7/4/2006
UN Marks First Ever Mine Action Day

The UN this week marked the first International Day dedicated to curbing the scourge of landmines with calls for a universal ban and pleas for greater donor support in cleaning up these remnants of war. According to UNICEF between 3,000 and 4,000 children alone are killed or wounded by mines every year. Angola, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina re the countries most affected.
 
“Decades after conflicts have receded, these invisible killers lie silently in the ground, waiting to murder and maim. Through them, 20th century battles claim 21st century victims, with new casualties added every hour,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message on International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

“The goal of a world without landmines and explosive remnants of war appears achievable in years, not decades as we used to think,” he added, stressing the vital importance of the 1997 treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, which has 150 State Parties.

“But to realize this ideal, every one of us – donors, the general public and mine-affected countries – must focus our energies, and our imaginations, on the cause of mine clearance. Having been so effective in laying mines, we must now become even better at clearing them. Each mine cleared may mean a life saved,” he declared, calling on governments to
ratify the treaty.

“The message is clear and must be heard: landmines have no place in any civilised society,” he added.

From its headquarters in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) underlined the enormous problems that mines and other explosive remnants of war pose for its work, noting that there were 84 countries in the world affected by them and singling out South Sudan as a prime example.

“UNHCR is trying to get more involved in mine action as this is key to our programme on return to south Sudan,” said Harry Leefe, Mine Action Focal Point for the agency. “South Sudan is in a way ‘competing’ with places such as Afghanistan and Cambodia where the mine problem is also huge. So donors do not necessarily see mine activities as a priority in south Sudan, but
they are crucial.”