Missing Minefields

What are Minefields?

Minefields are areas filled with Mines, explosive devices used an explosive device, concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near the device. Mines are typically detonated automatically by way of pressure from the target stepping or driving on it, though other detonation mechanisms may be possible. They can remain dangerous many years after a conflict has ended, harming the economy and civilians of many developing nations.

Currently, a total of 161 nations are party to the Ottawa treaty known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.

34 UN states including the United States, Russia and China are non-signatories. The agreement of the treaty was that each country must destroy its stockpile of anti-personnel mines within four years and within ten years after ratifying the treaty, the country should have cleared all of its mined areas. According to some estimates little progress in actual reduction of mine usage has been achieved. In 2011, the number of landmines dispersed is higher than ever since 2004, landmines being dispersed in Libya, Syria, Israel and Burma.