The lasting human rights impact of anti-personnel mines

A UN Human Rights report lays out how anti-personnel mines reach far beyond the moment of explosion, quietly eroding rights to health, food, housing, education and development, often for decades after the end of conflicts.

“This report comes at a time when international law is under strain, with persistent violations and dangerous precedents threatening to roll back norms designed to protect civilians,” said Peggy Hicks, Director of UN Human Rights’ Thematic and Special Procedures Division, while presenting the report to the Human Rights Council in June.

At least 58 States and territories remain contaminated by anti-personnel mines, according to UN Secretary-General's 2025 report. The true extent of that contamination is often unknown because mines are deliberately concealed, records are often incomplete, terrain can be unreachable, and political complexity may make surveying land challenging. Further, rainstorms, earthquakes and shifting soil can even relocate mines over time, meaning some States previously declared "mine-free" have later discovered new contamination.

Between 1999–2024, the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor recorded 165,724 casualties globally — nearly 48,000 killed and over 113,000 injured. Casualties from factory-made anti-personnel mines have roughly tripled since 2020, while improvised mines have caused the largest share of casualties for nearly a decade. Myanmar, Syria and Afghanistan recorded the highest tolls in 2024, followed by Ukraine, Nigeria, Mali, Yemen and Burkina Faso.

Civilians bear the overwhelming brunt of the destructive impact of mines, making up around 90 percent of casualties where status is known. Children are especially vulnerable: their smaller size means more severe injuries and lower survival odds, and natural curiosity puts them at heightened risk of accidental detonation. Since 1999, children have accounted for more than 40 percent of all recorded civilian casualties.

Survivors, the report stresses, often face a lifetime of consequences. Many require repeated surgeries, long-term rehabilitation and psychological support. A child who loses a limb may need dozens of replacement prostheses as they grow. Women survivors frequently face compounding barriers, including reluctance or inability to access healthcare and added social stigma, while gendered caregiving norms often leave women shouldering the burden when a family's breadwinner is injured.

Beyond direct harm, the report describes how contaminated land — or land merely suspected of contamination — cuts communities off from everyday essentials. Mined roads block access to hospitals and humanitarian assistance, while mined land used for agriculture or grazing forces a choice between hunger and risking death to plant, harvest or letting animals out to graze. In some contexts, it affects Indigenous Peoples’ access to their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands and territories, indispensable to their cultural life, and impedes access by nomadic or pastoralist communities to water sources and pastures.

The report points out that mine contamination is impacting people worldwide. In Ukraine, contamination has rendered unusable an area estimated to hold roughly a tenth of the world's most fertile farmland, with consequences for global food security as well as local livelihoods.

“Mine contamination and explosions damage ecosystems, destroy productive soil, spark wildfires, kill wildlife, prevent forest conservation, and contaminate water sources. It also undermines development, undercutting post-conflict reconstruction, and stalling economic recovery, including by depopulating contaminated regions,” said Peggy Hicks, Director of UN Human Rights’ Thematic and Special Procedures Division. “Studies have shown delayed development in regions contaminated by explosive ordnance, while demining transportation networks and agricultural land has had positive effects on land use and economic development.”

Researchers have linked delayed economic development in certain areas in Lao People’s Democratic Republic to the continued unexploded ordnance contamination. In Angola, mine contamination has been linked to higher rates of child malnutrition, while mine clearance in parts of Colombia has been followed by measurable gains in children's school performance.  Further, demining in Mozambique and Afghanistan has led to renewed economic activity and land use. Such demining comes at a financial cost, however. While the cost of laying anti-personnel mines is cheap, the cost of clearance is not – it may entail considerable public expenditure. Ukraine’s overall clearance costs alone have been estimated at USD 37.6 billion.

The report also highlights uneven and troubling trends in the international legal response. While the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines now counts 162 States parties, five — Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — have recently withdrawn, and Ukraine has told the UN Secretary-General it will suspend implementation of its obligations.

The report points out, however, that the Convention does not contain suspension provisions and does not allow withdrawal to take effect during armed conflict.

Meanwhile, some States and armed groups continue to use them. For example, the Russian Federation's use of mines in Ukraine has been described as the most extensive in decades, and the Myanmar military has also extensively used them. Non-State armed groups, too, continue to plant improvised anti-personnel mines, including in Colombia, Yemen, Myanmar, the Sahel and the Lake Chad basin regions.

“Security is not strengthened by abandoning international rules, it is strengthened by upholding them. Weakening norms designed to reduce human suffering puts all civilians at greater risk. In this regard, the High Commissioner has hailed Lebanon’s recent decision to join the Ottawa Convention, even when faced with grave security threats,” Hicks said.

She pointed out the scale of challenges faced by affected States and emphasized that mine action and the safeguarding of the rights of survivors and other affected individuals and communities require significant financial, technical and institutional capacity. For many States, particularly those affected by conflict, insecurity or limited resources, international cooperation and assistance is therefore indispensable.

Despite this, funding for clearance and victim support has sharply declined in recent years. Contributions to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action fell from USD 125 million to USD 46 million over the past seven years.

The report also points out the role and responsibilities of States that had placed mines on other States’ territories. Hicks stressed that cooperation and assistance by States responsible for placing mines was often critical to ensure clearance, highlighting States that had suffered contamination in their struggle for independence. She also recalled the obligation to provide full reparation for injury caused by internationally wrongful acts, as required by international law, including when perpetrated by using anti-personnel mines.

In the report, UN Human Rights offers a set of recommendations to States, including ratifying or rejoining the Ottawa Convention rather than withdrawing from it; investing in clearance and risk education while minimizing harm during clearance operations; investigating and prosecuting unlawful use; and above all, centre survivors and affected communities — including women, children, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and rural and pastoralist communities — in decisions about how mine action and victim assistance are designed and funded.

Hicks stated that the effects outlined in the report occur regardless of whether a State has signed and ratified the disarmament treaty.

“And so do the corresponding human rights obligations, requiring that these harms be addressed in accordance with established standards.”