UNICEF Calls Landmine Victims In Myanmar Reach 1,000 People Last Year

Illustration of mine warnings. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - The number of civilian casualties, including children, killed or disabled by landmines and explosives in Myanmar more than doubled last year to 1,052 people, as the conflict continues to rage in the country, UNICEF said Thursday.

UNICEF said landmines and remnants of war explosives caused a 270 percent spike in casualties by 2023, including 188 people killed and 864 injured, up from 390 casualties by 2022.

More concerning, more than 20 percent of all landmine victims last year included children.

"The use of landmines is not only despicable but also illegal under international humanitarian law," said UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific Debora Comini, as reported by Reuters on April 4.

The agrarian area in Sagaing accounts for more than 35 percent of all landmine-related victims by 2023, according to UNICEF data.

UNICEF said landmines and other explosives were used indiscriminately by all parties in the escalating conflict.

Meanwhile, a junta spokesman did not respond to a call from Reuters for comment.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power from elected government in the 2021 coup, which ended a tentative move towards democracy. The conflict has turned Myanmar into one of the countries most contaminated with landmines in the world.

Over the past few years, armed civil resistance groups have joined the armed ethnic groups that have long existed to fight the military. The junta's leadership came under unprecedented pressure following defeats on the battlefield in a massive attack by rebel groups that began in October.