The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Afghanistan (UNOCHA) said on Tuesday that almost 57,000 Afghan civilians have been either dead or wounded by landmines and explosive remnants of war since 1989.
“Mine action partners in Afghanistan have cleared over 19M items. More than 4,150 identified hazards remain, posing a lethal threat to communities, in particular children,” the UN office said in a tweet on Tuesday, on the occasion of the International Day for Mines Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has recorded 450 incidents involving explosive ordinance in Afghanistan in 2022. These incidents have either killed or wounded a total 995 individuals, mostly civilians and children, the Committee said on the same day.
According to the ICRC, 97 percent of the victims were civilians with children accounting for 56 percent of the civilian victims.
“Every year, hundreds of people in #Afghanistan become victims of landmines and other unexploded ordnance,” the ICRC Afghanistan said in a tweet on Tuesday, adding that it was raising public awareness along with the Afghan Red Crescent Society to prevent more casualties by these explosives in the war-torn country.
According to UNOCHA, Afghanistan has one of the highest levels of explosive ordnance contamination in the world and $18.3M is needed for survey, explosive ordnance disposal and landmine clearance in 2023.
Nearly 606 square kilometres of lands in Afghanistan is said to be contaminated with landmines or unexploded ordinance.
