VOA新闻杂志2023--Landmines Causing More Casualties in Ukraine and Myanmar

Landmines² Causing More Casualties in Ukraine and Myanmar

An international report shows increased use of landmines in Ukraine and Myanmar led to sharp rises in casualties in those countries last year.

International Campaign to Ban Landmines created the report, called Landmine¹ Monitor 2023. The Switzerland-based group provides research and monitoring services on world land mine use. The group is a coalition³ of non-governmental organizations supported by the group Human Rights Watch.

The devices studied in the report are known as anti-personnel mines. This means the mines are built to target humans, not tanks or other military equipment.

The report states that Russia "used antipersonnel mines extensively in Ukraine since its all-out invasion of the country in February 2022." The document notes Russia is not part of an international treaty that bans the use of antipersonnel landmines. The anti-personnel mine ban agreement was completed in 1997. The United States is not a party to it.

The report also found evidence that Ukraine, which is part of the mine ban treaty, had used anti-personnel mines in and around the cities of Izium and Kharkiv. It said the mines were found as Russian forces battled Ukrainian troops in the areas.

The Campaign to Ban Landmines recorded 4,710 injuries and deaths in 2022 around the world. This was down from 5,544 casualties in the year before. But in Ukraine, the number of civilian⁴ casualties from landmines went from 60 in 2021 to about 600 in 2022.

Mark Hiznay is with Human Rights Watch and helped write the new report. He expressed concern about Russia's use of landmines in its military operations in Ukraine. Hiznay said it was the first time since the mine ban treaty was approved that a country that is not part of the treaty, Russia, had used such weapons against a treaty member, Ukraine.

Hiznay said Russia began using landmines in 2014 in support of pro-Russian separatist forces in the disputed Donbas area of eastern Ukraine. "Russia has made extensive use of landmines in places like Afghanistan and Chechnya," he said. Hiznay said he believed Russia had supplied 35 or 38 different countries with landmines over the years.

Ukraine has said it would look into accusations⁵ from a Human Rights Watch report. The report provided details of "numerous cases" of Ukrainian forces deploying⁶ banned anti-personnel mines in its war with Russia.

The report said 85 percent of casualties from landmines and "exploded remnants of war" last year were civilians⁷. About half of the casualties were children. The highest number of casualties, 834, was recorded in Syria in 2022. This was followed by Ukraine with 608 casualties, and Yemen and Myanmar, which each recorded more than 500 casualties in 2022.

In Myanmar, Hiznay said the government has been using anti-personnel landmines since 1999. But that changed in recent years. "It is just bigger," Hiznay said. "You have more use by the government forces and more use by various non-state armed groups."

Currently, 164 countries have signed onto the mine ban treaty, which bars the use, storage, production, and transport of anti-personnel mines. The report said 30 states who are part of the treaty have cleared all mined areas from their territory since the treaty came into force.

Words in This Story

casualty -n. a person who is injured or killed in an accident or war

monitor - v. watch something carefully and record the results

extensive - adj. covering or affecting a large area

 

remnant - n. a piece of something that continues to exist when the rest of that thing has gone

1 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

2 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。