The United Nation's International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is set to create awareness of the terrors of landmines (destructive leftovers of war) and how it restricts mobility and a sense of security in contaminated areas.
"Mine contamination" threatens lives, curtails freedom of movement, limits access to arable land, disenfranchises communities, and instills fear and insecurity. It spreads terror, and longstanding contamination internalizes this terror. The most affected are the most vulnerable populations.
Whether it is new contamination in Colombia, Myanmar, Ukraine or Yemen, or old contamination, in Cambodia, Iraq or Viet Nam, clearance must be completed by mine action actors and States Parties of the Mine Ban Convention. It is a human problem.
Image credit: Mine action in the Democratic Republic of the Congo., UNMAS DRC