Bangkok, Nov 20 (EFE).- Myanmar for the first time in 2023 became the country with the most casualties from land mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), surpassing Syria, according to an annual report presented Wednesday in Bangkok.
The Duke of Sussex walks through a minefield in Dirico, Angola 27 September 2019. EFE-EPA FILE/DOMINIC LIPINSKI / PRESS ASSOCIATION / POOL
Myanmar had 1,003 victims last year, followed by 933 in Syria, which had held the top spot for the last three years, according to the Landmine Monitor 2024 prepared by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which monitors the situation in 164 countries.
A Ukrainian soldier, who was injured after stepping on a landmine in the Luhansk region, starts rehabilitation to fit prosthesis at a hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine, 30 October 2024 (issued 10 November 2024). EFE-EPAFILE/MARIA SENOVILLA
Syria was followed by Afghanistan (651), Ukraine (580), Yemen (499), Nigeria (343), Burkina Faso (308) and Mali (174), among others.
The number of global casualties rose last year to 5,757, including 1,983 deaths, of which 84 percent were civilians including 1,498 children. While the casualty figure was up on the previous year’s (4,709), it was lower than the 7,093 and 9,440 casualties recorded respectively in 2020 and 2016, the highest figures in the last decade.
“This flagship report records a shocking number of civilians killed or injured by antipersonnel mines, including children,” ICBL Director Tamar Gabelnick said in a statement.
Landmines were used in the past year by armed forces in countries including Russia, Myanmar, Iran and North Korea, as well as by non-state armed groups in Colombia, Gaza, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Nigeria, among others.
Twelve states not party to the Mine Ban Treaty continue to develop, produce or acquire anti-personnel mines: Armenia, China, North and South Korea, Cuba, India, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam.
Of these, at least South Korea, India, Iran, Myanmar, Pakistan and Russia are known to be actively developing or producing them, while the rest have not yet committed to stopping doing so in the future.
The report also notes an unprecedented case in which a non-state party to the treaty, Russia, has deployed landmines in another signatory country, Ukraine (since the start of the conflict in 2022).
The treaty is yet to be signed by countries including the United States, China, Cuba, India, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
“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,” Gabelnick said.
On the positive side, the report said that 33 States with mine clearance obligations, especially Cambodia and Croatia, last year cleared a record 281.5 square kilometers, an area larger than the United Kingdom.
In addition, global funding for action against these explosives increased by 12 percent last year to more than $1 billion, mainly due to aid for Ukraine, which received $308.1 million. EFE
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