Group: Landmine casualties swell amid ban challenges

New landmine use in Myanmar, Ukraine and other conflicts coupled with funding cuts for clearance saw casualty numbers surge in 2024, a monitor said Monday, warning the international ban faced “unprecedented challenges.”

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According to the Landmine Monitor, 6,279 people were wounded or killed by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) across 52 countries and areas last year.

Civilians -- nearly half of them children -- made up 90 percent of global casualties, it said.

The number of overall casualties, which included 1,945 people killed, was nearly 500 more than a year earlier and marked the highest annual figure since 2020.

The report “reveals a stark reality: civilians are bearing the consequences, as efforts to clear mined areas face waning global donor support for essential humanitarian activities”, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) cautioned in a statement.

The organization also decried “unprecedented challenges” to the longstanding international ban on landmines after five NATO countries announced in March they would quit the treaty amid fears over “Russian aggression.”