One of the most deadly legacies of the 20th century is the use oflandmines in warfare. Anti-personnel landmines continue to have tragic, unintended consequences years after a battle and even the entire war has ended. As time passes, the location of landmines is often forgotten, even by those who planted them. These mines continue to be functional for many decades, causing further damage, injury and death.

Landmines are basically explosive devices that are designed to explode when triggered by pressure or a tripwire. These devices are typically found on or just below the surface of the ground. The purpose of mines when used by armed forces is to disable any person or vehicle that comes into contact with it by an explosion or fragments released at high speeds. (they are designed to MAIME rather than kill people, because it is more costly to an enemy force to care for seriously injured soldiers than dead ones)  

Photo courtesy U.S. Department of DefenseThis PMA-2 landmine was found hidden under snow and foliage in Rajlovac, Bosnia. 

Currently, there are more than 100-million landmines located in 70 countries around the world, according to OneWorld International. Since 1975, landmines have killed or maimed more than 1-million people, (in 2010 approx 15 people a day are  killed or maimed by landmines) has led to a worldwide effort to ban further landmine use and clear away existing landmines.

Unfortunately children and animals are most at risk from these, they are more likely to die from their injuries and more likely to be playing in areas where there are undetected mines....

Naturally curious, children are likely to pick up strange objects, such as the infamous toy-like 'butterfly' mines that Soviet forces spread by the millions in Afghanistan.

Land-mines represent "an insidious and persistent danger" to children affected by war, says a new United Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children, by Graça Machel, the UN Secretary-General's Expert on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children.

Children are particularly vulnerable to land-minesin a number of ways. If they are too young to read or are illiterate, signs posted to warn them of the presence of mines are useless. Also, children are far more likely to die from their mine injuries than are adults. Of those maimed children who survive, few will receive prostheses that keep up with the continued growth of their stunted limbs.

The report calls on governments and the international community to design mine awareness programmes and physical rehabilitation programmes with children's needs in mind. The report urges that humanitarian mine clearance be made a standard part of peace agreements. Above all, it calls on governments to enact immediate legislation banning the production, use, trade and stockpiling of land-mines and to support the campaign for a worldwide ban. Some 41 nations are now on record as being in favour of the permanent elimination of land-mines.

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Photo: The civil war in Nicaragua was over before he was born, but it cost 10-year-old Marvin his leg all the same. Landmines are "indiscriminate weapons triggered by innocents and unsuspecting passers-by", says the Machel report. It recommends that countries and companies profiting from landmines sales be required to help pay for mine clearance. ©

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"Land-mines are uniquely savage in the history of modern conventional warfare not only because of their appalling individual impact, but also their long-term social and economic destruction," says Ms. Machel.

Children in at least 68 countries are today threatened by what may be the most toxic pollution facing mankind — the contamination by mines of the land they live on. Over 110 million land-mines of various types — plus millions more unexploded bombs, shells and grenades — remain hidden around the world, waiting to be triggered by the innocent and unsuspecting, the report says. So common are mines in Cambodia that they are now used for fishing, to protect private property and even to settle private disputes.

Afghanistan, Angola and Cambodia have suffered 85 per cent of the world's land-mine casualties. Overall, African children live on the most mine-plagued continent, with an estimated 37 million mines embedded in the soil of at least 19 countries. Angola alone has an estimated 10 million land-mines and an amputee population of 70,000, of whom 8,000 are children. Since May 1995 children have made up about half the victims of the 50,000-100,000 anti-personnel mines laid in Rwanda.

Once laid, a mine may remain active for up to 50 years. Unless vigorous action is taken, mines placed today will still be killing and maiming people well into the middle of the next century. In just one district of Viet Nam 300 children have died, 42 have lost one or more limbs, and 16 have been blinded as a result of land-mines laid during the Viet Nam war. As one Khmer Rouge general put it, a land-mine is the most excellent of soldiers, for it is "ever courageous, never sleeps, never misses."

Land-mines pose particular dangers for children. Naturally curious, children are likely to pick up strange objects, such as the infamous toy-like 'butterfly' mines that Soviet forces spread by the millions in Afghanistan. In northern Iraq, Kurdish children have used round mines as wheels for toy trucks, while in Cambodia, children use B40 anti-personnel mines to play 'boules', notes the report.

Land-mines also have more catastrophic effects on children, whose small bodies succumb more readily to the horrific injuries mines inflict. In Cambodia, an average of 20 per cent of children injured by mines and unexploded ordnance die from their injuries. Children who manage to survive explosions are likely to be more seriously injured than adults, and often permanently disabled. Because a child's bones grow faster than the surrounding tissue, a wound may require repeated amputation and a new artificial limb as often as every six months — although the prosthesis is not likely to be available. Moreover, competing demands for scarce medical services also mean that children injured by mines seldom receive the care they deserve. Only 10-20 per cent of children disabled by mines in El Salvador receive any rehabilitative therapy. 

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