- Making it Work (MIW) is a global multi-stakeholder initiative supporting the effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
- Source is an international information support center designed to strengthen the management, use and impact of information on health and disability.
- The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs, currently coordinated by Handicap International, is a coalition of thousands of people and U.S. non-governmental organizations working to convince the U.S. government to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Our Expertise
The antipersonnel Landmines issue
Landmines, including antipersonnel landmines were developed before the beginning of the twentieth century and were systematically used in international and internal conflicts from the Second World War onwards. This was mainly due to their low cost and high effectiveness.
Intended at the outset to protect anti-tank minefields, antipersonnel landmines were increasingly used to channel and instigate population movement. From the 1970s onwards they became offensive weapons used to terrorise civilian populations.
Made up of a quantity of explosive contained in a fuse body with a detonation mechanism, antipersonnel landmines are set off by the victims themselves. They are designed to cause injury; more than 360 models have been created, grouped into two main categories:
1/ Blast mines:
Triggered by direct pressure on the mine (1 - 7 kg) they are designed to destroy an object at close proximity.
They are primarily designed to amputate the victim's lower limbs
2/ Fragmentation mines:
Triggered by pressure, traction or tripwires. They are designed to kill or injure individuals or groups of people.
Most of these mines have a metal body which breaks into a shower of fragments when they explode. Others contain metal balls or fragments which turn into lethal projectiles in the explosion.
There are three main categories of fragmentation mines:
Fixed directional effect mines:
The balls or metal shards contained in the mine are projected horizontally at an angle of 60° and at a height of over 2 metre causing serious or even fatal injuries over a distance of up to 50 metres.
Area effect bounding mines:
When the mine is triggered a propelling charge lifts the mine approximately 1.5 metres above the ground, then the main charge ignites. The balls or metal shards within the mine are projected over a minimum radius of 25 metres at an angle of 360°, killing within a range of 35 metres or more and causing serious injury at a distance of over 100 metres.
Type PSM1
