The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban is based on the very simple premise that civilians should not become victims either during or after a conflict.

The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, which has its second review conference in Cartagena, Colombia in November, can rightly claim to be one of history’s most successful multilateral arms agreements. 

Since the treaty came into force in March 1999, about two-thirds of the world’s nations have signed up, the number of casualties has been pared down from a yearly average of 20,000 during the 1990s to just over 5,000 reported incidents last year – and several states have fulfilled obligations to clear all mined areas and destroy stockpiles. 

President of the Cartagena summit, Norwegian ambassador Susan Echey, described November’s meeting as an opportunity to take stock of the progress made over the past decade and address remaining challenges. These include clearing the unknown number of mines still on the ground and dealing with Russia, Myanmar and eight non-state groups that are still laying mines. 

Another of the summit’s stated aims is to better meet the needs of the estimated 400,000 living survivors of mine attacks. “We want to focus attention on the humanitarian essence of the convention,” said Echey. “In so doing, we can recommit our support to a life of dignity for all who every day live with the consequences of landmines.”

Particular emphasis will be placed on making sure those victims are heard during the conference in order to fully understand that it is a problem with deep personal and socio-economic consequences. 

Produced for as little as $3 each, landmines can displace entire communities from their homes and agricultural bases, creating an enduring political, social and economic imbalance. 

Of particular concern is the rehabilitation of child survivors. Unicef estimates as many as 40% of the estimated 1m landmine casualties since 1975 have been under-15-year-olds. Children are especially vulnerable to injury because they are low to the ground, curious and don’t understand warning signs. 

With only one in four of all landmine survivors receiving a correct prosthesis, the difficulty in finding (or funding) multiple devices for growing limbs is a hindrance to the rehabilitation of children that do survive. 

Sylvie Brigot, executive director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), drew attention to the inevitable funding difficulties presented by a campaign that now incorporates 156 nations and a 

gaggle of NGOs. “The will to achieve a mine-free world remains. But the funding system is too complex. Mine survivors are still waiting for the support that will match their needs and the political promises,” claimed Brigot. 

Ten years ago, the AP Mine Ban Treaty was initiated in a blaze of publicity due to the patronage of the late Princess of Wales, who was to fall victim to the far more prosaic danger of bad driving just two weeks before the treaty was signed. 

Now its organisers will hope that they can shame another media-celebrity, Barack Obama, into joining the cause and bring the US, along with the 12 other nations that retain the potential to produce mines, into the international fold. These include China and Russia, which between them harbour stockpiles of up to 200m of the deadly devices.