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Landmines and measures to eliminate them

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

Jody Williams
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Extract

Concern about the effects of certain conventional weapons, particularly landmines, is not new. Had that concern been lacking, the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) would not have been formulated. Nor would some of the earlier studies on the issue by UN bodies have been written. What is new is a heightened interest in the problems caused by landmines, particularly in post-conflict settings. Several factors have contributed to the increased recognition that even though the CCW is in place, it has not addressed the ever-worsening situation on the ground. (The United States army estimates that 400 million landmines have been sown since the beginning of the Second World War, including at least 65 million in the last 15 years.)

Type
Review Conference of the 1980 United Nations Conventions on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Certain Conventional Weapons
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 35 , Issue 307 , August 1995 , pp. 375 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1995

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References

1 The full name of the CCW is the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects.

2 The US army made the following assessment: “The Soviet forces found it necessary to employ more than 30 million landmines against the lightly armed rebel forces. Soviet landmine emplacement evolved to such an extent that they employed scatterable landmines in support of offensive operations”( Landmine Warfare — Trends & Projections, Defense Intelligence Agency and US Army Foreign Science and Technology Center, 12 1992, pp. 2–4).Google Scholar

3 While attention has been focused on landmines, in many situations unexploded ordnance (UXOs) are as lethal a legacy as landmines. While the military use a number of definitions to avoid placing some weapons systems in the “landmines” category, others would argue that the appropriate point of departure for any definition is the impact on the victim.

4 Goose, Stephen, “The Economics of Landmines”, article for UNIDIR Newsletter Google Scholar, published in early 1995, citing US Army Foreign Science and Technology Center, US Defense Intelligence Agency, et al. Landmine Warfare — Mines and Engineer Munitions in Southern Africa, 05 1993, p. 15.Google Scholar

5 The US State Department puts the number at 20 million; the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs Land Mines Database, in a country-by-country listing of the number of mines, states that there are at least 37 million landmines in Africa.

6 Roberts, Shawn and Williams, Jody, After the Guns Fall Silent: The Enduring Legacy of Landmines, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Washington, DC, 05 1995, working draft.Google Scholar

7 US State Department, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine Crisis, Bureau of Political - Military Affairs, Washington, DC, 12 1994, p. 1.Google Scholar

8 US State Department, Hidden Killers: The Global Problem With Uncleared Landmines, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Washington, DC, 07 1993, p. 38.Google Scholar

9 United Nations, Assistance in Mine Clearance: Report of the Secretary-General, New York, United Nations, A/49/357, 6 09 1994, p. 4.Google Scholar

10 One example is the UK's scatterable anti-personnel mine, known as “Ranger”. A fully-charged rack can fire 1,296 mines per minute. Lt. Col. C.E.E. Sloan, RE, Mine Warfare on Land, Brassey's Defence Publishers, 1986, p. 38 Google Scholar. The US pioneered the development of air-scatterable mines, deploying thousands of “dragon's teeth” over Indochina. The former Soviet Union, during its invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, dropped millions of “butterfly” mines over the country.

11 Human Rights Watch Arms Project and Physicians for Human Rights, Landmines: A Deadly Legacy, Human Rights Watch, New York, 10 1993, p. 27.Google Scholar

12 Report of the Secretary-General, op. cit., p. 8.Google Scholar

13 Goose, , op. cit, p. 2 Google Scholar. See also Deadly Legacy for detailed information on landmines trade and production. The Arms Project maintains a database on the issue.

14 Askin, Steven and Goose, Stephen, “The Market for Anti-personnel Landmines — A Global Survey” Jane's Intelligence Review, 09 1994, p. 425.Google Scholar

15 The ICRC has produced reports on both the Montreux symposium and the Geneva meeting on military utility. It has also submitted documentation on various aspects of the landmines issue to the group of government experts preparing for the Vienna Review Conference.

16 Moratorium on the export of anti-personnel landmines. United Nations General Assembly resolution A/C.1/49/L.19, 1 11 1994.Google Scholar

17 Afghanistan, Belgium, Cambodia, Colombia, Estonia, Iceland, Ireland, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Slovenia and Sweden. The Vatican has also called for a ban (as from August 1995).