Landmines
Landmines are explosive devices planted in the ground. They are triggered by the victim, being incapable of distinguishing between soldiers, humanitarian workers or children.
PROBLEM
Landmines are explosive devices planted in the ground. They are triggered by the victim, being incapable of distinguishing between soldiers, humanitarian workers or children. These devices remain active for years or decades, threatening local populations during and after armed conflicts.
Since World War II, more than 400 million mines have been planted worldwide and the accident rate has reached 30 to 40 thousand per year. Roads, agricultural fields, forests, border areas and populated areas have been contaminated.
The presence of landmines limits the freedom of movement of local populations and can restrict access to food, water or medical care. The repatriation of refugees and displaced people is also hampered, as well the delivery of humanitarian aid. In addition, there are high costs associated with mine clearance and assistance to mutilated victims.
Territórios contaminados por minas terrestres antipessoal
Territórios com vítimas de minas terrestres antipessoal
Campaign
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was created in October 1992 with the aim of eradicating landmines worldwide and promoting humanitarian demining and victim assistance.
The ICBL led the global movement to ban landmines that began in the 1990s, by pressing the States to create an international treaty that would eradicate the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of these weapons and representing the sectors of civil society in the so-called Ottawa Process.
The Ottawa Process was a series of multilateral diplomatic conferences initiated in 1996 and led by the Canadian government, which resulted in the creation of the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1997. That same year, the ICBL was a co-laureate to the Nobel Peace Prize, along with its coordinator Jody Williams, in recognition of the work toward the prohibition of landmines.
At the initiative of the ICBL, the Landmine Monitor was created, in order to monitor and inform about the implementation and compliance with the Ottawa Treaty. The monitor is published annually, and all of its reports are available online.
treaty
The Mine Ban Treaty was signed in 1997 and entered into force in 1999. It completely prohibits the production, stockpiling, transfer, trade and the use of anti-personnel landmines, in addition to calls for the destruction of existing stockpiles, the clearance of mined areas and promoting international cooperation to address the problems caused by these weapons.
The Ottawa Treaty, as it is also known, is one of the most widely ratified treaties in the world, with 163 States Parties, representing more than 80% of the world's countries. The current European crisis with the Ukraine-Russia War has, unfortunately, made some member States withdraw from the treaty due to the priority of defending their borders.
Estados Partes do Tratado de Erradicação de Minas
And Brazil?
Historically, Brazil has produced anti-personnel landmines in the 1970s and 1980s and exported them to countries such as Nicaragua, Ecuador, Peru and Mozambique. Meanwhile, Brazil changed its position, prohibiting the export of landmines in 1989 and ceasing its production in the late 1990s.
Brazil supported and participated in the Ottawa Process and it is part of the Mine Ban Treaty. Furthermore, Brazil played an important role in South America, influencing other countries to join the Treaty. Landmines are still retained by the Brazilian government for training in demining operations.
Brazil played an important role in humanitarian mine clearance operations promoted by the Organization of American States, in the mine removal missions in South America and Central America (MARMINAS and MARMINCA respectively), by providing military personnel to ensure the quality of the demining process, as well as operating in some African countries.