Country & Territory Reports - Landmine Action

due to incidents of AP mines, ERW and MOTAPM in all Sri
Lanka was 99. In 2004, to August, some 33 casualties
were reported. 1780 The highest impacts are in the north
where most fighting has taken place, in the areas of Jaffna,
Kilinochchi, Mannar and Mullaitivu. Of the 99 casualties in
2003, landmines accounted for 44, UXO for 33 and the
remainder were unknown.
Although ordnance accidents amount to a substantial
proportion of casualties, this may in part be due to the
formalised nature of the landmine contamination. The fact
that a significant proportion of the anti-personnel mine threat
is to be found in predictable locations (such as on the
forward side of defensive lines or around former military
camps) means that the local population can manage the
threat more easily than is possible in countries which have
experienced more sporadic mine-laying. Thus extensive
landmine contamination is not resulting in as many accidents
as may otherwise be expected – and ordnance is more
prominent as a proportion of the casualties.
Although MOTAPM incidents are less common than
incidents from anti-personnel mines or ERW, MOTAPM do
present a threat. Three people were killed when a tractor
hit an AT mine in Paranthan village, just outside
Kilinochchi, on 11 June 2004. 1781 The area previously
hosted army camps and suffered from severe fighting.
A concentration of casualties around Kilinochchi might be
due to a relatively high ERW contamination in the area.
Although extensive risk education has been given to these
communities since 2002, 1782 many people in the area were
previously soldiers and may thus consider themselves
familiar with weapons. Most victims in this area have been
men between 18 and 35 years. 1783
The Landmine Action assessment report noted that “ERW
victims are predominantly male” and related this to
division of labour or deliberately interacting with ERW
through economic necessity or feelings of social responsibility.
1784 Some accidents with ERW have happened when
people tried to move or disarm items of ordnance. Of the
31 reported ERW and MOTAPM incidents in 2003 and
2004, only 18 contain a record of the victims’ activity at
the time of the accident. Five of these happened while
people were handling explosive devices. However, a
further 13 happened while people were collecting firewood
or water, tending animals or engaged in domestic work. 1785
For people returning to their homes after a period of
displacement, the process of clearing away rubble in
preparation for rebuilding can be particularly dangerous.
The following story was related to an assessment team by
a woman returning to part of the Jaffna peninsula: 1786
“Our house had been damaged during the conflict. My
husband and a friend were repairing it and clearing the
land when the shell [a 60mm mortar] exploded injuring
them and me. We had no idea it was there at the time. My
husband and friend were thrown by the blast [...] I
suffered minor injuries on my forehead and my left eye.”
Similarly people may deliberately engage with ordnance in
order to move it off their land so as to resume agricultural
activities.
There are reports of people crossing into marked
dangerous areas to collect scrap metal. 1787 Scrap metal
from ERW can be found on local markets, but there is no
extensive documentation of this problem. The general
situation in the LTTE-controlled areas is that economy is
growing, steadily but slowly, but a substantial proportion
of households still have restricted access to cropland,
infrastructure resources and other agricultural
resources. 1788 Although this economic constriction may
result primarily from anti-personnel mine contamination, it
increases the economic pressure on people to search for
ERW as scrap and ignore minefield fencing.
According to Landmine Action’s analysis from 2003,
“children under 18 years old make up a significant
proportion of ERW victims. Between January 2000 and
December 2002, 52 per cent of ERW victims in the Jaffna
peninsula were children. In 2002 alone, children
represented 78 per cent of all ERW victims.” 1789 That report
relates children’s risk from ERW to their economic activities
(gathering resources), deliberate contact out of curiosity
and efforts to demonstrate bravery. Elsewhere, children
are reported as being involved in salvaging scrap metal
and it is important to note that children’s expenditure from
scrap metal is not always focused towards economic
‘necessities.’ The UNDP Chief Technical Advisor, Sri Lanka,
reported an accident in Sri Lanka resulting from children
collecting scrap metal that they planned to sell so as to
buy sweets and ice-cream. 1790
Efforts to address the problem
Since the cease-fire in 2002, the international community
has provided humanitarian assistance to support landmine
clearance, ordnance disposal and risk education. The most
prominent organizations in this work have been international
organizations such as MAG, the HALO Trust,
Norwegian People’s Aid, and Swiss Foundation for
Demining and Danish Demining Group. In LTTE-controlled
areas such organizations have been working in partnership
with the local Humanitarian Demining Unit, established by
the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). The
Humanitarian Demining Unit was conducting humanitarian
mine clearance in the LTTE-controlled area prior to the
influx of international assistance in 2002. In governmentcontrolled
areas, the Sri Lankan Army has also been
conducting ongoing clearance work.
According to UNDP figures, in 2003 a total of 24,038 antipersonnel
mines, 54 anti-vehicle mines and 13,231 items
of UXO were destroyed in 2003. From January to March
2004, a further 8,896 anti-personnel mines, five antivehicle
mines and 5,883 UXO were cleared. 1791
UNDP have been working in partnership with the Sri Lankan
Government to establish structures of mine action
sri lanka 159
erw and motapm – global survey 2003–2004