UN: 58 countries and territories contaminated by mines and Syria among the most affected
The United Nations has ranked Syria among the world's most contaminated countries with antipersonnel mines, along with Burma, Afghanistan and Ukraine, in a shocking report that revealed the proliferation of mines in 58 countries and territories around the world.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in early remarks on Wednesday (June 17) that the continued casualties three decades after the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty is "deeply worrying", calling on countries to renew their commitment to halt production, use and export, and to accelerate clearance operations.
According to the report of the Mine and Cluster Munitions Observatory, 645 people were killed and 4,325 others were injured by mines and remnants of war in 2024, 90% of whom were civilians, and Burma topped the list of victims with 2029 cases, followed by Syria with 1015, then Afghanistan with 624, in addition to Ukraine, Nigeria, Mali, Yemen and Burkina Faso, each of which recorded more than 200 victims.
UN: International funding for demining programmes declining
In a separate statement, the International Mine Ban Campaign said the total number of victims exceeded 5,000 in 2024, most of them civilians, with children accounting for more than 40 percent of the victims recorded since 1999.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned that contaminated land is becoming "no-go zones" that impede agriculture, prolong displacement and restrict the basic rights of residents.
Although 162 countries have joined the Ottawa Convention, Türk noted that other countries still hold large stockpiles and have not yet joined, while countries such as Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have withdrawn, and Ukraine has suspended implementation of their commitments.
The report also revealed a sharp decline in international funding for demining programmes, with contributions to the United Nations Fund falling from $125 million to $46 million in just seven years.
Syria clears more than 110,000 mines in 3 months
Military engineering teams and national teams in Syria have been able to dismantle and destroy more than 110,000 mines and explosive devices since the beginning of 2026, according to official statements issued by the Syrian Ministry of Defense, and the explosives removed include anti-personnel mines, armor, guided devices, booby-trapped vehicles and explosive drones, using minefield blasting vehicles, specialized sweepers, and direct field surveys.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence on the occasion of World Day on April 4, the operations caused the death of 31 personnel and the injury of 60 other engineering teams, including amputations.
The cost of demining is up to $10,000 per hectare
Some 15 million Syrians live in contaminated areas, with huge estimates of minefields in rural Homs (about 350,000 mines) and Deir ez-Zor (316,000), as well as Aleppo, Daraa and Idlib. On the humanitarian level, Syrian human rights organizations have documented the deaths of 3,799 civilians since 2011, including 1,000 children and 377 women, mostly due to landmines that alone killed 3,398 civilians, while cluster munitions killed 401 others, with Aleppo topping the list of victims with 814 deaths, followed by Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Hama.
Mines prevent the investment of thousands of hectares of agricultural land, with official estimates suggesting that the cost of demining is between $3,000 and $10,000 per hectare, and the government is working in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and donor countries such as Japan and Poland to speed up clearance operations, with the latter providing $250,000 to support the capabilities of national teams through UNMAS.