Global landmine casualties remain high as funding drops

Landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW) killed or injured at least 5,554 people around the world last year, according to the Landmine Monitor 2020, published in Geneva on Thursday. The number of victims remains high, even if it has decreased in recent years – from 6,897 in 2018, 7,253 in 2017 and 9,439 in 2016. Civilians accounted for the vast majority of casualties (80%) and children represented nearly half of all civilian casualties (43%). Most of the victims were in Afghanistan, Syria, Myanmar, Mali and Ukraine, according to Handicap International, an aid organisation working in situations of poverty, exclusion, conflict and disaster. “Seven years ago, we reached an all-time low in new landmine casualties. But this achievement has overturned, and we are seeing heightened numbers of civilians killed and wounded. Appallingly, nearly half of all these casualties are children. We need to act now to reverse this trend, to save lives, and to address the trauma and...