Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University
Mine Action
- © United Nations
An estimated 110 million land mines are buried in more than 60 countries around the world. Land mines can be active for decades causing thousands of deaths and severe injuries and suffering. Between 80 to 90 percent of the victims are civilians, among them many children. In addition, land mines hinder economic development and repatriation of refugees and displaced persons.
Demining is an extremely time consuming and costly process. One landmine costs about 3 dollars to purchase and 300 to 1000 dollars to deactivate. The UN is increasingly called upon to operate mine clearance programmes in areas that are completely infested with landmines and unexploded ordnance.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) was established in 1997 as a focal point for mine action within the United Nations.
Children are particularly vulnerable to land-mines. Innocent and naturally curious, they are a perfect target for a mine. UNICEF supports mine clearance and community-based mine risk education through local authorities and NGOs and is an active advocate for the promotion of a total ban on anti-personnel land-mines.
The Unted Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provides information, monitors the use of land mines and coordinates resource mobilization.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible for standards and the promotion of technical capacities and institutional capacity building for victim assistance.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) takes part in the continuing work of mine clearance and mine risk education by assisting mine-affected countries in establishing national and local mine action programmes.
For more information on UN bodies involved in mine action, see United Nations Mine Action.
Documentation
The Antipersonnel Mine Ban Convention entered into force in 1999. The Parties have agreed to never to use antipersonnel mines, destroy mines in their stockpiles, clear mines in their territory, offer assistance to mine clearance programmes and adopt implementation measures to make sure that the terms of the treaty are upheld. A list of signatures and ratifications is posted at United Nations Department of Disarmament Affairs, Status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements.
The State Parties to the Convention are obliged to report about their national implemention measures. These reports are published as Article 7 reports to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction.
Other documentation from the Convention including Annual reports from the meetings of State Parties can be retrieved from the section Meetings of States Parties to the Mine Ban Convention.
International standards have been designed for all UN mine action operations, the so called IMAS - International Mine Action Standards. The standards are listed in the List of International Mina Actions Standards.
A World Map with information on mine affected countries and UN supported mine actions programs linking to country reports is posted at the UNMAS official web site.
Yearbook of the United Nations provides an overview of the mine action efforts of the United Nations with a detailed subject index. A complete collection of yearbooks is held by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala, and the Libraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva. Since October 2008 the complete full text collection of The United Nations Yearbooks is available online at http://unyearbook.un.org/.
Databases and Indexes
A web portal of UN mine action with background information, news, full text reports and conventions and other relevant documentation is posted at the UN official web site, section, E-Mine: The Electronic Mine Information Network.
The UN Library online catalogue UNBISnet contains reports, documents and articles related to UN activities with links to full texts for recent years. Subject search can be performed using relevant terms from the UNBIS THESAURUS.
Printed Indexes