While casualty numbers fluctuate, the pattern of harm remains unchanged: civilians – the very people who should be protected from war’s effects – continue to bear the brunt, making up over 80 per cent of mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties, with nearly half being children (Landmine Monitor Report 2024).
Landmines trap communities in poverty by cutting them off from safe access to health care, education, and farmland. They delay post-conflict recovery, block reconstruction, and turn daily survival into a life-threatening challenge – whether aid workers trying to reach isolated communities, farmers working to recover land, displaced people returning home, or children playing outdoors.
Landmines are not only weapons of war – they are weapons of long-term suffering. Their use and indiscriminate effects violate fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
The Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Treaty), which prohibits the use, stockpiling, and production of anti-personnel mines, has been ratified by over 160 countries. While progress has been made in banning these weapons and decontaminating land, millions of mines remain buried, posing catastrophic threat to life.
Every year on 4 April, the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action reminds the world to take notice of the silent, hidden threat that landmines continue to pose – often long after the fighting ends. For those who survive an explosion, the path to recovery is long, painful, and deeply personal.
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