About Landmines
A landmine blast causes horrific injuries such as blindness, deafness, loss of limbs and extensive burns. Sometimes this results in death through blood loss, shock or unavailability of urgently needed medical treatment.
Survivors face severe pain and extensive surgery, often made worse by financial difficulities and psychological trauma.Many can no longer farm land to support a family.
Landmines not only injure and kill. They also delay the repatriation of refugees and displaced people, hamper reconstruction and the delivery of aid. They render much land unusable, causing more hardship to already suffering communities.
Antipersonnel mines are indiscriminate. They cannot distinguish between the footfall of a soldier, farmer, aid worker or child. They can remain in the ground for decades after a conflict, killing and maiming.
Demining is expensive, difficult and dangerous.
Rehabilitation is slow and painful, physically
emotionally and psychologically.
More About The Mine Ban Treaty.
The Mine ban Treaty, sometimes called the Ottawa Treaty came into force On March 1999 and has made dramatic differences to the lives of communities living in mine affected areas.
However, there are still millions of landmines in more than 75 countries in the world today and the number of mine victims needing on-going care continues to grow.
Disappointly,the "Big Three" of the USA, China and Russia have still not signed the treaty.To find out more about the global landmine situation and how individual countries are affected go to: http://www.icbl.org/lm
