| LANDMINE FACTSHEET There are two categories of landmines: antipersonnel (AP) and antitank or anti-vehicle (AT): * Anti-personnel (AP) landmine - "A mine designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons."" (Mine Ban Treaty definition) * Anti-tank (AT) landmine - An AT mines is a device designed to detonate by more than 100 kilograms of pressure -AT mines cannot distinguish between a tank and tractor. There are different types of AP mines according to the types of injuries they inflict: Blast mines: usually hand-laid on or under the ground or scattered from the air. The explosive force of the mine causes foot, leg, and groin injuries and secondary infections usually result in amputation. Fragmentation mines: usually laid on or under the ground and often activated by tripwire or other means. When detonated the explosion projects hundreds of fragments at ballistic speed of up to 50 meters resulting in fragmentation wounds. Some fragmentation mines contain a primary charge to lift the mine above the ground (about 1 to 1.5 meters) before detonating which can injure an adult's abdomen, genitals and take off a child's head. New developments in mine technology: Plastic mines: Undetectable by metal detectors used by deminers. Remotely delivered (R/D) or scatterable or mines: Usually disseminated from aircraft, helicopters or artillery. Accurate mapping, recording and marking mines laid in this manner is impossible. Anti-handling devices: A device intended to protect mine and which � activates when an attempt is made to tamper with or otherwise intentionally disturb the mine. (Mine Ban Treaty definition) Self-destruct (S/D) mines: So-called "smart" mines are designed to self-destruct after a designated period of time. If they fail to self-destruct, these mines are also sometimes designed to self-deactivate. There is nothing smart about these mines though - while armed they cannot discriminate between the footfall of a soldier and a civilian. How are mines cleared? Humanitarian deminers use a toolbox of devices: a sensitive metal detector to detect mines with metallic content, vegetation cutters to clear the terrain, a metal prodder to hand probe the ground every square inch, and sometimes dogs to locate the scent of the mines explosive. It is dangerous, time-consuming and costly work. Sometime heavy equipment, such as flails and rollers are used to limited success. Demining technology has not caught up with the advances in mine manufacturing technology but a number of processes are now being developed, including the use of ground penetrating radar and passive infrared detection. Such methods may still be many years away from reliable application in the rice paddies of Cambodia, mountains of Afghanistan and dense vegetation of Mozambique. The main question is whether high-tech solutions will ultimately be cheap and accessible to help those who truly need it: the rural poor of the world's developing countries. Do landmines obey the laws of war? The laws of war dictate that soldiers and their weapons discriminate between soldiers and civilians. Additionally, there is to be a balance between military need and consequences to the civilian population. These two principles of the laws of war, discrimination and proportionality, apply to the use of landmines regardless of other treaty obligations. Proponents of landmines focus on the cost-effectiveness of the weapon. But when they talk about the effects of landmines, they confine themselves to the duration of the battle. They do not address the life-cycle of the landmine, which continues for decades. Clearly when the life of the weapon and the resulting impact of generations of civilians are taken into account, the cost-effectiveness of landmines is dwarfed by their long-term socio-economic impact. Many AP mines are designed to maim, a tactic to overload the enemy's support system But landmines do not discriminate the military and society as a whole. In the countries where landmines have been used in great numbers, the impact is overwhelming. The psychological effect of landmines on the enemy is undeniable, but landmines also terrorize and demoralize civil society. Put simply, anything that landmines can do to an enemy's army, they can do to a civilian population. What they cannot do is discriminate between the soldier and the civilian. Their impact cannot be confined to the duration of the battle. Thus, under the laws of war, they are an illegal weapon. |
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