The Mine Problem

While we continue trying to build a semblance of political independence, a sence of civic responsibility, while we wait for the Mehlis Investigation to move on, and for the international donor conference to happen, while we wait for people like Samir Qantar to be released, and for prisoners in Syrian jails to be given freedom, while we wait for Farran to be returned, there is actually one thing that we can continue working on now.

During the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon, the Israeli military spread landmines. That is understandable (though not condonable) from a militaristic point of view, but five years on, there are still over 400,000 landmines spread about. Israel should have maps of their locations in order not to risk a "self-goal", but has not and probably will not anytime soon provide the Lebanese government with information. Internationally, Israel is under no obligation to do anything since it has not signed the Ottawa Treaty (which has a ban on landmines, unlike the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Note that Lebanon hasn't signed it either.).

The Daily Star's recent article says there are approximately 550,000 mines placed throughout the country, of which only 60,000 have been cleared. To be "fair", Lebanese factions also plaed mines, but the south has the highest concentration.

The National Demining Office, along with the Ministry of Defence, is responsible for coordinating all humanitarian mine-related activities in Lebanon. One of its partners is the Mine Action Coordination Center - Southern Lebanon, which receives funding from various countries and organization. A quick glance shows that UAE has been the most generous donor. A list of mine action projects in Lebanon can be seen here. Some assistance was provided by Australia in 2001, China is preparing to do so in order to "fulfill its obligations under the protocol [on conventional weapons]", and the USA, which has provided almost 800 million dollars throughout the world, has given around 8 million to Lebanon.

Up till 2003, 1000+ victimes died, and around 1700 injured, but the number of victims has been decreasing each year. Much more work is needed in Lebanon, and part of the reason for the time it is taking is the lack of proper funding (the amounts noted above are not enough). AUB is working on developping an infrared based technology that will ease the danger involved the demining process. There is also work going on for an global ban on Landmines, since 40 countries have still not yet signed the Ottawa Treaty. This post was mainly "information oriented" since I wanted to learn more about what was going on (some of the provided links have much more information and are very interesting), and all these different initiatives, although possibly lacking national momentum, are quite motivating.

posted by Lazarus, 1:06 PM