The UN rights director stated on Tuesday that anti-personnel mines had polluted at least 58 states and territories, with high civilian casualties in Myanmar, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. It is deeply troubling that nearly 30 years after the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty was adopted, these explosive weapons continue to kill and injure people, often decades after they were installed,” Volker Türk said in a statement.
It is critical that all states recommit to ending the manufacturing, usage, and transfer of these weapons, as well as redoubling their efforts to cooperate in removing minefields that have already been laid.
Türk compiled a report on the situation based on information gathered from governments, NGOs, humanitarian organizations, and civil society. Among victims where the status as military or civilian was known, civilians made up approximately 90% of all recorded casualties in 2024,” the report stated. Myanmar had the most casualties in 2024, followed by Syria with 1,015 and Afghanistan with 624. Ukraine, Nigeria, Mali, Yemen, and Burkina Faso each had more over 200 casualties.
In a separate statement, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines stated that mines and explosive relics of war, such as cluster munitions, killed or injured over 5,000 people in 2025, with the vast majority of them civilians.
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