SRINAGAR, AUG 1: As many as 26,000 people are killed or wounded by landmines every year of which 80 per cent are civilians, including children.Even as nations the world over are spending huge sums of money on anti-personnel mine victims, an estimated 110 million landmines are at present deployed in 70 countries, particularly in the developing world, a paper read out on effects of land mines on humanity and environment during the 18th regional conference of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday.Besides the loss to human beings, anti-personnel mines rendered large tracts of land useless for farming and grazing, the paper said.
The conference, organised by Global Green Peace Kashmir and Indian Institute of Peace, Disarmament and Environmental Protection, was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs P L Handoo and the first secretary to the High Commission of Canada in Delhi.
"If the use of anti-personnel mines are stopped tomorrow, at the currentrate it would take 1100 years to clear the mines already planted around the world," it said.
The worst-affected areas are Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Cambodia, Croatia, Eritrea, Iraq, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan and Vietnam.
The organisers said the conference, attended by a large number of students, was aimed at generating awareness about the hazardous effects of anti-personnel mines on humanity and the environment.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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