Once an armed conflict ends, its impacts on human life and rights go beyond the casualties and destruction caused during hostilities. Explosive ordnance is left behind, often for decades. Landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) are, in the words of Secretary-General António Guterres, a ‘terrifying legacy’ of conflict. According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, in 2022 there were 4,710 casualties of anti-personnel landmines and ERW, 85% of whom were civilians, including 1,171 children.
Anti-personnel mines and other explosive ordnance have critical and long-lasting negative implications for a wide range of human rights, including the rights to life, physical security, physical and mental health, food, safe drinking water, employment, education, and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
States’ human rights obligations should inform national policy in addressing the use and presence of mines, including their removal; education and awareness-raising; victim support, rehabilitation, and reparation; and social reintegration. Moreover, the duty of international cooperation requires States to support and/or cooperate on demining and rehabilitation programmes, especially in LDCs.
This report examines those impacts and proposes avenues to increase the integration of human rights within mine action through enhanced engagement on the part of the UN human rights system. In so doing, its ultimate objective is to contribute towards increasing the protection of the human rights of landmine victims as a particularly vulnerable group.
