MINE AND UXO THREAT
Landmines were developed before the 20th century began but became a weapon of choice for many armed forces and groups from the 1939-1945 war onwards. Widely used in international and internal armed conflicts alike, mines typically continue to be a threat to the civilian population long after hostilities have ceased. Similarly, unexploded ordnance — bombs, shells, grenades and other ammunition that have been employed but which have failed to detonate as designed — plague post-conflict societies around the world, possibly in even greater numbers.
What are landmines?
In their simplest form, landmines are explosive traps that are victim-activated, whether the intended target is a person or a vehicle. A mine comprises a quantity of explosive material contained within some form of casing (typically in metal, plastic or wood), and a fusing mechanism to detonate the explosives. Mines are generally classified into two categories: anti-tank and anti-personnel. Technical experts commonly divide antipersonnel mines into four categories: blast, fragmentation, bounding and directional fragmentation, based on their primary method of causing injury.
Landmines threat
No one knows how many landmines remain uncleared from old and new conflicts. Previous estimates of up to 100 million or more landmines around the world have been widely challenged and any firm estimates can be little more than speculation. Similarly, the total number of victims is difficult to assess with any degree of certainty. What is certain is that landmines continue to claim human victims, both during and after conflict, many of them civilians.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), for example, a network of more than 1,400 NGOs, reported deaths and injuries from landmines and UXO in 65 countries in 2002 and the first half of 2003. Landmine Monitor records humanitarian mine clearance in at least 35 countries and instances of limited mine clearance in 32 countries. Landmine Monitor research identifies 82 countries that are affected to some degree by landmines and/or unexploded ordnance, of which 45 are States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. No mine clearance was recorded in 16 of the affected countries and no mine risk education activities were recorded in 25 countries.
“In 2002 and through June 2003, there were new landmine casualties reported in 65 countries; the majorities (41) of these countries were at peace, not war. Only 15 per cent of reported casualties in 2002 were identified as military personnel. In 2002, the greatest numbers of reported new casualties were found in Chechnya (5,695 casualties recorded), Afghanistan (1,286), Cambodia (834), Colombia (530), India (523), Iraq (457), Angola (287), Chad (200), Nepal (177), Vietnam (166), Sri Lanka(142), Burundi (114), Burma/Myanmar (114), and Pakistan (111). Significant numbers (over 50) of new casualties were also recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Laos, Palestine, Senegal, Somalia, and Sudan. But the landmine threat goes far beyond the killing, maiming and injury of thousands of individuals each year. The social, economic and environmental impact of these weapons is prolonged and often severe. Thus, the loss of fertile agricultural land and access to water points are among the most serious effects for rural developing communities. It has also been found that:
“Countries with a minimal infrastructure ... are particularly vulnerable to landmine use. Dams and electrical installations have been mined, which can seriously reduce the ability of a nation to produce the power necessary for reconstruction. Transportation systems have been mined, interrupting the movement of people and the flow of goods and services. Market systems have been seriously disrupted or abandoned because farmers and herders have been unable to move over mined roads and footpaths to bring their produce to market.”
What is unexploded ordnance ?
UXO refers to munitions (bombs, shells, mortars, grenades and the like) that have been used but which have failed to detonate as intended, usually on impact with the ground or other hard surface. Failure rates may be as low as 1 or 2 per cent, or as high as 30 or 40 per cent, depending on a range of factors, such as the age of the weapon, its storage conditions, the method of use and environmental conditions.
Unexploded ordnance (UXO) threat
As it is impossible to give an accurate estimate of the number of uncleared landmines, so it is the case with items of UXO, that is, munitions that have been used but which have not exploded as intended. What can be said with some confidence is that the total number of items of UXO around the world, whatever that may be, far exceeds the total number of landmines. UXO continues to be uncovered in significant quantities from the battlefields of Europe more than 50 years, and in some cases more than 80 years, after the munitions were originally fired. Munitions from the 1914-1918 war sometimes include mustard gas or other chemical agents, resulting in an additional hazard for explosive ordnance disposal teams.
The threat posed by UXO, which in some ways has been subordinated to international concern about the humanitarian impact of landmines, especially anti-personnel mines, is now beginning to receive the attention it deserves. As a result, the term ‘explosive remnants of war’, which includes all UXO, is a new addition to the lexicon of mine action. In subsistence economies, civilians prize UXO for its value as scrap metal or building material, and children may be killed or injured while playing with items of UXO they encounter in their daily lives. The consequences of its collection have all too often been fatal.
SOURCE: Guide to Mine Action, GICHD