Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance

Special guest Jamie Franklin, Executive Director of Mines Advisory Group America, joins us for a discussion on the post-war effects of land mines and campaigns to eliminate them.  The use of landmines is said to have first been used during the American Civil War in the 1800s and more widely during the Second World War. With over 8,000 landmine related deaths and injuries as recent as 2016, and of which 80 percent of the victims were civilians, landmines continue to present a unique challenge as an instrument of war that is as deadly at times of peace as it is during conflict. In this episode, we explore the post-war effects of landmines and the efforts taken by governments and organizations such as the Mines Advisory Group – America to work toward a world free of the use of antipersonnel landmines. 163 countries are now signatories to the 1999 treaty that banned the production, stockpile, and the transfer of land mines. The episode also explores what parts of the world are more affected by landmines and other unexploded ordnance. Read more: * Why Do Land Mines Kill So Many? The New York Times * Mine Ban Treaty, The United Nations * Land mines: Hidden Killers, UNICEF