Background
History of Landmines
Impact of Landmines
   •Introduction
   •Children
   •Medical Impact
   •Psychosocial Impact
   •Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 
 Impact of Landmines - part 2 

Impact of Landmines

Introduction
The impact of landmines on war-torn societies is devastating. Broadly speaking, they impede the ability of mine-affected communities to fully recover from conflicts after the cessation of hostilities. Beyond the immediate dangers to life and limb, landmines impose a heavy economic burden on these communities. It costs between $300 and $1,000 to remove each mine and $100 to $3,000 to provide an artificial limb to survivors of mine accidents. An adult must replace his or her prosthesis once every three to five years, and a child must obtain a new prosthesis every six months.

Other significant medical, psychosocial, and economic impacts of landmines exist. For instance, mines typically maim or kill the most productive members of a community's work force, and prevent refugees and internally displaced persons from returning to their homes after conflicts have ceased. Furthermore, landmines produce severe environmental consequences. They also impede peace and reconciliation efforts, and they obstruct the delivery of international relief supplies. When addressing the global landmine crisis, it is necessary to "look at the injured and landmine survivors not just as those who step on a landmine and perhaps have an amputated limb, but as the families and communities that are held hostage to landmines," says Jerry White, co-founder of Landmine Survivors Network.

Children
Of the estimated 10,000 civilians killed or maimed every year by landmines, a large number are children. Many more lose their parents to landmine accidents or have to bear the difficult responsibility of supporting their families after a family member has been disabled or killed. Children who have been injured by mines are not only a burden on their families and communities, but they are no longer perceived as being productive members of society.

Children are particularly vulnerable to landmines. Their small size places them closer to the source of a mine's explosion and, consequently, they often sustain more severe injuries than adults. Furthermore, because children are curious and like to play outdoors, they frequently leave known, safe paths or pick up mines, mistaking them for toys.

In addition, children are responsible for tending cattle and sheep in many societies. They often follow their livestock into remote areas in search of new grazing lands. In some armed conflicts, children are used as messengers and porters, or as sweepers to clear minefields.

Children who survive mine accidents require new prostheses every six months in order to accommodate their growth patterns. In contrast, adults typically require prosthesis replacement every three to five years. The costs of tending to children's medical needs is often prohibitive - few families can afford these costs and few countries have adequate supplies of prostheses.

Medical Impact
Landmines have numerous direct and indirect consequences on the health of people living in mine-affected countries. Mines kill and maim innocent men, women, and children; and they deny people access to adequate medical services, immunizations, and safe water and food, leading to the spread of diseases. Furthermore, many mine-affected countries do not have adequate health facilities or mined roads and bridges virtually cut off entire populations from existing services.

Mine injuries typically include loss of limbs or eyesight. Mine victims lose significant quantities of blood, requiring large transfusions. Medical centers in mine-affected countries, however, often face severe blood shortages and are forced to loosen safety restrictions on blood donations. In turn, these loosened restrictions increase contamination of the blood supply. Furthermore, mine victims that survive their injuries and initial treatment face a lifetime of dependency on medical services, including regular fittings for prostheses and psychosocial counseling.

Landmines also prevent access to safe drinking water, forcing people to drink dirty, contaminated water that can cause diarrhea and cholera. In addition, rotting carcasses of animals killed by landmines turn minefields into breeding grounds for insects, such as tse tse flies and malarial mosquitoes, that transmit viruses and bacteria. The deployment of mines also renders large tracts of fertile farmland unusable, which in turn leads to food shortages and severe malnutrition. Undernourishment is particularly devastating to the long-term health and survival of children still in their developing years.

The international community works closely with mine-affected countries to implement victim assistance and rehabilitation programs intended to help mine victims. It also promotes broad health awareness and immunization campaigns to minimize some of the long-term medical consequences of landmines. Funding is a continual problem in providing adequate aid to victims and mine-affected communities, and damaged infrastructures prevent large numbers of people, especially those living in remote villages, from receiving adequate medical care even when treatment is available.

Psychosocial Impact
The psychological and social traumas associated with landmines can be as devastating on a mine-affected community as the immediate physical injuries sustained by mine victims. Men, women, and children all suffer terrible psychological consequences associated with the presence of landmines and landmine-related injuries. Some victims are permanently disfigured, while others living in mined areas face the constant fear that they may be next. Many mine victims are ostracized by their communities and not welcomed back after suffering their injuries. Amputated women are less desirable as wives because they are no longer able to work in the fields, which is their traditional role in many countries. Amputated men often become drifters. Spouses leave one another for healthier partners. Children are either left alone when their parents are killed or must assume primary responsibility for caring for their severely injured parents.

Most governments in mine-affected countries do not have adequate resources to care for and rehabilitate mine victims or to facilitate their reintegration into society. Accordingly, the burden of care and responsibility generally falls upon a victim's family. Unfortunately, victims are often unable to rely on their families for the support they require. Furthermore, because the majority of mine-affected countries are agrarian societies, disabled persons who are unable to undertake strenuous physical work in the fields are typically considered a burden by their family members.

The level of alienation that some mine victims experience is further exacerbated by conditions of war and famine, which tend to undermine traditional family structures. Mine victims are the most vulnerable members of society, particularly if mine-affected communities are unable to support themselves and disintegrate.

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
The traditional problem of refugees and internally displaced persons that accompanies most conflicts is exacerbated by the use of landmines. Mines are increasingly used to terrorize civilian populations and channel their movements, resulting in ever-larger numbers of displaced persons forced to leave their homes. After hostilities cease, the continued presence of mines on roads, in agricultural fields, and in buildings prevent populations from returning to their homes. This destruction leaves large areas of land uninhabited and uncultivated, hampering post-war reconstruction efforts. The widespread presence of mines forces people into urban centers, leading to overcrowding, high unemployment, and severe health and sanitation problems.

Refugee camps face similar problems. These camps are often makeshift, overcrowded, and serve as breeding grounds for diseases. Mined roads impede the delivery of humanitarian aid to these camps. Furthermore, the influx of refugees into neighboring countries can be a burden on the host country and lead to conflict and tension in refugee camps and among neighboring countries.