Guidelines

Are landmines UXO?

Are landmines UXO?

Landmines are munitions placed under, on or near the ground or other surfaces to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person or vehicle. Unexploded ordnance (UXO) is a weapon that did not explode when it was intended to and may still detonate.

What is abandoned explosive ordnance?

Abandoned explosive ordnance means explosive ordnance that has not been used during an armed conflict, that has been left behind or dumped by a party to an armed conflict, and which is no longer under control of the party that left it behind or dumped it.

What is an unexploded bomb called?

Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO), unexploded bombs (UXBs), and explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive weapons (bombs, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other munitions) that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, sometimes …

What are the long term effects of landmines?

Long term impacts include the persistence and bioaccumulation of certain toxic substances freed into the site of the blast as mercury and lead, both present on most landmines.

Which country has most landmines?

Egypt as a Case Study. Egypt has been listed as the country most contaminated by landmines in the world with an estimate of approximately 23,000,000 landmines.

What is the impact of landmines on people?

SEATTLE — The effects of landmines in poor countries are devastating. Mines have been described as “weapons of social cataclysm” that create not only appalling injuries but also long-term social and economic destruction. They perpetuate poverty for decades after conflicts end.

What is the impact of landmines?

Landmines set in motion a series of events leading to environmental degradation in the forms of soil degradation, deforestation, pollution of water resources with heavy metals and possibly altering entire species’ populations by degrading habitats and altering food chains.

Are landmines illegal in war?

Anti-personnel landmines are prohibited under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (or Mine Ban Convention), adopted in 1997. More than 150 countries have joined this treaty.

Has the US ever been bombed?

Most Americans probably believe that continental United States has never been bombed. The answer is no–America has been bombed from the air, not once but twice. These little-publicized events took place in September 1942, and the attacker was an aircraft launched from a submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).

What are explosive remnants of war ( ERW )?

© Sean Sutton/MAG, DRC, 2013. Explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive munitions left behind after a conflict has ended. They include unexploded artillery shells, grenades, mortars, rockets, air-dropped bombs, and cluster munitions.

What do you mean by abandoned explosive ordnance?

Abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) is explosive ordnance that has not been used during armed conflict and has been left behind and is no longer under control of the party that left it behind. It may or may not have been primed, fuzed, armed, or otherwise prepared for use.

What kind of explosive devices are left behind after a conflict?

These unstable explosive devices are left behind during and after conflicts and pose dangers similar to landmines. Abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) is explosive ordnance that has not been used during armed conflict and has been left behind and is no longer under control of the party that left it behind.