The Economic Cost of Landmines

Landmines are indiscriminate weapons and their destructive capacity does not end with the signing of a peace treaty. In fact peace in a meaningful sense, cannot be established while millions of landmines continue to kill and mutilate civilians and thwart reconstruction efforts. The long-term economic cost to countries contaminated by mines, vastly outweighs any immediate military usefulness.

The presence of huge numbers of unexploded mines, render vast areas of land inaccessible, prevents refugees and displaced people returning home, precludes farmers and shepherds from working their fields, hampers humanitarian aid and hinders development and rebuilding following the end of the war.

As well as the disruption to agriculture and farming, the mining of dams and electrical installations affects the ability of a country to produce the power necessary for reconstruction. When transportation systems have been mined, it interrupts the movement of people and the flow of goods and services. This disrupts market systems, which in turn has a direct impact on employment and contributes to inflation.

Many landmines are designed to disable their victims, rather than killing them outright. The kinds of wounds they inflict often require extensive treatment over long periods of time. The medical costs stemming from landmine casualties result in a significant economic burden both to the nation and to the mine victims and their families.

The countries most contaminated by mines are often also amongst the poorest nations in the world. Their fragile economies are easily destroyed, the basic requirements for self-sufficiency denied them and they quickly become an economic burden on the international community.

These countries seldom have the ability to fund the extensive demining programmes that are essential if their economies are ever to recover. Only when these lethal toxins have been removed will the war be finally over, and will it be possible to talk of peace in a substantive sense, only then will the long process of reconstruction and healing begin.