The first international day for mine awareness was launched on 4 April. The picture about the dangers of landmines is a pessimistic one. According to the latest figures deaths and injuries from landmines world wide have decreased from 26,000 a year in the late 1990s. But the often hidden devices have left over from conflicts are still killing and maiming between 15,000 and 20,000 annually, without distinguishing between the combat boots of a soldier and the football of an innocent child.

An estimated 110 million landmines are strewn across the world in more than 70 countries. The most heavily mine-affected countries in the world, according to a UN study, are: Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Croatia, Eritrea, Iraq, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, Nicaragua and Sudan. These 12 countries together account for almost 50 percent of the landmines currently deployed in the world and also suffer the highest number of landmines casualties.

Annan’s statement

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan marked the day by a written statement: “Landmines are cruel instruments of war. 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. A single landmine – or even the fear of its presence – can hold an entire community hostage. It can prevent farmers from growing crops, refugees from returning home, even children from playing. It blocks the delivery of humanitarian relief and impedes the deployment of peacekeepers. In post-conflict societies landmines remain one of the greatest impediments to rebuilding and renewal.

Situation in Turkey

According to a report last year by the International Landmine Monitor Group (www.icbl.org/lm) there are a total of 920 thousand landmines planted in Turkey’s border regions. The government signed an international treaty banning landmines in 2003 and started the implementation in March 2004. To abide by the treaty Turkey stopped producing and purchasing landmines.

Some estimates show that the majority (650,000) of the landmines are placed at the Turkish-Syrian border. According to official sources Turkey first started planting landmines in 1959 to stop illegal trespassing at its borders. Nearly 40 thousand landmines were planted in the eastern and south-eastern provinces of the country for anti-terror reasons between 1989 and 1992.

Bigger picture

In 2004, nearly $400 million was donated for mine action, with nearly $100 million coming from the United States. Afghanistan was the largest recipient of international mine-clearing aid that year, getting more than $90 million.

Still, attempts to prohibit the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of landmines could have been more fruitful.

The vision of the United Nations is a world free from the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of war, ERW, where individuals and communities live in a safe environment, helpful to development and where the needs of mine and ERW victims are met and where victims are fully integrated into their societies.

There are 14 UN departments, programmes, funds and agencies that provide various types of services. Some of these UN bodies target their services to a particular group of people, such as refugees, or to a special circumstance, such as a humanitarian crisis, and still others focus on a particular pillar of mine action.