Landmines

“Landmines are the thing for defense in the future. We have covered the works with them and they have done much execution.”

-General Gordon, British Army, 1884.

General Gordon’s analysis of landmines in the future has proved to be startlingly true, but it’s hard to imagine Gordon or anyone else for that matter predicting that most landmine casualties would be innocent civilian’s decades after the mines were planted. The modern mine was created during WWII with the development of 16 different anti-tank mines, and 10 anti-personnel mines. Since these first mines were planted in the earth’s soil and waterways millions of people, mostly civilians have been killed and maimed. Along with the physical harm to humans, the environment has been dramatically altered in the areas where mines are present.

Landmine – busting teams are fighting  a losing battle: for every mine that is cleared, 20 new ones are laid. A year after the death of Britain’s Princess Diana, whose high profile trips to Angola and Bosnia highlighted the scourge landmines, donations were still pouring in to fund the mammoth task clearing an estimated 100 million unexploded mines scattered across 70 countries from Angola to Afghanistan.

The major problem with a mine is that it is a killer that will not discriminate. A mine can be tripped by the foot of a soldier, the snout of cattle, or the hand of a child. It will kill all three equally. It is estimated that 71 people die every day from mine explosions. Some are killed instantly; others bleed to death hours later. In Cambodia there are more mines than people and it is

Currently there are numerous mine clearance operations taking place around the world. The Unites States is the front runner of these missions, contributing over 500 million dollars since 1993, and participating in mine clearance operations in 38 countries. The problem with the removal of landmines is that it is labor intensive and very expensive. The UN estimates the price of clearing a mine to be between $300-$1000. Some methods involve detonating entire mine fields which again causes great environmental destruction. Others painstakingly remove each mine one-by-one. There is no perfect method, it is dangerous work and not nearly enough people to do it

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The problems associated with landmines were addressed in 1997 at the Ottawa Convention. The 1997 mine ban treaty was established to rid the world of the production, stockpiling, use, and transfer of landmines. The treaty, which was applauded around the globe, was signed by three-quarters of the world’s nations, including all G-8 countries with the exception of Russia, and the United States. The U.S. has not used anti-personnel landmines since the 1991 Gulf War and was a leader in expressing its concern over the continued use of land mines. A statement by President Clinton prior to the establishment of the treaty demonstrates this, “Today I am launching an international effort to ban anti-personnel landmines. The U.S. will lead a global effort to eliminate these terrible weapons and stop the enormous loss of human life.” Today the Pentagon maintains the U.S. right to use landmines because they play a vital and essential role by restricting troop although 126 countries have signed it.

 

Ingenious devices have been designed to make mine clearing easier. In the last year, engineers have come up with a string of ingenious devices to enable mine clearing teams to work faster and more cheaply, but some exports believe the only way to make a difference would be to ease tight security standards on de-mining. “With today’s methods, we are just losing ground, more mines are being laid than are being lifted,” said Arjun Katoch, mine clearance officer at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

However, experts in the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) are wary of cheap and easy answers unless they prove to be totally secure. MAG, which won the Noble Prize in 1997 for its campaign to ban anti-personnel mines, works in six of the most mine-ridden countries. So far, it says, it has seen no real impact from the new technologies. “Too many devices are developed with little understanding of the real practices of landmine clearance or the real conditions of the world,” MAG said. “To herald an item as a super simply looks naive”

Two new faces to take over Diana’s crusade are Jordan’s Queen Noor and French soccer star, David Ginola. Ginola has joined the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appeal for “Assistance for Main Victims”, which has raised more than $11 million since its launch in March. Ginola says he has no intentions of replacing Princess Diana; his aim is to “make the world of football open its eyes and learn about the landmine problem.”