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Dramatic drop in landmine casualties
un articulo por International Campaign to Ban Landmines (abridged)
Records were set in 2012 for the lowest number of new reported casualties, largest amount of landmine-contaminated land cleared, and highest level of global funding for mine action, according to Landmine Monitor 2013, the latest annual report of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, released today in Geneva.
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“The continued decline in new casualties indicates just how successful the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty has been in fulfilling its vital promise of ending the harm caused by these weapons,” said Jeff Abramson, final editor of the report and program manager for Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor. “The rate of 10 casualties per day for 2012 is less than half of what was reported when the Monitor started recording casualties in 1999 of approximately 25 casualties each day,” he added.
In 2012, casualties caused by mines, victim-activated improvised explosive devices, cluster munition remnants, and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) decreased to a global total of 3,628 compared with 4,474 in 2011, marking the lowest level since 1999.
The use of antipersonnel mines has also dramatically declined as a result of the Mine Ban Treaty, but has not abated completely. Most disturbing is new evidence in 2013 that forces loyal to the government of Yemen—a Mine Ban Treaty member state—laid thousands of antipersonnel mines in 2011. The mine use in Yemen is the first confirmed use of antipersonnel mines by a treaty member state (also known as a “State Party”).
Additionally, allegations of antipersonnel mine use persist in States Parties South Sudan, Sudan, and Turkey.
Under the treaty, States Parties are prohibited from using, producing, stockpiling, or transferring antipersonnel mines. The mine use at Bani Jarmooz in Yemen has caused at least 15 civilian casualties. In total, there were 263 recorded landmine/ERW casualties in the country in 2012, compared to just 19 in 2011.
“States Parties are obligated to investigate use of antipersonnel mines and hold those responsible for violations accountable,” said Mark Hiznay, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch and ban policy editor of Landmine Monitor 2013. “Yemen also needs to take immediate action to clear the mines and prevent further casualties.”
Government forces in two states not party to the treaty—Syria and Myanmar—used antipersonnel mines in 2012 and 2013. Non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Syria, Thailand, Tunisia, and Yemen used antipersonnel mines in 2013, the highest number of countries with NSAG use in the past five years. Military forces in the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh also used antipersonnel mines in 2013. . .
With Poland’s ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty on 27 December 2012, there are now 161 States Parties to the treaty, including all European Union member states.
Collectively, 87 States Parties have destroyed more than 47 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including more than 250,000 destroyed in 2012. However, Belarus, Greece, and Ukraine remain in violation of the treaty after having failed to complete the destruction of their stockpiles by their four-year deadline. . .
[Note: Thank you to the Good News Agency for pointing out this article to CPNN.]
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Can land mines be completely abolished?,
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