Monitoring The UN > The UN and Children's Rights

Landmines

Tens of millions of anti-personnel landmines are currently deployed in numerous countries around the world. While many of these are remnants from the Cold War, new mines are being produced, shipped, and deployed every year. The use of landmines poses a serious threat to the rights of children. The most obvious negative result of landmine use is the injury and death of thousands of people every year. Most victims are civilians, and many are children.

There are several other repercussions of landmine use that can be devastating for individual children and for entire nations. Since landmines do not expire naturally, the deployment of even a small number can make large fields dangerous for decades. When a field becomes infested with mines, it can no longer be used as an agricultural resource; therefore, the use of landmines can affect the right of children to be provided with nutritious meals. [(For more on nutrition and landmines, click here ' Health.Nutrition.Landmines)]

For similar reasons, a child's right to education is also affected by landmines. In areas where landmines are known to exist, parents often fear sending their children to school because of the dangers that lie in the roads and fields between the school and home.

The Battle Against Landmines: Within the past decade, international efforts have succeeded in clearing many mines, destroying many stockpiled mines, and convincing governments to stop producing new mines. Much of the success in this battle is due to the work of the advocates of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

On 3 December 1997, a ground-breaking international agreement was opened for signature: the MineBan Treaty. Since that time, 123 countries have ratified the treaty, which calls for "an international ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and sale, transfer, or export of antipersonnel landmines," as well as "increased resources for humanitarian demining, … mine awareness programs, … [and] landmine victim rehabilitation and assistance." Another 20 countries have signed the treaty but have not yet ratified it, and over 1400 non-governmental organizations have endorsed the treaty. Since 1997, rates of production and export of mines have slowed, many stockpiled mines have been destroyed, and areas already laced with mines have begun to be cleared.

Despite these positive trends, 50 countries have not even signed the treaty, and the battle against the production, stockpiling, and deployment of mines is far from over. If a complete ban on laying mines became effective immediately, it would still cost over $30 billion (US) to clear all mines in the world (it can cost between $300 and $1000 to clear a single mine.) Because mine-detection and mine-clearing methods are slow and laborious, it would take approximately 1100 years (at current rates) to free the world of mines.

Conclusion: The campaign against landmines is a recent development, and those advocating this campaign started their work at a disadvantage: by the time the International Campaign to Ban Landmines drew international attention and the MineBan Treaty was opened for signature, tens of millions of mines were already deployed or stockpiled in dozens of nations around the world. Even so, the success achieved so far has been remarkable. The campaign against landmines is, in many ways, a campaign for the rights of children: the right to education, to nutrition, and to safety.

International Campaign to Ban Landmines Website: http://www.icbl.org/

Human Rights Watch Website: Arms, The Campaign to Ban Landmines: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/mines/1999/