In Syria, unploded mines and ammunition, a nightmare for civilians – Liberation

Four months later The reversal of the Bashar al-Assad regimethe long -awaited return of the Syrians to their land can turn into a nightmare. LONG Human Rights Watch (HRW), which publishes a report on the issue this Tuesday, April 8calls the transitional government to « Ensure the census and demining of terrestrial mines and explosive war on the census of war, as well as securing abandoned weapons stocks. »

According to Inso, an NGO Who is dedicated to the safety of humanitarian workers, more than 600 adults and children have been killed or injured since December 8 by the remains of fourteen years of war. An increasing figure which seems to be explained by the return of displaced people in regions which were hitherto inaccessible. Anti-personnel mines, terrestrial mines of any type, under-municipal weapons and other explosive weapons were massively used from 2011 to the end of 2024 by Syrian government forces, their allies and armed opposition groups. « Without urgent efforts of demining at the national level, more civilians returning home to recover rights, lives, livelihoods and essential land will be injured and killed », Alert Richard Weir, researcher at HRW.

A teenager who explodes his house and kills several members of his family by manipulating an weapon found in an abandoned military base, a volunteer miner killed by cleaning agricultural land, injured children by picking up mushrooms, a man who loses one leg by picking wood to heat up … The damage caused by the explosive vestiges of war are terrible for families, often ill -informed. In addition to deaths, injuries, invalidities and psychological trauma, they prevent residents from returning to their house, moving easily and cultivating their land. Deprived, the inhabitants call on local, poorly equipped and poorly trained deminers, who pay a heavy price for this fight against invisible enemies.

Faced with this observation, the human rights NGO calls The Syrian government to establish « Urgently » A National Civil Center, in collaboration with the United Nations (UNMAS) Antimine Struggle Service, to centralize and professionalize prevention, technical interventions and assistance to victims. A case that can be discussed this week in Geneva during the annual meeting of United Nations Antimine Experts, while, at the end of 2024, the Mines Observatory already alerted to the increase in the number of civilian victims of the mines around the world.