Deaths and injuries from landmines and unexploded ordnance hit a four-year high in 2024, driven by conflicts in Syria and Myanmar and European countries withdrawing from the treaty banning their use.

A new report showed on Monday that over 6,000 incidents were recorded in 2024, including 1,945 deaths and 4,325 injuries, the highest annual total since 2020.

According to the Landmine Monitor 2025 report, 90 per cent were civilians, with almost half women and children.

The surge was driven mainly by mines exploding in conflict zones in Syria and Myanmar, both countries which are outside the treaty.

In Syria, returning residents face growing risks from unexploded ordnance following the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad, the report said.

Myanmar recorded the highest number, with over 2,000 incidents due to increased use by both the army and non-state armed groups, the report said.

The treaty, which came into effect in 1999, binds 166 states, 85 per cent of the world, prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.

It also requires parties to clear contaminated areas and assist victims.

Several European nations are seeking withdrawal at a time when global funding cuts are hampering clearance efforts.

Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are in the process of legally exiting the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines in the face of what they say are growing military threats from Russia, risking the treaty’s “dangerous erosion”, the report stated.

Ukraine announced its withdrawal from the Convention on June 29.

Military analysts said that doing so could help slow the Russian advances Kyiv is struggling to contain over three years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Activists said there should be a global ban on a weapon that blights huge swathes of territory and maims and kills civilians long after conflicts have abated.

The report also documented signs of new Ukrainian mine use, plus Thailand’s accusations that Cambodian forces deployed anti-personnel mines in a disputed July border clash, which Cambodia denies.

Russia and Myanmar, non-signatories, used landmines extensively, the report said.

Donor funding cuts, including from the U.S., led to reduced survivor support and the termination of several humanitarian mine action programmes compared with prior years, according to the report.

Nations party to the Mine Ban Treaty meet in Geneva this week.

(Reuters/NAN)