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The horrific numbers may not surprise you, but the timing might.
Nearly 250 people, including 60 children, have been killed by landmines and other war-related explosives in Syria. Close to 400 people have been injured.
These are the casualty figures from just the last few months – since December, when the Assad regime was overthrown.
The country and the world may have heaved a sigh of relief for the apparent end of Syria’s brutal 14-year civil war. However, conflict-related deaths don’t conveniently stop when the fighting does.
In fact, casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war in Syria have dramatically increased since December. One key reason is: more people are on the move. Specifically, many people displaced by the war are finally able to return home.
But the country is still widely contaminated by landmines and other weapons used by all sides during the war. Prior to December last year, these frequently injured and killed civilians.
Today, with more areas accessible since the collapse of the Assad government, people are coming across more land contaminated with landmines and explosive remnants.
Sometimes, people don’t know about the danger underfoot until it’s too late. Other times, they see something interesting on the ground, and go for a closer look, maybe even pick it up, not realizing the deadly charge it contains.
Syria’s new transitional government needs to make this issue an urgent priority, as a new HRW report makes clear. Authorities need to ensure suspect areas are surveyed and then cleared of landmines and explosive remnants of war. International donors and expert organizations can and should help.
Public education is also essential. The victims and witnesses HRW interviewed in Syria told us they had not been given any information about the dangers of unexploded weapons in their area.
What’s more, there isn’t yet a country-wide system for anonymous reporting of explosives contamination. So, even where there may be some local knowledge, it isn’t shared more widely.
It’s going to take years to survey all the suspect areas in Syria and then clear landmines and other explosive remnants of war. It’s slow, difficult work. Just think: Bosnia and Herzegovina still has a landmine problem today from a war that happened in the early 1990s.
As these painstaking efforts unfold in Syria, the transitional government should also be flooding all possible information channels – from TV to social media to posters on walls – with warnings about the dangers and a way to report anything that looks suspicious.
Landmines and explosive remnants of war can kill and maim people for a long time. Spreading public awareness about them won’t stop that entirely, but it can help bring the number of victims down.
