|
Main Page | Peace Prize | Sciences | Literature | History | Forums Where wars have ended, the weapons fight on
(CNN) -- They honor no cease-fire and assault their prey with blind efficiency. By some estimates, they find a new victim every 20 minutes. They are land mines, agents of war without guilt, conscience or heart. Costing pennies to produce and seconds to deploy, they have been scattered by the millions.
Two months after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to eliminate the deadly weapons, The International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its coordinator Jody Williams presided over the signing of a historic land mine ban treaty signed by 121 countries in December.
Land mines exploding in Kabul, Afghanistan 662K QuickTime movie Land mine removal 360K QuickTime movie Countries that signed the treaty agreed to stop making, using, stockpiling and transferring mines. Those with land mines planted in the ground also agreed to remove them within the next 10 years.
According to U.S. estimates, land mines planted in some 70 countries kill or maim an estimated 26,000 people each year. Most are civilian casualties of old wars. Experts estimate there are still more than 100 million land mines planted throughout the world lying in wait for more unsuspecting victims.
According to the United Nations, countries with the most land mines include Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia , Iraq and Kuwait.
The numbers are numbing. They cannot express the human toll of farmers killed while plowing their fields and children who have lost legs while playing with brightly colored land mines they thought were toys.
Land mines or their threat also affect the livelihood of those living near them. Fear of mines means arable land remains fallow and vital roadways are unusable. Mines also kill livestock.
Despite the devasatation, not all agree that land mines are inherently bad. Military strategists and their supporters argue that land mines protect the lives of soldiers on the battlefront and that technologies such as self-destructing mines can render the weapons safe for civilians.
Message board:
Related stories:
- Anti-land mine conference opens - December 10, 1997
- 121 nations sign historic land mine treaty - December 4, 1997
- List of nations signed to the land mine ban - December 3, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- The International Campaign to Ban Landmines -- Information from one of leading organizations in the effort to secure a worldwide ban on land mines, including the text of the treaty to ban land mines drafted to be signed in December.
- Land mines: A deadly inheritance -- part of UNICEF's recent report, "Impact of Armed Conflict on Children," explaining how land mines hurt children throughout the world.
- Ban Land Mines Project - an extensive list of links to articles on land mines and other sites devoted to the issue from the Canada-based Physicians for Global Survival.
- The Humanitarian Foundation of People Against Landmines - land mine information from an organization dedicated to removing land mines from Angola.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.