Landmines
What are landmines?
They are deadly weapons buried in the ground or scattered from helicopters or aeroplanes during wartime. They fall into two categories:
High-explosive anti-tank mines designed to destroy tanks and other large vehicles when triggered by the pressure of a heavy load.
TYPES OF AMPs (Anti-personnel mines):
Blast mines, fragmentation mines, directional mines and bounding mines. They range from low-cost plastic mines (about �2.00 each) that are difficult to detect, to "smart mines" which "self-destruct."
Butterfly mine PFM 1. A hand-sized mine nicknamed the "butterfly mine" because of its winged shape, which allows it to float to the ground from an aeroplane without exploding. When picked up, the liquid explosive can easily blow off a child's arm.
Where do they come from?
Forty five countries have been involved in producing and exporting landmines, including Italy, USA, former Soviet Union, Sweden, Germany, Austria, France, China, Britain, Portugal, Spain, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and former Yugoslavia.
Where do they go to?
Over 100 million are laid in more than 60 countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Iraq, Mozambique, Somalia, and former Yugoslavia.
Africa has 18-30 million mines scattered in 18 countries. There are between 9 and 10 million uncleared mines in Afghanistan. Cambodia has 4 million mines and 30,000 amputees - that's one person in every 236. On the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, mines have rendered 1 million hectares of land uninhabitable. 3 million landmines have been deployed in the former Yugoslavia.
What effects do they have?
Every 15 minutes someone somewhere is injured and 800 people per month are killed by mines. This is a conservative estimate, and only includes those who reach a hospital, where the death will be recorded.
Who is at risk from landmines?
Anyone in a mined area. You cannot always spot APMs just by looking over an area because they are usually buried or hidden in undergrowth.
People at risk:
(Caption with picture of butterfly mine? "Landmines cannot distinguish between the footfall of a soldier or a child playing.")
Can landmines be banned?
Yes, if there is enough will on the part of governments to do so. Some progress has been made already, notably:
However, the outcome of the conference fell short of the total ban hoped for by CAFOD and many campaigners.
(Caption with picture" There are an estimated 9-10 million mines in Afghanistan. At the current rate of clearing, it will take 15 years to free the priority zones of mines, and 4,000 years to clear the whole country!")
Why is CAFOD concerned?
CAFOD funds development projects in many countries where landmines hinder the work.
CAFOD would like to see a total ban on the production, sale, export and use of landmines because:
Landmines make it difficult for refugees returning home.
Landmines hinder agricultural programmes supported by CAFOD .
Money that could be used to meet basic health needs often has to be diverted for expensive surgery and producing artificial limbs.
Clearing mines takes time and money when both could be spent on training for primary health care, education programmes, seeds and tools for agriculture, and other long-term projects.
(Caption and picture "CAFOD is funding a training project for landmine amputees in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. People with newly fitted artificial limbs can take courses in tailoring, carpentry, typing and English.")
CAFOD has also provided funds for a mine clearance and education programme in Angola.
What you can do
 | ask if s/he supports a complete ban on the production, export, stockpiling and use of landmines; |
| ask him/her to raise the issue of landmines in the House of Commons or in the European Parliament; |
| ask how much the government contributes to the United Nations mine clearance programmes. |
