Din kommunikasjonsplattform

The US decision to transfer internationally banned anti-personnel mines to Ukraine does not only go against its own U.S. Anti-Personnel Landmine Policy, but is a desperate measure pushing Ukraine to breach international law. States and militaries know full well the lack of military utility and grave humanitarian impacts of antipersonnel mines.

Next week, Mozambique, formerly one of the world’s most heavily mined countries, will formally declare it has completed mine clearance on its territory, the 29th country to do so since the 1990s. This leaves 60 countries and territories still contaminated according to Clearing the Mines, a review of mine action programmes around the world published today by Norwegian People’s Aid. The report’s authors have calculated that by 2020 another 20 countries should have completed mine clearance and the urgent humanitarian threat removed from the other 40.