UNITED NATIONS: Afghanistan, where landmines have maimed or killed more people than anywhere else, still has thousands of uncleared devices threatening about 1,537 communities, says a UN report released on Sunday.

The report marking the International Day for Mine Awareness on April 4, warns that 70 countries still have uncleared landmines that continue to kill or maim innocent people.

In Afghanistan, more than 18 million landmines have been cleared since 1989, freeing over 3,011 km² of land that has benefited more than 3,000 mostly rural communities across the country.

Yet, some 4,158 identified hazards remain, representing nearly 1,200 km² of land, threatening about 1,537 communities. And these devices were “impeding safe movement of civilians and humanitarians, reducing safe access to socio-economic opportunities and impeding development,” the report adds.

On Dec 8, 2005, the UN General Assembly declared that April 4 of each year shall be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

In 2023, the day is being observed under the campaign “Mine Action Cannot Wait”, highlighting decades of contamination in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Repu­blic, and Vietnam.

The campaign will also draw attention to recent explosive ordnance contamination, underlining the need to get rid of all explosive remnants of wars.

One of the victims mentioned in the report is a citizen of Angola, Minga. Six-year-old Minga lost her sight and her left arm in 2009, seven years after the end of the war in Angola.

“She was one of the many children who was born into peace but harmed by a war that she never knew,” the UN report points out.

The latest estimates show that in 2021, more than 5,500 people were killed or maimed by landmines, most of them were civilians, half of whom were children.

More than two decades after the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty, about sixty million people in nearly 70 countries and territories still live with the risk of landmines on a daily basis.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2023