Buried in the dark, 110 million landmines wait silently around the world. They don’t mind waiting, not for a day or two, but for decades if necessary, until someone or something steps on them. They cost only a few dollars to make and instal, but the damage they cause cannot often be measured in terms of money.
While the use of explosive devices goes back to 13th-century China, when the Song Dynasty military used bombs to fend off invading Mongolians, the landmine didn’t take its modern form as a metal container rigged with gunpowder, a fuse and a detonation cap until the American Civil War. These “torpedoes” or “subterra shells” were pioneered by Gabriel Rains, a native North Carolinian who began the war fighting for the Union, before resigning to join his fellows in the Confederate Army.
Rains, whose U.S. Military Academy records indicated a high aptitude for chemistry and artillery, first experimented with a tactical explosive device in April 1840, during the Seminole Wars in Florida. But, it wasn’t until the Civil War that his invention was put to wide use. The “Rains Patent” was a mine made of sheet iron, with a fuse protected by a brass cap covered with a solution of beeswax. It was detonated either by direct contact with the friction primer of the buried shell, or movement of an object attached to the primer by strings or wires, such as, a tool like a hammer. The technology may have moved on, but the principle remains the same.
They can maim, they can kill and make entire countries and regions inhospitable. They are cheap to produce and instal (around US$ 2 each), but very expensive to remove and decommission (sometimes as much as US$ 1,000 per unit). Since 1975, more than one million people (80 percent of them civilians) have fallen victim to these agents of death and destruction.
Today, the world will once again focus its attention on this scourge of landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) which have become a major problem for many countries, including, Sri Lanka. On December 8, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly declared that April 4 of each year should be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
This year’s theme for Mine Awareness Day is “Needs driven. People Centred” because mine action is all about saving human lives. Mine action essentially means the detection and destruction of landmines, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and other explosive hazards in war-torn areas, making humanitarian assistance possible in those areas. In essence, mine action is an investment in humanity.
Sri Lanka, where more than 21,000 people have been injured or killed by landmines, has become a major success story in this regard and hopes to be landmine impact free by 2020. Sri Lanka has become the 163rd country to ratify the Ottawa Treaty on banning landmines (formally known as Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction), seven years after the end of the conflict. (Incidentally, 2017 marks the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa).
In addition to removing the buried landmines, any remaining unutilized stocks will also be destroyed. This is a very significant step and a considerable achievement, given that Sri Lanka was believed to have had the third biggest cache of Anti-Personnel Mines after Afghanistan and Cambodia. With this move, Sri Lanka has effectively said “never again” to landmines and war.
The Sri Lanka Army and groups such as, Mine Action Group, DASH and HALO Trust have collectively cleared thousands of hectares of land of more than 200,000 landmines mainly in the North. This process has opened up vast stretches of land for resettlement, agriculture and other economic activities. Sri Lanka has also created another example by employing mostly conflict-affected women for demining work, empowering them vastly in the process.
Worldwide, nearly 50 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines have been destroyed, and their production, sale and transfer have in essence stopped. As part of its mine action program, the UN seeks the reduction of death and injury by at least 50 per cent; mitigate the risk to community livelihoods and expand freedom of movement for at least 80 per cent of the most seriously affected communities; integration of mine action needs, national development and reconstruction plans and budgets and to assist the development of national institutions to manage the landmine threat.
However, there is a lot more to be done. In far too many places around the world, new or reemerging conflicts are creating yet another legacy of explosive hazards, such as landmines, cluster munitions and IEDs. Where mine removal may not be immediately possible, mine awareness is the next best alternative. In South Sudan, for example, more than half a million people have received risk education so that they will refrain from venturing into areas deemed unsafe. In conflict-hit Syria, more than two million people have received risk education. In Sri Lanka, the media have focused extensively on mine awareness. One problem in all countries is that not all landmine areas have been marked or flagged so one may unknowingly enter a minefield.
A blend of old and new technologies has come to the aid of demining personnel. Animals such as mongooses and giant “HERO Rats” have been trained to sniff out landmines (their weight does not trigger the mines). Robots and drones are also widely used to detect landmines. There is also a project called TIRAMISU designed to bring scientists and mine clearers together to solve problems identified by the clearance community itself.
Artificial limbs for those who lose a limb in a landmine explosion are getting more sophisticated and some can almost mimic the feel of a real one. The only downside is that such advanced artificial limbs are still very expensive but technology has a habit of filtering down to the lower tiers which will benefit landmine victims in developing countries such as ours.
Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and The HALO Trust, the world’s two leading landmine charities are galvanizing support for their campaign to rid the world of landmines by 2025. Though nearly 30 countries have been declared mine-free, more than 60 million people are still at risk from landmines. The road ahead is long and hard, with more than 110 million mines waiting to be cleared around the world. There must be a clearer, stronger commitment by the International Community to end the scourge of landmines, the silent killer.