Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 15th Nov. According to a civil society report backed by the UN released on Tuesday said that the new use of anti-personnel landmines drove an increase in casualties from the weapons last year.
The Landmine Monitor 2023 showed that 4,710 people were injured or killed by landmines and explosive remnants of war across 49 countries and two other areas in 2022.
According to the report, civilians accounted for over four in five casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war, half of them children.
The report stated the highest number of casualties, 834, was recorded in Syria, followed by Ukraine where 608 people were killed or injured.
The conflict in Ukraine saw a ten-fold increase in the number of civilian casualties from the lethal weapons compared to 2021.
The report noted Yemen and Myanmar both recorded more than 500 casualties last year.
International Campaign to Ban Landmines, said that “the only way communities will be truly safe from the scourge of these weapons” is when all States join the international instrument addressing this threat, the Mine Ban Treaty adopted in 1997, and respect it fully.
The publication comes just days before the 164 States parties to the treaty are due to meet at the UN in Geneva.
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