anti-tank mine explosion injuries one in Aghdam
April 28, 2024
A mine explosion occurred in the village of Marzili in Azerbaijan’s liberated district of Aghdam on Saturday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Mine Action Agency (ANAMA) said in a joint statement. The explosion resulted in injuries to Huseynov Vidadi Vugar, born in 1994, who lost his way with the grader ...
- Azerbaijan: Sapper injured in mine explosion in Shusha region
April 27, 2024
An employee of the Azerbaijan National Mine Clearance Agency (ANAMA) was injured in the line of duty. The incident occurred on April 27 in the village of Gaybaly in the Shusha region. ANAMA employee Elchin Aydin oglu Guliyev, born in 1981, was blown up by an antipersonnel mine. The victim received a “traumatic amputation of his ...
- Syria remains country hardest hit by landmines due to casualties, says UN official
April 26, 2024
Landmines, explosive remnants of war, and improvised explosive devices continue to cause death and injury, especially around armed conflicts, with one person on average killed every hour, with Syria hit hardest, a UN official said Friday. Christelle Loupforest, who heads the UN Mine Action Service in Geneva (UNMAS), said that communities are suffering tremendously from the ...
- Ukraine is riddled with land mines, drones and Ai can help
April 25, 2024
Early on a June morning in 2023, my colleagues and I drove down a bumpy dirt road north of Kyiv in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Armed Forces were conducting training exercises nearby, and mortar shells arced through the sky. We arrived at a vast field for a technology demonstration set up by the United Nations. Across the ...
- Pakistan: Repolling delayed in Balochistan’s Kohlu after landmine explosion injures two
April 24, 2024
Repolling in the Kohlu district of Balochistan for the PB-9 constituency could not take place on Wednesday after a landmine exploded and rockets were fired at a polling station, according to the deputy commissioner. The incident came just hours after one person was killed in a rocket attack at the election office of a PPP candidate ...
- U.S. announced a new $1 billion package of arms for Ukraine
April 24, 2024
The Pentagon on Wednesday announced a new $1 billion package of arms for Ukraine, which includes badly needed artillery rounds, munitions for U.S. donated M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS and air defense systems. At the same time, it is coming to light that the U.S. has already supplied additional ATACMS ballistic missiles to ...
- Cambodia: Five killed by unexploded ordnance over the weekend
April 22, 2024
Two separate explosions from ordnance left over from Cambodia’s decades of warfare killed five people and injured two others, the head of the country’s demining agency said Monday. Some 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded munitions are estimated to have littered Cambodia’s countryside during almost three decades of war and disorder that ...
- Brazil’s participation in international cooperation in Mine Action
April 17, 2024
Although Brazilian territory is not affected by these threats, Brazil has not been left out of the global effort to eliminate mines and explosive threats and has become a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty. In compliance with Article 6 of the Ottawa Treaty, Brazil has participated in international cooperation and assistance in Mine Action since the ...
- Israel: Four IDF soldiers wounded in explosion on Lebanese side of border
April 15, 2024
Four IDF soldiers were wounded by an unidentified explosion just inside the Lebanese side of the western border with Israel during operations related to securing the border. The IDF is still reviewing what caused the explosion but did not say anything about any active threat or attack posed by Hezbollah. In the absence of an active ...
- Zimbabwe: Government committed to a landmine-free nation
April 13, 2024
Zimbabwe on Thursday held belated commemorations for International Day for Mine Awareness in Harare amid calls for increased funding to demining operations for the country to achieve total freedom, 44 years after the liberation war ended. The settler regime laid huge minefields of anti-personnel mines along the borders 6 percent of these unmapped fields are still ...
- Ukraine: East bank of Kherson Oblast to be cleared of mines by end of 2025
April 12, 2024
The liberated right (east) bank of Kherson Oblast is planned to be cleared of mines by the end of 2025. According to Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of Kherson Oblast Military Administration, 1,100 bomb disposal experts are currently working in the region and have already cleared 245,000 hectares. Read more… Source: Ukrainska Pravda News
- Syria: Three citizens injured in landmine blast left behind by terrorists in Hama
April 12, 2024
Three citizens were martyred, another got injured in landmine blast left behind by terrorists in Hama northern countryside. A source at Hama Police Command told SANA reporter that a landmine, left behind by terrorists, went off in al-Zoughbeh village while the farmers were working on their farmlands Read more… Source: SANA News Sign up for our Newsletter Related:
- Children and War: The Impact of Weapon Contamination in Iraq
April 8, 2024
As one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world, Iraq grapples with the enduring legacy of past conflicts, including landmines and cluster munitions. Basra, in particular, stands as a stark reminder of this reality, with a pollution rate of 1,200 square kilometers (statistics by Directorate Mine of Action by 2024), making it one ...
- Sri Lanka: A stretch remains to be cleared of landmines in North
April 8, 2024
Chief Government Whip and Housing Minister Prasanna Ranatunga on Saturday said that there was a stretch of 23 km to be cleared of landmines in the North. Addressing a ceremony held at Kilinochchi to mark the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the Minister said that as of now an area of ...
- Azerbaijan: Excavator hits landmine in Aghdam
April 7, 2024
An incident involving a landmine occurred in the Novruzlu village area of the Aghdam district, Azernews reports. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Mine Action Agency (ANAMA) Press Service have jointly released information about this. An excavator hit a landmine in an uncleared area. The excavator was damaged, but there were ...
- UNMAS: It is time to stop the use by terrorists and other non-State armed groups of improvised explosive devices
April 4, 2024
Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), Ilene Cohn, said, “it is time to stop the use by terrorists and other non-State armed groups of improvised explosive devices.” The Director of UNMAS today (04 Apr) spoke to reporters marking the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. Disabled survivors of explosive ...
- Vietnam: Mine clearance of unexploded ordnance continues
April 4, 2024
Efforts to settle the consequences of bombs and mines in 2024 will continue focusing on clearing bombs, mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from the war and supporting victims, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA). Along with collecting data to develop a report summarising the implementation of the national action ...
- UN reaffirms their support to Somalia in protecting lives from explosive ordnance
April 4, 2024
On the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the United Nations reaffirms their support to Somalia in protecting the lives of civilians from the explosive hazards and building peace through the development of national explosive threat mitigation capacity. “Mine action efforts are an essential component of Somalia’s journey to peace and stability ...
- UNDP: Landmines kill in seconds, their fallout lasts generations
April 3, 2024
On average, one person is killed or injured by landmines and other explosive ordnance every hour. Their destructive influence lasts long after armed conflict ends, inflicting horrific injuries and death, while trapping communities in poverty and fear. Millions of people are being put in harm’s way as conflict proliferates – from Afghanistan to Myanmar, to Sudan, ...
- Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency sapper injured in mine explosion in Agdam
April 2, 2024
Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency sapper Aliyev Khayyam Gambar oglu born 1987 was blown up by a mine, the Aghdam district prosecutor’s office reported. The incident occurred on April 2 during mine clearance work in the village of Saryjaly, Agdam region. Aliyev was injured, and the equipment he used was also damaged. Read more… Source: Turan