Anti-personnel landmines are deadly devices that, hidden underground, lie in wait of victims. Each year, thousands of innocent people are maimed or killed by these “conventional weapons”, lethal objects whose threat is not diminished at the end of a war. Although there is a major international effort to eliminate landmines, the menace persists.

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There are as many as 100 million landmines in stock and an average 2.5 million are “planted” each year. The creation of a minefield renders land useless and complicates efforts to establish peace processes. But worst of all, landmines cause an estimated 2,000 injuries or deaths each month. And 30 to 40 percent of victims are children. UNICEF calculates that, worldwide, there is one anti-personnel mine for every dozen children.

Landmines can be manufactured for a mere three dollars each, says the UNICEF web site. But to eliminate these devices requires an outlay of about 1,000 dollars apiece.

A landmine can be described as a hollow object with an explosive charge inside and a detonator that is activated under the pressure of a minimum weight.

The landmine problem is characterized by its magnitude, which has led to the signing of the Convention on the matter, which according to the information available on its related web site had 146 signatory nations and 131 ratifications as of January 2002.

The Convention commits the states party to the treaty to not use anti-personnel mines and to eliminate or to verify the elimination of all such existing weapons.

The International Committee of the Red Cross stresses that the countries which have adopted the Convention have two key dates to remember: by the end of 2003 most will have to destroy all of their antipersonnel mine reserves, and by the end of 2009 they must have cleared all minefields within their territories.