SNHR Is a Member of the International Coalition and Its Main Source of Data for Syria; 2,773 Civilians Have Been Documented Killed by Landmines in Syria Since March 2011.
December 11, 2021
Statement by the Syrian Network for Human Rights:
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC) recently released its twenty-third annual report on monitoring the use of landmines worldwide. The Coalition leads global civil society efforts to popularize and implement the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, the 1997 Ottawa Convention , which includes 164 states.
The latest report, which provides an assessment of the international community’s response to the global landmine situation, focusing on the calendar year 2020, concludes that Syria saw the highest documented number of annual casualties due to mines globally in 2020 accounting for 2,729 of the casualties (dead and injured) from the total of 7,073 killed or injured worldwide. The report notes that 80% of the mine casualties it documented in 2020 were civilians, with at least 50% of these casualties being children. The report additionally reveals that the 2020 total represents an increase of 20% on the casualties recorded in 2019. The report further indicates that the number of annual casualties recorded in Syria is the highest since the ICBL-CMC began its reporting in 1999.
As a member of this international coalition, the Syrian Network for Human Rights has spent over 10 years to date monitoring and documenting the use of cluster munitions and landmines, and the resulting casualties in Syria, building up a detailed database on this issue which includes the locations and dates of all the incidents reported.
