Record clearing of landmines, casualties up -report

GENEVA, Sep 13 (Reuters) A record area was cleared of landmines last year, but casualties caused by the weapons rose by 11 per cent to 7,328, with many of the victims children, a report said today.

Despite stepped-up clearance work, efforts to implement a 1997 international treaty banning the use of the anti-personnel weapons could slow without more funding, according to the Landmine Monitor Report 2006.

''Families affected by landmines want to see words become reality: they want to walk, play and live without fear, once and for all,'' said Sylvie Brigot, executive director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), one of the humanitarian groups which produces the annual report.

The rise in casualties was due to conflicts in areas such as Myanmar, India, Nepal and Pakistan, none of which are signatories to the ban, and in treaty member Colombia where there were more than 1,100 mine victims last year, the highest single total.

Children account for 20 per cent of the 7,328 casualties reported in nearly 60 countries, but at least as many are estimated to go unrecorded although victims are killed or maimed for life, the report said.

The report, which monitors progress in applying the anti-mine treaty adopted by over 150 countries, said landmines remained in at least 78 countries.

''The longer states take to clear these mines, the longer these mines wait in the ground for innocent civilians to step on,'' said Jody Williams, ICBL ambassador and 1997 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureate with the organisation.

The total area cleared worldwide in 2005 was 740 square kilometres (300 square miles), approximately the size of New York City. Some 470,000 landmines, including about 450,000 anti-personnel mines, and 3.75 million explosive devices were removed.

''Even if more land has been de-mined this year ... this trend needs to be sustained for states parties to live up to their legal obligations and commitments,'' said Brigot.

Funds for de-mining and for assisting victims fell for the first time since the treaty came into force to 376 million dollars, 23 million dollars less than in the previous year, the report said.

The European Union, the United States and eight other major donors all cut back on funding for de-mining activities. The steepest reductions were seen in Iraq, down 53 percent at 30.9 million dollars followed by Afghanistan and Cambodia.

Money was needed not just for clearance, however. It was also required for the up to 500,000 surviving mine victims, many of whose injuries mean they will need help for the rest of their lives, the report said.

Under the treaty, countries pledged to de-mine their territory within 10 years. But 13 signatory states, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Mozambique and Thailand, are not on track to meet the goal, the report said.

The United States, Russia and China, all major arms producers, do not belong to the landmine treaty.

REUTERS PDM HT1400