Women, War, Peace and Landmines

Introduction

Landmines continue to constitute a barrier for development in more than 80 countries and territories worldwide, affecting the lives of women, men, girls and boys in communities long after the conflict is over. According to the 2006 Landmine Monitor Report, it is likely that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 new landmine casualties each year, most of them civilian. more... Key land is being blocked and access to services limited, creating obstacles for livelihood activities and not allowing people to work themselves out of poverty. The majority occurs in countries at peace, not war. more...

Mine action traditionally is divided into five pillars: demining, MRE, victim assistance, advocacy and stockpile destruction. All mine action pillars have a common goal: reduce the human, social, economic and environmental impact of landmine contamination. This goal is clear-cut but what might be less clear or given less consideration is that to be comprehensively fulfilled this goal needs to be gender mainstreamed. Although men represent the main direct victims of landmines, there are indeed significant gender dimensions to mine action: gender impacts the likelihood of becoming a victim of landmines, accessing medical care, reintegrating into society after being injured, and accessing mine risk education.  

Due to their different roles and responsibilities in society, women, men, girls and boys may face different risks and may have different information on landmine threats or where accidents have taken place. For example, men are generally responsible for income-generating activities which involve expanding to larger areas such as fields, sea…; whereas women in many societies are gatherers of food, water and firewood. Likewise, children have information on areas they cross on their way to school or when playing. In order to collect the whole community’s knowledge on where landmines are placed, the survey team needs to make sure that women, men, girls and boys are all given the opportunity to provide information. Training and hiring both female and male surveyors represents another effective way of gathering information from different segments of the population. 

Demining operations often identify transportation routes as priority areas for clearance, but they overlook farm land and other areas in which many women work. This makes it especially important to consult women during the demining process, and to review the possible effects the prioritisation of lands to be cleared may have on women, men, girls and boys in the communities. After clearance, the process of restitution of the land to the communities also requires to be gender mainstreamed, for women might be hindered from accessing cleared land due to discriminatory property laws.

Studies show that landmine awareness training, campaigns or classes are more successful when women are involved because women communicate this vital information to their families and communities.  Still, as we have seen in the case of Cambodia’s first all female de-mining team, even when women are fully integrated into the demining process, they often face scrutiny by their male counterparts. more...

The impact of landmines on individuals and communities is not simply physical; it is also psychological, social, and economic. By taking away freedom of movement and robbing children of the right to play, landmines erode peace of mind. During recent conflicts, landmines have been deliberately used to target civilian populations, control their movements and damage their mental health. Long after conflicts end, the presence of mines and UXO continue to pose a terrible threat, undermining peace and security, and development. In terms of gender, women, men, girls and boys are affected, and best assisted, in different ways: regarding victim assistance, women face difficulties in accessing that door because of gender roles and inequalities, mobility and financial restrictions, the apportioning of domestic work, and because they cannot leave their children behind while they search for care. In terms of economic assistance, social norms regarding what economic roles are appropriate for women and men give rise to the belief that men are typically the primary income providers, which leads to prioritising male mine survivors for emergency medical assistance, prostheses and rehabilitation – a significant problem for female-headed households. Finally, women and men experience different psycho-social trauma, fear of un-marriageability, abandonment and total isolation disproportionately affecting women.  

Key Terms

Anti-personnel mines: a mine designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons.

Community mine action liaison: liaison with mine/ERW affected communities to exchange information on the presence and impact of mines and ERW, create a reporting link with the mine action programme and develop risk reduction strategies. Community mine action liaison aims to ensure community needs and priorities are central to the planning, implementation and monitoring of mine action operations.

Explosive Remnants of War (ERW): Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and Abandoned Explosive Ordnance (AXO).

Mine action: activities which aim to reduce the social, economic and environmental impact of mines and ERW.

Mine Risk Education: activities which seek to reduce the risk of injury from mines/ERW by raising awareness and promoting behavioural change including public information dissemination, education and training, and community mine action liaison.

Unexploded Ordnance: EO that has been primed, fuzed, armed or otherwise prepared for use or used. It may have been fired, dropped, launched or projected yet remains unexploded either through malfunction or design or for any other reason.

Victim: an individual who has suffered harm as a result of a mine or ERW accident.

Victim assistance/Survivor Assistance: refers to all aid, relief, comfort and support provided to victims (including survivors) with the purpose of reducing the immediate and long-term medical and psychological implications of their trauma.

Source: International Mine Action Standards (IMAS), 2008. Note that many definitions are lifted verbatim.

International Organizations

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): Involved in mine clearance in relation to its humanitarian agriculture relief activities in countries affected by complex emergencies. more...

• Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining: Supports Humanitarian Mine Action through operational assistance, research, and support to the implementation of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. more...

• International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL): more...

• International Labor Organization (ILO): The ILO Focus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction (IFP/Crisis) supports and assists national governments and organization of persons in planning and implementing general demobilization and reintegration programmes and as well as related programmes. more...

• Landmine Monitor: more...

• Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): Responsible for sharing all relevant information with UNMAS and other partners regarding the humanitarian implications for landmines. more...

• Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines: runs a gender and mine action programme to encourage and support the mine action sector to mainstream gender through its policy, programmes and operation, focusing on advocacy activities with emphasis on making information on gender and mine action available to interested stakeholders. More…

• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF): The UN focal point on mine awareness education. Also plays a significant role in advocacy and mine victim assistance. more...

• United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA): Landmine page. more...

• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): Mine Action Policy. more...

• United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS): UNMAS is responsible for coordinating all aspects of mine action within the UN system and for providing mine action assistance in the context of humanitarian emergencies and peacekeeping operations. more...

• United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS): A Principal provider of mine action services within the United Nations system. more...

• World Food Programme (WFP): WFP’s main areas of concern with regard to landmines are 1) the clearance of access roads for the speedy and cost-effective delivery of food assistance 2) the clearance of land required for the safe return of displaced populations 3) the clearance of crop land for agricultural use in order to promote sustainable levels of local food production. more...

• World Health Organisation (WHO): Assists governments in developing a public health response to landmine contamination and unexploded ordnance. more...

Tools & Checklists

Conventions

Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction: more...

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: more...

Convention on Cluster Munitions: more...

UN Documents 

• Assistance in Mine Action, 8 August 2003.  more...
• Assistance in Mine Action, 8 October 2001. more...

• August 2003. more...
• 16 October 2001. more...

United Nations Mine Action Service: Mine Action and Effective Coordination: The UN Policy (2003). more...

For more documents, see the comprehensive UN Mine Action Documents data base here.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. more…

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820. more…

Independent Experts' Assessment & Recommendations  

The Independent Experts' Assessment on Women, War, Peace and Landmines and the accompanying recommendations can be accessed in this archive: Landmine Archive