Mine

According to the definition contained in the Ottawa Convention, a mine is a device that is placed on the ground or underground and is designed to explode due to the presence, proximity or contact of a person.

Currently, 120 to 140 million mines are used in the world, 4 million of which are remnants of World War II, and 230 million mines are in military stockpiles. The speed of planting mines is 4 times more than the speed of neutralizing mines, and the collection of currently deployed mines requires 300 billion costs and a thousand years of time.

The use of landmines as a military tactic is highly controversial. Landmines do not distinguish between soldiers and civilians, and after the end of the conflict, they remain dangerous and make the lands impassable and unusable for a long time. In many cases, the exact location of the mine is not known, and this makes demining difficult and slow. These dangers have caused areas with land mines to face great problems in terms of resettlement, agriculture and tourism. The international effort to prohibit the use of landmines, especially anti-personnel landmines, has been manifested in the form of the Ottawa Convention in 1997 with the full name of the Convention on the prohibition of the use, production, stockpiling, transfer, and do trading of Anti-Personnel Mines and destruction of them. So far, 156 countries have agreed to refrain from the production, use, design, storage and trade of anti-personnel mines by signing this international treaty. Among the countries that have not joined this treaty are the three permanent members of the Security Council, China, Russia and the United States. According to the 2010 report of the Landmine Monitoring Campaign, 12 countries, China, Cuba, India, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, South Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, America and Vietnam are still producing anti-personnel mines. Of course, the countries of America, Vietnam and China have announced that they have stopped the production of anti-personnel mines/but as can be seen, every day in the border areas of Iran, some unarmed people are injured or lose their lives due to mine explosions/

Types of mines and types of explosions

Acoustic mine: It explodes with waves emitted from the target.

Anti-airborne mine is used in possible places of disembarkation of airborne forces.

Antipersonnel mine: It is used to inflict casualties and injuries on pedestrians and disable them.

Antitank mine: It stops the tank from moving or destroys it.

Bottom mine: After being released from a ship, submarine, or plane, it is placed on the sea floor and has magnetic, acoustic, and pressure sensors and is used to destroy surface and subsurface vessels.

Bounding mine: a type of anti-personnel mine with a small cost that throws the mine body into the air and explodes at a height of 3 or 4 cm and its pieces are thrown in all directions.

Chemical mine: Contains toxic chemicals to kill people or disable or contaminate equipment and land.

Controlled mine: It is controlled and exploded remotely.

Delayed action mine: It explodes some time after being triggered and is often used behind the retreating forces and to harass and destroy the enemy's pursuing forces.

Training mine: It is like a war mine and does not have explosives.

Drill mine: a type of training mine that is similar to a war mine in terms of size, shape and weight and is used for logistics exercises.

Practice mine: a type of training mine that is similar in size, shape and weight to a war mine, and its barrel contains a small amount of detonating or smoke-inducing explosives.

Inert mine: a type of training mine that is similar to a war mine in terms of size, shape, and weight; But all its explosives and incendiaries are ineffective.

Fougasse mine: It is a type of mine that uses petrol instead of explosives. This case in war destroys the person who is activating the mine and exposes the position of the rest of the group.

Claymore mine: It is a type of anti-personnel mine that is used in urban wars. This mine is of laser or sound type and when activated, it throws pieces of scrap iron. When activated, it throws pieces of scrap iron.

Moored mine: It is restrained by using an anchor on the sea floor (in sensitive areas of the sea). This mine is immersed in a depth corresponding to the ship's and explodes when the ship's hull hits it.

Scatterable mine: aircraft or helicopters or artillery or vehicles spread it and it is not placed underground.

Mine contaminated areas

Currently, the countries of Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan have the most land contaminated with mines in the world.

About 42,000 square kilometers of Iran's land is contaminated with mines left behind by the Iran-Iraq war, which the Iraqi military planted in the ground during the occupation of these areas. The Iranian government continues to produce, use and export anti-personnel mines and believes using these mines is the only effective way to secure the long borders of this country. Accordingly, parts of Iran's borders with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq have been mined. During the conflicts of the 1360s in Kurdistan, many lands in this region were mined.

The Ottawa Treaty is also known as the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Construction, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, and on the Destruction of Such Mines as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty.

Ottawa Treaty

Long name:

Treaty prohibiting the use, storage, manufacture, and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and the destruction of such mines.

In this treaty, the member states emphasized the prohibition of using anti-personnel mines, the destruction of anti-personnel mine stocks, preventing the spread, production, sale or direct and indirect transfer to other countries.

Ottawa Anti-Tank Mines Treaty; which have more explosive power is not included in the sanctions

...With all these interpretations and definitions, no action has been taken by the international community to eliminate and destroy anti-personnel mines, and we witness civilian victims every day.

The border areas, which have always been subject to wars and aggressions of neighboring countries, have the highest amount of anti-personnel landmine cultivation.

The lack of a military engineer and the unavailability of maps of minefields, and the mass cultivation of mines in lands that are known as pastures or tourist areas, have the highest number of victims.

Kurdish and Arab-inhabited areas that are part of the common borders between Iraq and Turkey due to the Iran-Iraq war, as well as the presence of Kurdish parties in the mentioned areas and the racist policies of the governments towards the Kurds have caused an increase in the number of mine victims in these areas.

Every year we witness the occurrence of heartbreaking events and the deaths and injuries of workers, farmers, tourists and people who turn to Kolbari in the border areas for their livelihood. The negligence of the authorities of the Islamic Republic and the international community has made it more obvious for public recognition. Due to the negligence of the authorities of the Islamic Republic for several years and the presence of soft and rising soils and the proximity of the mined places to the rivers, the mines move to residential areas and rivers which is a place for fishing. And this move has caused more casualties among civilians and even children. Empty and destroyed border posts and observation posts are openly visible in the mountains of Kurdish areas, and the military forces have not taken any action. They have not done anything to clean these areas.

According to the statistics of Hana Human Rights Organization, from the beginning of 2021 to the first three months of 2023, 19 people were injured, 18 people were killed, and 4 people were disabled due to the explosion of mines or explosive bullets in the Kurdish areas of Iran, among which 4 were women.

According to the witnesses and families of the victims, all the explosions took place in tourist areas and livestock pastures. It should be noted that the authorities of the Islamic Republic do not take any action even for treatment and health insurance of these people. 

According to the statistics of Hana Human Rights Organization, from the beginning of 2021 to the first three months of 2023, 19 people were injured, 18 people were killed, and 4 people were disabled due to the explosion of mines or explosive bullets in the Kurdish areas of Iran, among them there are 4 women.

According to the witnesses and families of the victims, all the explosions took place in tourist areas and livestock pastures. It should be noted that the authorities of the Islamic Republic do not take any action even for treatment and health insurance of these people. 

Click to view the statistics on a separate page.

References....

Red Cross Organization

Hana Human Rights Organization