U.S. Pledges no new land mines, but existing devices remain a threat
By Colin Daileda From Mashable
The United States government doesn’t want to destroy its land mines just yet, and the reason comes down to this: Mines can be useful.
On Friday, during a conference in Maputo, Mozambique, U.S. officials announced that the country’s military will no longer acquire anti-personnel mines. It will also take steps to join a 1997 international treaty banning the devices.
Historically, the U.S. has at times appeared reluctant to become one of the treaty’s 161 adherents. Other countries that have not ratified the document include North Korea, Iran and Russia.
Warring military factions often lay land mines across fields to deter their enemies. Those mines sometimes remain in place long after conflicts are over, often exploding when an unsuspecting civilian steps on one. They’ve killed at least 88,200 people since 1999. However, the number of deaths per year has dropped from around 26,000 to 4,000 since the treaty was introduced, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
“Mines have proven in the past to be an extremely effective defense mechanism,” Anthony Cordesman, an expert on U.S. defense plans at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Mashable. That’s one of the reasons the U.S. wants to keep its stockpile.
The American government still has mines laid out as deterrents along the border between North and South Korea, and experts say the Pentagon isn’t inclined to give up its cache of around 10 million devices, even if it hasn’t produced them since 1997 or used them since 1991.
“They also don’t like the notion of joining a [treaty] that constrains its hands in any way,” Stephen Goose, co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, told Mashable.
The treaty also doesn’t consider the fact that some of the more modern land mines can automatically deactivate after a certain length of time, according to Cordesman. Some U.S. officials don’t see the problem with the devices, as long as mine fields are registered and cleaned up after they’re no longer useful.
Although the American government’s announcement didn’t do enough for some proponents of the Mine Ban Treaty, some felt that it represented a good first step, harkening back to when President Bill Clinton became the first world leader to call for a ban on anti-personnel mines in 1994.
Clinton’s goal for the U.S. was to join the treaty by 2006. But that goal was formally abandoned by the administration of President George W. Bush in 2004, even though the U.S. hasn’t so much as tried to acquire land mines since 1997.
Currently, there is no set date for joining the treaty, but President Obama has made it clear that he is thinking more along the lines of Clinton than Bush.
Despite America’s slow progress with regards to the treaty, it donates more money to clearing land mine fields and assisting victims of these devices than any other country on Earth, having spent $2 billion on such programs since 1993.
Below is a chart showing the distribution of that money to countries around the globe.
US, mine destruction, funds IMAGE: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
At present, the United States is “pursuing solutions” that would put it in line with the terms of the treaty, and it’s still working out other parts of the nation’s land mine policy, Edward Price, assistant press secretary and director for strategic communications at the National Security Council, told Mashable.
Still, the lack of a timeline for the U.S. to join the treaty has made advocates of the international agreement skeptical about the U.S. government’s long-term plans.
“For many of us, it’s been two decades of trying,” Mary Wareham, director of the arms division at Human Rights Watch, told Mashable. “We’re still not there yet.”
IMAGES:
A United States marine sweeps for land mines in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan on Sept. 7, 2011. IMAGE: RAFIQ MAQBOOL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Land mine treaty, map IMAGE: INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES
US, mine destruction, funds IMAGE: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
Below, we’ve pulled together five important facts about land mines:
1. Land mines kill people every day
Land mines killed an average of 10 people per day in 2012, compared with 25 per day in 1999.
2. Land mine contamination is heaviest in the Middle East and North Africa
3. Afghanistan had the most mine deaths in 2012
4. Nearly half of land mine victims are children
Mines killed 1,066 people and injured 2,552 more in 2012, 47% of whom were children.
5. Mine victims are mostly male
See attachment for other facts
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