Objectives/Student-Friendly Learning Targets  Students will … Define landmine. Explain why and how landmines have been used around the world in the past and present. Examine short and long term consequences of landmine use. Evaluate global efforts to reduce landmine use.

“Antipersonnel mines are indiscriminate weapons that injure and kill civilians in every corner of the globe, every day. They do not recognize ceasefires and claim victims long after the end of conflicts. They instill fear in communities and are a lethal barrier to development.” International Campaign to Ban Landmines

“Until the 1990s, antipersonnel landmines had been used by almost all armed forces of the world, in one form or another.” International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Land Mine: A Definition  Is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target – either human or inanimate – by means of a blast and/or fragment impact

Land Mines: Their Military Purpose  Used when active defense of the area is not desirable or possible

Land Mines: Their Military Purpose  Minefields are considered a defensive or harassing weapon, used: To slow the enemy down To help deny certain terrain to the enemy To focus enemy movement into kill zones To reduce morale by randomly attacking material and personnel To injure rather than kill in order to increase the evacuation/medical burden on the opposing force Used on aircraft runway immediately after it has been bombed in order to delay or discourage repair

Land Mines: Guerrila Warfare  None of the conventional tactics and norms of mine warfare applies when they are employed in a guerrilla role: The mines are not used in a defensive role – for a specific position or area Mined areas are not marked Mines are usually placed singly and not in groups covering an area

Land Mines: Terrorism & Guerrilla Warfare  One of the aims of terrorism and to a certain extent guerrilla warfare is to spread fear and panic.  This can be achieved by a single mine left on a civilian road to be detonated by a civilian.  Examples: Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Israel, Golan Heights etc.

Land Mines: Placement  By several means: Preferred, but most labor-intensive, way is to have engineers bury the mines, since this will make the mines practically invisible and reduce the number of mines needed to deny the enemy an area. Can be laid by specialized mine- laying vehicles. Can be dropped by helicopters or airplanes, or ejected from cluster bombs or cruise missiles.

Land Mines: Placement  The extents of minefields are often marked with warning signs and cloth tape, to prevent friendly troops and non-combatants from entering them.  Most forces carefully record the location of their own minefields, because warning signs can be destroyed or removed, and minefields should eventually be cleared.  Minefields also have marked and unmarked safe routes to allow friendly movement through them.

Land Mines: Removal  The placing and arming of mines is relatively inexpensive and simple.  The process of detecting and removing them is typically expensive, slow and dangerous.

Land Mines: Removal  Once laid, a mine may remain active for up to 50 years. “a land-mine is the most excellent of soldiers, for it is ever courageous, never sleeps, never misses.” Khmer Rouge general

Land Mines: Removal  Antipersonnel mines are most difficult to find, due to their small size and the fact that many are made almost entirely of non-metallic materials specifically to escape detection.  Some minefields are specifically booby- trapped to make clearing them more dangerous.

Land Mines: Removal  To make matters worse, some factions have not kept accurate records (or any at all) of the exact locations of their minefields, making removal efforts painstakingly slow.

Land Mines: Removal  Manual clearing remains the most effective technique for clearing mine fields, although the use of animals and robots are being developed.  Animals have a strong sense of smell that can detect explosive agents.

Land Mines: Removal  “Clearing a field of mines gives life back to a local community. It gives people the chance to grow their own crops rather than rely on international assistance. In short, it restores human dignity and promotes human security.” Ms. Machel

Land Mines: The Problem  The use of land mines is controversial because they are indiscriminate weapons, harming soldiers and civilians alike.

Land Mines: The Problem  They can remain dangerous years after a conflict has ended, killing and injuring civilians and rendering land impassable and unusable for decades thus harming the economy of many developing nations.  In short, mines hamper resettlement, agriculture and tourism.

Land Mines: The Problem  Children are particularly vulnerable to landmines in a number of ways: Too young or illiterate to read warning signs Children are far more likely to die from their mine injuries than adults Of those maimed children who survive, few will receive prostheses that keep up with continued growth of their stunted limbs Because a child’s bones grow faster than the surrounding tissue, a wound may require repeated amputations and a new artificial limb as often as every 6 months

Land Mines: The Problem  Children are particularly vulnerable to landmines in a number of ways: Naturally curious children are more likely to pick up strange objects ○ Infamous toy-like ‘butterfly’ mines that Soviets spread by millions in Afghanistan ○ Round mines are used by Kurdish children in Northern Iraq for wheels on toy trucks

Land Mines: The Problem  Children in at least 68 countries are today threatened by what may be the most toxic pollution facing mankind – the contamination by mines of the land they live on.

Land Mines: The Solution  In 1997, a global movement led to the Ottawa Treaty whereby signatory countries undertake not to manufacture, stockpile or use antipersonnel mines.  As of 2011, a total of 158 nations have agreed to the treaty.

Land Mines: The Solution  The United States has not signed based on lacking an exception for the DMZ of Korea.  China and Russian Federation have not signed either.

Land Mines: The Solution  Placing minefields without marking and recording them for later removal is considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.  Mines used by the U.S. are designed to self destruct after a preset period of time, reducing the requirement for mine clearing to only those mines whose self destruct system did not function.

Land Mines: Today  Over 110 million land- mines – plus millions more unexploded bombs, shells and grenades – remain hidden around the world, waiting to be triggered by the innocent and unsuspecting!

Land Mines: Today  In Laos alone, up to 27 million sub munitions remain from the U.S. bombings!

Land Mines: Today  So common are mines in Cambodia that they are now used for fishing, to protect private property and even to settle private disputes.

Land Mines: Today  Afghanistan, Angola and Cambodia have suffered 85% of the world’s land- mine casualties.

Land Mines: Today  Overall, African children live on the most mine-plagued continent, with an estimated 37 million mines embedded in the soil of at least 19 countries. Angola has 10 million land mines and an amputee population of 70,000 of whom 8,000 are children. Since May 1995 children make up ½ the victims of the 50, ,000 antipersonnel mines laid in Rwanda.

Land Mines: 2011  Most recent use of land mines: Libya

Tier 2 Vocabulary: indiscriminate, defensive, civilian

Tier 3 Vocabulary: landmine, guerilla warfare, Ottawa Treaty

Objectives/Student-Friendly Learning Targets  Students will … Define landmine. Explain why and how landmines have been used around the world in the past and present. Examine short and long term consequences of landmine use. Evaluate global efforts to reduce landmine use.

Essential Questions  What are the innumerable opportunities and freedoms students are lucky enough to enjoy on a daily basis living in the United States?  What are the innumerable challenges and dangers some individuals and/or groups around the world experience on a daily basis?  How is diversity evident in all of its many facets within the United States and across the globe?  How have industrialization, urbanization and technological advancements precipitated the global economic and environmental challenges of the 21 st century?  How has technology eliminated political, physical and cultural boundaries of the past and made the world a smaller, more interdependent place?