Myanmar overtakes Syria and Ukraine in landmine deaths | EUROtoday

“At this point, the future outlook in Myanmar is bleak,” stated Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, the Myanmar researcher for the Landmine Monitor, which is coordinated by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). He added that determine in Myanmar – which incorporates 770 accidents, 228 deaths and 6 unknown outcomes – is probably going an underestimate.

“This is the number we know of. There is no comprehensive medical surveillance system in the country – the real number is certainly much more,” he stated.

The rise in landmines comes as combating ramps up in a protracted civil struggle, which was sparked by a ruthless crackdown on peaceable protesters following a navy coup in February 2021. Now, dozens of various armed teams are combating in opposition to the junta.

Mines have been documented in Myanmar yearly for the reason that first Landmine Monitor in 1999, however the quantity used and consequent toll is rising, and each the navy and anti-regime forces have used the weapons.

Yet though the junta has beforehand admitted to laying mines in areas when they’re beneath assault, the report stated there’s additionally proof they’re additionally utilizing civilians as “guides”, making them stroll in entrance of its models in mine-affected areas, “effectively to detonate landmines”.

For occasion documented in June 2024, one villager died and two have been injured within the central Sagaing area when the navy compelled locals to clear landmines planted by insurgent teams; in one other in September 2023, the military used eight individuals as “human shields” in Kachin state, and one was injured after stepping on a mine.

“This is a grave violation of international humanitarian and human rights law,” the report stated.

Elsewhere, the report – which comes forward of a serious Mine Ban Treaty convention in  Cambodia, subsequent week-  warned that governments in international locations together with Russia, Iran and North Korea have all laid new landmines since mid 2023, as have non-state armed teams in Colombia, India, Pakistan and Gaza.

In Africa, too, new use of landmines has been documented, by teams working in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

But whereas these weapons take solely a second to put, clearing contaminated land can take a long time, with 58 international locations globally impacted by landmine contamination.

In 2023, 160,500 antipersonnel landmines have been destroyed throughout greater than 282 kilometres squared of land – the most important space cleared since 2019, with 75 per cent of removals in Cambodia and Croatia. But it’s painstaking work, and lots of different international locations have made negligible progress.

“Year after year, the annual number of landmines casualties remains very high,” stated Anne Héry, advocacy director at Humanity & Inclusion. “Conflicts are proliferating, and some armies, such as Russia in Ukraine, or Myanmar are using landmines on an extensive scale.

“Moreover, areas remain contaminated for extended periods, causing casualties long after the violence has ceased,” she stated, noting that violence has considerably fallen since a truce in Yemen in October 2021, however that 499 have been nonetheless killed or injured by landmines in 2023.

Tamar Gabelnick, Director of the ICBL, added: “This flagship report records a shocking number of civilians killed or injured by antipersonnel mines, including children. Any use of antipersonnel mines by any actor under any circumstances is unacceptable and must be condemned.

“All countries that have not yet done so should join the Mine Ban Treaty to turn back this tide and end the suffering caused by these vile weapons.”

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