he total figure is estimated at around 100 million uncleared landmines, but in a single country estimates can vary by an order of magnitude or more. These hidden killers make it impossible for people to put wars and internal conflicts behind them and to move their countries forward. Refugees and internally displaced people cannot return home, elections cannot be held, agricultural and economic activity cannot resume, and the crisis brought on by war or conflict continues (McNamara 594).
McNamara further noted that the U.S. remains committed to ending this crisis and has called for a total ban on anti-personnel landmines (APL). McNamara also states that the U.S. has called on the international community to support mine clearance efforts:
We are committed to further research into new high and medium technologies that will help the world to resolve this crisis. Above all, we have stopped the export of anti personnel landmines and led the effort to get other nations to stop exports; more than 35 have done so (McNamara 595).
Landmines are laid down during a war to create hazards for troops and vehicles, but they are laid down in such numbers and with such frequency that millions survive the fighting and continue to maim and kill long after peace has been declared, arguably damaging more civilians than military personnel. There are more than 100 million undetected landmines in the world today, found in more than 60 countries. Exploding landmines tear the limbs from some 20,000 persons each year, and new mines are laid much faster than old ones can be cleared. In 1996, representatives from the governments of the world met in Geneva to begin to rewrite the United Nations' 16 year old rules on APL weaponry, but every such effort has been difficult. An earlier such meeting ended in a stalemate with some wanting the weapons banned, others eager to leave matters as they are for a generation or two, and still others pursuing ...