Report says nearly 7,000 people were injured by landmines in 2018

According to Reuters reports on November 27, representatives from affected countries, NGOs and donor countries have recently gathered in Oslo to discuss how to achieve the goal of building a mine-free world by 2025. According to the Landmine Monitoring report of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, landmines killed or injured nearly 7,000 people in 2018. The report said that about 71% of the casualties were civilians.

    The report also said that most of the casualties were caused by improvised explosive devices embedded by non-state organizations.

    The report said that the lowest number of casualties in the world on record was 3,457 in 2013.

    Norwegian Foreign Minister Ina Eriksson Thured said that in order to reduce casualties, it was necessary to engage with non-state actors. But Thured admitted it was "difficult".

    "We must accept the challenge," Thured said in an interview. The Nordic country Norway is one of the largest contributors to demining efforts, and in 2018 and 2019 each committed $ 40 million to 20 countries.

    It is reported that Iraq is the country most seriously affected by landmines. This is partly due to the large number of landmines planted by the "Islamic State" to keep Iraqi and Syrian territories it once controlled.

    Iraq has been deeply affected by landmines due to the 2003 US-led coalition invasion, the 1991 Gulf War, and the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988.

    According to a report prepared by the Mine Action Review Team for the meeting, the landmine problem in Iraq has continued unabated since the emergence of the "Islamic State". At least 1818 square kilometers of land are currently mine-larger than London.

    Bohia Stratton, head of the Iraqi region for a British non-governmental organization mine-clearance advisory group operating in northern Iraq, said: "This has formed an industrial scale. The Islamic State has production lines and they will print serial numbers on explosive devices . "

    She also said that mines and improvised explosive devices were buried between houses in urban and rural areas, and that the mine-clearance advisory team hopes to clear mines in Mosul, Iraq, with 3 million inhabitants, but this depends on donations.