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Every 30 minutes someone steps on a landmine, shattering another family's world. With a terrible blast, a child is killed, a fieldworker is maimed, and a family is devastated.
- It costs $3 to $10 to lay a landmine - $1,000 to remove it.
- Landmines have killed more people than nuclear, chemical and biological weapons combined.
- There are an estimated 15,000 new casualties from landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) each year. That's 288 victims per week, 41 per day, 2 per hour.
- Over 70% of landmine victims are civilians. Nearly one-third are children. Over 50% of mine victims die.
- There are an estimated 240 million antipersonnel mines stockpiled in the arsenals of nearly 100 countries.
The use of antipersonnel mines has resulted in large areas of fertile agricultural land, urban areas, roads, water resources, and livestock in the northern and eastern parts of the country being seriously affected, particularly in Jaffna and the Vanni. Unfortunately, mines have been laid in some of the most heavily populated and most fertile areas.
Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Austin Fernando estimated that the peninsula's roads and farmlands are riddled with around 700,000 mines planted by government forces and the LTTE. In 1999, the government had estimated that 25,000 mines were planted. The LTTE has estimated that there are now two million antipersonnel landmines in the areas under LTTE control.
In April 2001, the UN reported that antipersonnel mines were threatening the resettlement of displaced persons in LTTE-held areas. The problem is only rising in scale with the cease-fire in place. The anticipation of imminent movement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is creating serious concern regarding the need for mine clearance, minefield marking and mine risk education. Indeed, it has already been reported that thousands of displaced people are spontaneously returning home before mine clearance has occurred. According to the U.S. State Department, landmines are responsible for displacing hundreds of thousands of refugees, keeping them from returning to their homelands and forcing them to live on charity rather than through the fruits of their own labors.
is joint project between the One Sri Lanka Foundation, The Humpty Dumpty Institute and The HALO trust.
HALO Project report on Sri Lanka
January 2003 Jaffna peninsula landmine photo gallery >>
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