Experts predict that in 2024, landmines will kill and injure 6,279 people, of whom about 90% are civilians, and a significant portion of them are children. The situation is particularly alarming in Myanmar, where the military authorities are using landmines against the civilian population.
Handicap International monitors the implementation of the UN Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use of such mines. This agreement obliges the participating states not to use, produce, or transfer these mines to third countries. This weapon is recognized as particularly cruel, as it harms both military personnel and civilians indiscriminately.
Despite more than 100 countries signing the Ottawa Convention, major powers such as Russia, the USA, and China are absent from this list.
The report also criticizes five European countries: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. These countries plan to create a mine belt along their land border with Russia and Belarus, which is related to concerns about possible military aggression amid the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Founded in 1982, Handicap International is an international non-governmental organization aimed at supporting people with disabilities and vulnerable populations in situations of poverty, conflict, and emergencies.
