Afp
La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, November 21, 2024, p. 21
Bangkok. The number of victims of landmines increased last year in the world, according to a report published yesterday, in a context of concern over the United States’ decision to supply these devices to Ukraine.
Mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) killed or injured at least 5,757 people last year (up from 4,710 victims in 2022), 84 percent of them civilians, in 50 countries, according to the annual report of the Anti-Personnel Mine Observatory.
The number of victims, 20 percent more than the previous year, amounts to 1,983 dead and 3,663 injured, to which must be added another 111 victims of whom it is not indicated whether they survived.
Anti-personnel mines alone caused 833 victims, compared to 628 the previous year.
Burma was the country with the most victims of landmines and unexploded ordnance, reporting more than a thousand people dead or injured, ahead of Syria, with 933, which led the ranking for three years, followed by Afghanistan (651), Ukraine ( 580) and Yemen (499).
The publication of this report coincides with the United States’ announcement that it will supply Ukraine with antipersonnel mines with the aim of strengthening its defenses against the Russian invasion.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines described terrible the decision made by the outgoing Joe Biden administration, which seeks to boost Ukraine’s war effort in the final two months of its administration, before Donald Trump, a critic of aid to Ukraine, takes power in January.
Landmines are explosive devices that continue to kill and maim people long after conflicts end. Buried or hidden in the ground, they explode when someone approaches or comes into contact with them.
The report does not cite victims in America, but indicates that Mexico reported in 2022 the use of improvised explosive devices and artisanal mines by drug cartels in the state of Michoacán.
He adds that the Secretariat of National Defense sent soldiers to the area in February 2022 to eliminate these explosive devices.
At the end of 2023, Colombia reported 4.47 square kilometers contaminated with anti-personnel mines in 71 municipalities in 14 departments, used mainly by the dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.