Landmines

Deadly Danger:
Landmines and Cluster Ammunition

Every 20 minutes a landmine explodes somewhere in the world and injures a person. The victims are left disabled, lose limbs or are disfigured. Kindernothilfe is a member of the Aktionsbündnis Landmine.de (Action Group Landmine) and campaigns for the prohibition of landmines.

Background
Thousands of women, men and children die as a result of landmine explosions. In 68 countries in the world about 100 million landmines have been laid - in fields, on roads, on pathways and at watering places. Every 20 minutes a person is injured or maimed by these. Mines not only injure and maim, they also cause great damage to agriculture and the infrastructure of a country. The costs involved in clearing landmines is enormous - to diffuse one costs 1.000 US dollars. Five times this amount is necessary to provide artificial limbs for a victim of landmines.
Cluster bombs and cluster ammunition constitute a further threat for the populations of more than 25 countries. The USA, China and Russia alone have about three billion of these in their armouries. They are dropped as cluster bombs from planes and spread over large areas. There are several hundred small pieces of cluster ammunition inside, and these open on impact to release their deadly content.

Our Goal: One Million Signatures
The action group landmines.de of which Kindernothilfe has been a member since 1995 collects signatures to increase the pressure on politicians. So far, about 900,000 people have signed these five demands:

• A ban on all landmines and similar weapons (such as cluster bombs).
• Countries have to declare what stock of landmines they possess.
• The destruction of all existing landmines.
• Reallocation of the money used for landmines to help the victims of landmines.
• Support for clearing landmines and wide-reaching help for the victims.