And what you should know about their lasting impacts
Article by Rania Kazmi (Y9)
Title Image Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Landmines are dangerous military tools hidden underground which are designed to gravely injure or kill soldiers. Even though the conflict may have ended, areas with landmines are too often left unattended, posing a huge risk for civilians. Minefields render areas unusable which otherwise could house hospitals, homes, and businesses. They affect innocent people by plaguing them with a constant fear whenever they step outside their homes.
Since 1975, there have been over 1,000,000 landmine victims. Every day, 15-16 people are injured or killed by landmines, averaging 5,700 people per year. As landmines are buried, their location is often forgotten and they are left behind when the conflict is over. Some might be in minefields which are labelled, but many are scattered around unmarked and waiting for their next victim. There have been many cases of children playing outside, stepping on a landmine, and stepping on a landmine, and being killed or severely injured. Today, more than 300,000 children are disabled because of landmines.
“The landmine cannot tell the difference between a soldier or a civilian – a woman, a child, a grandmother going out to collect firewood to make the family meal… once peace is declared the landmine does not recognize that peace. The landmine is eternally prepared to take victims.”
Jody Williams
At the moment there are 110 million landmines in close to 70 countries. Though the cost of creating and planting a landmine can be as little as $3 (with prices reaching a higher end of $75), the price to safely remove one is an astonishing $300–1000. This huge difference captures just one of the challenges posed by landmine clearance. Countries like Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia and Iraq are among the areas most affected by landmine contamination as they struggle with obtaining funding and safe equipment. Thus, the responsibility falls to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like The HALO Trust, MAG International, DanChurchAid, and APOPO. To remove all the landmines on earth it could cost $33–110 billion. In addition, it would be very time-consuming, environmentally damaging, and require many civilians to relocate to facilitate the process.
Besides the countless physical injuries that landmines inflict, the resulting psychological trauma often goes overlooked. Communities who live in landmine-infested areas have to endure perpetual fear and anxiety as they go about their daily business. When injured by a landmine, most victims need to undergo an amputation of one or more limbs. In many cultures they are henceforth perceived as being weak or inferior, affecting their future and their self-esteem in ways that often cut deeper than the physical wounds. As a child amputee, you would frequently be unable to continue your education as you would not have enough support for your disability.
It is also common for victims of landmines to have psychological wounds in addition to their physical ones. Many develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a draining mental health condition that affects all ages. As a child, PTSD can affect your education, how your body develops, and later in life, can cause depression and anxiety. People who struggle with PTSD can experience flashbacks, nightmares, stuttering, and often relive their experience when they hear certain sounds or are in certain environments that resemble the one in which they were injured. With this added mental burden, it is no surprise that victims can find it difficult to rejoin society.
The world is too little aware of the waste of life, limb and land which anti-personnel landmines are causing among some of the poorest people on earth.
Princess Diana
In an effort to help spread awareness for this huge global issue, I am raising funds for the Halo Trust. This is an NGO working to remove landmines from wartorn countries. I am attempting to raise 500-1000 CHF in the hopes that we can fund the removal of at least one landmine around the world, making at least one place safer for the people living there.
Rania Kazmi was inspired to take action on the issue of landmines through her Ecolint 9innovate project.
Rania’s GOFUNDME for the Halo Trust: https://www.gofundme.com/f/remove-landmines-in-war-torn-countries
Sources
–https://changingthepresent.org/pages/quotes-about-landmines
–https://www.icrc.org/en/document/afghanistan-children-victims-unexploded-abandoned-weapons
–https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OO1lJTeA9c
–https://www.gichd.org/explosive-ordnance/types-of-landmine/
–https://www.unicef.org/eca/stories/lingering-impact-landmines-children-and-families-azerbaijan