Should Landmines be Banned?

Landmines are devices that are designed to explode when triggered by pressure or a tripwire. Landmines originally were for military use, which were to disable a person or vehicle that came in contact with it by an explosion of fragments released at high speeds. One hundred million uncleared landmines lie in the fields and alongside the roads and footpaths of one-third of the countries in the developing world. It costs about 100 times more to remove one mine than to produce it. Claiming over 500 victims a week, landmines are a weapon of mass destruction in slow motion.

Most argue that “A landmine blast causes injuries like blindness, burns, destroyed limbs and shrapnel wounds,” and are against the creation of these destructive weapons. To be against this would be completely optimistic, but mines never stopped any unit from taking its objective. They never prevented the enemy from getting too close to one. They are not essential in a mission but they are usually within budgets.

“Landmines deprive people in some of the poorest countries of land and infrastructure,” says International Campaign to Ban Landmines. They claim that the solution would involve ensuring that all countries will join the Mine Ban Treaty and undertake to never again produce, use or sell antipersonnel mines. Of course persuading non state actors to ban landmines to abide by the spirit of the treaty might promote this campaign. 

Landmines do get the job done, but cannot be aimed. This causes them to do bad to unwary and innocent bystanders. Mines do undesirable damage to livestock and even livelihoods. Joining the Mine Ban Treaty for every country would be unbelievably impressive to the world.  The banning of landmines would ameliorate the world greatly.