UN warn of growing landmine contamination as countries abandon treaty

The heads of the UN land mine action program for Ethiopia and Sudan have called for more funding and awareness over the munitions, which kill and maim a disproportionate number of children. They are launching the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, hosted by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.

The heads of the UN land mine action program for Ethiopia and Sudan have called for more funding and awareness over the munitions, which kill and maim a disproportionate number of children. Credit: AAP

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TRANSCRIPT

Ethiopia, a country which over the last century has spent more than 30 years in a state of war, is among the world’s most contaminated by landmines.

Anti-personnel mine contamination affects at least 57 countries around the world.

Seven remain “massively” contaminated, including Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Türkiye and Ukraine.

Speaking at United Nations headquarters in New York, Rob Syfret, UN’s chief of the Mine Action Program in Ethiopia, says those hidden munitions are still taking a toll even in times of peace.

“Over the last five years, there have been at least 1,500 victims of explosive ordnance accidents of various sorts. Of these, well over 50% have been children."

He says that’s because of children's natural curiosity.

“And this frequently leads in all countries with explosive ordnance contamination to the most tragic accidents with children innocently playing with something that they don't understand.”

 

Rob Syfret’s Sudan counterpart, Mohammad Sediq Rashid, calls the scale of contamination in Sudan “alarming” because the war is being fought in cities.

“In Khartoum, explosive hazards are widespread, found in homes, on roads, in schools and hospitals, across critical infrastructure, often mixed with rubble. In addition, a land mine threat has emerged, with seven minefields identified so far in the city.”

In December last year, the Landmine Monitor 2025 report said civilian deaths and injuries from landmines and explosive remnants of war have risen to their highest level in four years.

It documents more than six thousand casualties in 2024.

The report warns that the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty faces its most serious challenge in decades.

Mohammad Sediq Rashid, Chief of the Mine Action Program in Sudan, says around 134 million people are at risk from these munitions, and the situation is getting worse.

“The scale of contamination is growing while the response remains limited.”

That contamination is not just growing in African and Asian countries.

Five European States – Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – are moving to legally withdraw from the treaty, citing dramatically altered security conditions after Russia’s full-scale 2022 invasion of Ukraine.