Printable version from NI Global Issues for Learners of English:
Landmines: update 1999
Facts and figures
The Mine Ban Treaty March 1st, 1999
Countries that sign the treaty promise that:
- they will destroy all their stocks of antipersonnel mines within 4 years;
- they will clear all mines from their land, or land that they control, within 10 years.
New mines and mine clearance
How many landmines are in the ground?
It is impossible to get accurate information. Estimates range widely from 60 million to 200 million.From 1993 to 1998, 17 countries gave around $640 million to clear landmines around the world.
Most of this money was spent in: Afghanistan, Mozambique, Cambodia, Bosnia and Angola.In the mid 1990's, the United Nations and the US government estimated that around 2.5 million new mines were being planted every year, but only about 80,000 mines were being cleared every year.
However, in 1998, the US government estimated that more landmines were removed than were planted.
Probable use of new mines, December 1997 - March 1999
Africa
- Angola: government & rebels
- Djibouti: rebels
- Guinea-Bissau: government, rebels, Senegalese forces
- Somalia: various groups
- Uganda: rebels
Asia-Pacific
- Afghanistan: opposition forces
- Burma: government & various rebel groups
- Sri Lanka: government and rebels
Americas
- Colombia: various rebel groups
Europe/Central Asia*
- Georgia: partisans in Abkhazia
- Turkey: government & rebels
- FR Yugoslavia: government & rebels
Middle East/North Africa
- Lebanon: Israel & other groups in occupied South Lebanon.
* Landmines have also been used in the conflict in Kosovo.
Countries that have NOT signed the Mine Ban Treaty:
The Americas
- Cuba
- The United States
Middle East & North Africa
- Bahrain
- Egypt
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Morocco
- Oman
- Saudi Arabia
- Syria
- United Arab Emirates
Europe, the Caucasus & Central Asia
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Estonia
- Finland
- Georgia
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Latvia
- Russia
- Tajikistan
- Turkey
- Uzbekistan
- Yugoslavia
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Central African Republic
- Comoros
- Congo (Brazzaville)
- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Eritrea
- Liberia
- Nigeria
- Somalia
East & South Asia & the Pacific
- Afghanistan
- Bhutan
- China
- India
- Kiribati
- Korea, North
- Korea, South
- Laos
- Micronesia
- Mongolia
- Myanmar/Burma
- Nauru
- Nepal
- Pakistan
- Papua New Guinea
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vietnam
Production and export of landmines
Production
Export
Countries that are still producing landmines:
- Burma
- China
- Cuba
- Egypt
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- North Korea
- South Korea
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Singapore
- Turkey
- United States
- Vietnam
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
There is no evidence that any countries are still exporting antipersonnel mines now.
34 countries used to export mines.
Of these 34 countries, every country except Iraq has either:
signed the Mine Ban Treaty
or
made (at least ) a formal statement that it is not exporting mines.
Stockpiles of antipersonnel mines
More than 250 million antipersonnel mines are being stored by 108 countries.
These stores are called "stockpiles".So far, more than 12 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed.
Countries with the biggest stockpiles
- China - 110 million
- Russia - 60-70 million
- Belarus - 10's of millions
- USA - 11 million
- Ukraine - 10 million (being destroyed)
- Italy - 7 million (being destroyed)
- India - 4-5 million
- Sweden - 3 million (being destroyed)
- Albania - 2 million
- South Korea - 2 million
- Japan - 1 million (being destroyed)
Countries that have destroyed all their mines*
- Austria
- Canada
- El Salvador
- Germany
- Guatemala
- Luxemberg
- Namibia
- Norway
- Phillipines
- South Africa
- Switzerland
19 more countries that have signed the treaty are now destroying their mines, and others are making plans to do this.
Some other countries, like the USA and Russia, are also destroying large numbers of mines.* Even countries that destroy all their antipersonnel mines are allowed to keep some mines for "live training" - that is, training people how to find, remove and destroy landmines.
The numbers of mines these countries keep should be as small as possible; however, many countries plan to keep 1,000 - 5,000 mines or more: e.g. Japan plans to keep 15,000.
The information on this page is taken from the Landmine Monitor Report 1999
produced by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
http://www.icbl.org© 1999: Human Rights Watch
Last Modified: 9 July 1999