Land Mines: Assessing the Threat, Extending a Hand

As the New Year approaches, DID thought we’d end on a different kind of note. A recent report from the United States Department of State notes that the USA has spent more than $1 billion over the past dozen years on humanitarian land mine removal efforts around the world. That money has removed land mines, paid for educational messages on the risks posed by mines, helped victims of mine injuries, and funded R&D to improve existing humanitarian mine removal programs. It has also helped establish mine action programs in a number of nations. Drawing on data collected by the US departments of State and Defense, the US Agency for International Development, the Leahy War Victims Fund and the Mine Action Information Center at James Madison University in Virginia, the accompanying fact sheet traces key actions related to mines and unexploded ordnance beginning in the US Civil War in 1862 and extending through the end of 2005, with a strong focus on the 1998-2005 period and a solid chronology of successes throughout the year. Meanwhile, the Landmine Monitor Report 2005 is the seventh annual report from the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), as it seeks to monitor and report on […]