Anti-personnel Landmines

An anti-personnel landmine (APL) is defined as a device "designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person... that will incapacitate, injure, or kill one of more persons" according to Article 2 of the Ottawa Treaty established to ban such mines.  In other words, an anti-personnel mine is specifically designed to injure as many human beings as possible, whereas an anti-tank mine is intended for use against vehicles.  The APL’s, which are smaller than anti-tank mines and are deployed in larger numbers per target area than anti-tank mines, are most often used along borders or to defend strategic positions. 

The threat posed by APL's is that the landmines can not be used to distinguish between civilian and military personnel, between adults and children, and remain active in wartime and peacetime. Mines Action Canada estimates that 80% of APL casualties are civilians.  In developing nations, APL’s threaten access to food and water, freedom of movement, and farming capacity. The costs of clearing mines and provide medical care to survivors is prohibitive. The 1997 Ottawa Convention calls for signators to clear all landmines in their lands within ten years.  The International Committee of the Red Cross and other ngo's support emergency aid, hospital care, and physical rehab programs in countries with landmines.  The costs to these nations of clearing mines and caring for the victims is vast.  A ban on the production and use of the mines, according to the American Chemical Society website, is critical to the solution of the APL problem.