Press Room

The Monitor identified only one government laying antipersonnel mines: Myanmar.

Antipersonnel mine use by non-state armed groups was confirmed in six countries—Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Yemen.

This is the lowest level of recorded use since the Monitor began reporting in 1999. For the first time, Russia was not identified as an active user.

The Monitor identified 12 producers of antipersonnel mines—the smallest total ever recorded.

Of the 12, as few as three were actively manufacturing mines—India, Myanmar, and Pakistan.

Following official declarations of non-production, Nepal was removed from the list of producers.

In 2009, 3,956 new casualties to landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) were recorded, the lowest annual total since monitoring began in 1999 and 28% lower than in 2008.

Due to incomplete data collection, the actual number of casualties was certainly higher than recorded.

A total of 66 states and seven other areas were confirmed or suspected to be mine-affected. This is a decrease of three states.

Mine action programs cleared at least 198km2 of mined areas in 2009, by far the highest annual total ever recorded by the Monitor, resulting in the destruction of more than 255,000 antipersonnel mines and 37,000 antivehicle mines. At least 359km2 of former battle areas were cleared in 2009, disposing of 2.2 million items of ERW.

Programs in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Croatia, Iraq, and Sri Lanka accounted for more than 80% of the total recorded clearance.

Mine/ERW risk education continued to be conducted in many affected locations, with new projects being initiated in Algeria and Pakistan.

In 2009, there was some improvement in quality and/or accessibility of victim assistance services in 11 countries or other areas, but a decline in nine others.

While victim assistance coordination improved in some places, the vast majority of countries did not provide assistance based on data assessing the number of survivors and their needs.

Survivors or their representative organizations participated in victim assistance implementation of in under half of affected countries, mostly through non-governmental peer support networks.

Only 15 international donors reported supporting victim assistance, totaling US$38 million—only 9% of the global total of funding for mine action.

Donors and affected states devoted about $622 million to mine action in 2009.

Thirty-three donors contributed $449 million to 54 countries/ areas, nearly the same as in 2008.

2009 saw the third highest level of international funding ever and was the fourth year in a row of international contributions totaling over $400 million.

Contributions from the top five mine action donors—the United States, European Commission, Japan, Norway, and Germany—accounted for 61% of all funding.

The top five recipient states—Afghanistan, Iraq, Cambodia, Sudan, and Sri Lanka—received almost 50% of all international mine action contributions in 2009. Afghanistan received the most for one state with $107 million.

National mine action contributions from affected states increased from $144 million in 2008 to $173 million in 2009, with Croatia and Angola accounting for 56% of the total.

The Good

The Bad

156 countries have joined the Mine Ban Treaty—80% of the world’s nations.

No state has joined the treaty since Palau acceded in November 2007.

The Cartagena Action Plan adopted at the Second Review Conference provides an ambitious and concrete five-year roadmap to implement and universalize the Mine Ban Treaty.

There has been no need for States Parties to invoke the treaty’s formal compliance provisions to clarify any compliance matters.

There are highly disturbing allegations that members of the armed forces in Turkey used antipersonnel mines in 2009; these are currently the subject of a legal investigation by Turkey.

86 states have completed the destruction of their stockpiles, collectively destroying over 45 million stockpiled antipersonnel mines.

Ukraine missed its stockpile destruction deadline in June 2010 and is in violation of the treaty; as are Belarus, Greece, and Turkey, which missed their deadlines in March 2008.

A rigorous process is in place for extending the 10-year mine clearance deadlines. As of September 2010, 22 States Parties have received or were formally seeking additional time.

In June 2010, Nicaragua formally declared that it had completed its clearance obligations. It was the 16th state to do so; Albania, Greece, Rwanda, Tunisia, and Zambia declared they fulfilled their clearance obligations in 2009.

Too many States Parties granted extensions in 2008 and 2009 have since made disappointing progress. Of greatest concern is Venezuela, which has not started clearance operations more than 10 years after ratifying the treaty.

The rate of compliance with submitting annual transparency reports is at an all-time low (56%); Equatorial Guinea is 11 years late with its initial report.

Less than 40% of states have passed domestic laws to implement the treaty.