Introduction The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW or CCWC), concluded at Geneva on 10 October 1980, and entered into force in December 1983, seeks to prohibit or restrict the use of certain conventional weapons which are considered excessively injurious or whose effects are indiscriminate. The full title is Convention on Prohibitions or… Read More
Generations of British soldiers involved in clearing landmines from the far-flung South Atlantic territory have finally seen their work come to fruition. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that the ordnance removal job was now finished – nearly four decades after the explosives were planted during the 1982 conflict. The work means that 20 million square… Read More
“During the Gulf war of 1991, no fewer than 117,000 landmines were showered over Kuwait and Iraq by American planes. This barely dented the Pentagon’s vast stockpile of 19m. Just under a quarter of the devices scattered in the path of Saddam Hussein’s army were anti-personnel landmines (APLS), the sort that would soon be banned… Read More
“Genetically engineered fluorescent bacteria can hunt for mines Battlefields strewn with mines are one of the nastiest legacies of war. They ensure that, long after a conflict has ceased, people continue to be killed and maimed by its aftermath. In 1999, the year the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty came into force, there were more than 9,000 such casualties, most… Read More
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