On Saturday 11 June, 11 labourers travelling towards agricultural lands near the village of Deir al-Adas were killed, and 34 were injured, when their pick-up truck ran over a landmine and blew up. Five children and three women are amongst the deceased.
In their report on the dangers presented by landmines in Syria, Euro-Med Monitor decry the absence of a national or international programme to clear mines in the country. Nour Olwan, Euro-Med Monitor’s spokesperson, said: “The parties to the conflict in Syria have planted, to varying degrees, countless numbers of mines in all areas that have witnessed military operations. But none of them have taken serious measures to clear these mines, or even cooperate to locate and warn of or defuse them.”
Since 2010, AOAV has recorded 946 incidents of UXO and mine explosions in Syria, as reported in English-language sources. These have caused 1,860 reported civilian casualties, of which at least 121 were reported as women and 753 as children. Civilians constitute 81% of casualties of mines and UXO explosions.
Globally, AOAV has recorded 2,349 incidents of mine and UXO explosions around the world since 2010, as reported in English-language sources. Of the 7,424 casualties caused by these incidents, 5,495, or 74%, have been civilians (at least 2050 children and 305 women).
Syria is by far the worst-affected country for recorded civilian casualties of mine and UXO explosions since 2010, followed by Afghanistan (398 civilian casualties); Pakistan (346); India (294); and Yemen (281).
AOAV’s casualty figures represent the lowest of estimations in terms of the number of people killed and injured by explosive weapon use. In an effort to quantify the explicit harm caused by specific explosive weapons, AOAV solely records incident-specific casualty figures, as reported in English-language media.
AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. All actors should stop using explosive weapons with wide-area affects where there is likely to be a high concentration of civilians.
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